Turkish Cypriots express distaste at freeing of hotel collapse suspects

Turkish Cypriots on Tuesday expressed their distaste at the first high criminal court in the southeastern Turkish city of Adiyaman’s decision to free six former public officials who were on trial for their role in the collapse of the city’s Isias hotel, which killed 72 people, including 35 Cypriots.

The reactions were led by Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, who said that “the Adiyaman part of the process is complete, but the pursuit of justice is not”, in reference to the victims’ families’ intention to appeal the ruling at higher courts in the cities of Gaziantep and Ankara.

“We will continue to walk this painful path together with the families. The Isias case is our common cause,” he said.

Meanwhile, ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel, who had travelled to Adiyaman for Monday’s hearing, declared that “the Isias case is not over for us, and it is still ongoing”.

“We will closely follow the next stage as well. We will monitor the process to the end to ensure that justice is served fully and completely. I once again clearly and unequivocally state that the families are not alone in their pursuit of justice, and we will not leave their side going forward,” he said.

He added that “while we lost our champion angels in Adiyaman, we did not abandon them in Adiyaman”, with the moniker ‘champion angels’ having been given to the 24 children who made up the Famagusta Turk Maarif Koleji (TMK) school volleyball team and were killed when the hotel collapsed.

“Until justice is served, we will continue to stand by our families, monitor the legal processes, and follow this case,” he said.

Turkish Cypriot Nicosia mayor Mehmet Harmanci said that “with each hearing of the case, the families’ pain deepened”.

“The common expectation of the families and of our country is justice,” he said, before decrying a “lack of oversight, favouritism, and turning a blind eye” in the hotel’s construction of maintenance, saying that “this was excused and people paid the price with their lives”.

“There will be appeals processes against this decision. We have made a promise to ensure that justice prevails, and we will do whatever is necessary,” he said.

Opposition party CTP representative Fikri Toros said that Monday’s verdict “has once again demonstrated how vital our pursuit of justice is”.

“This fight will not end until those responsible for the deaths of our children, teachers, and families are fully held accountable,” he said.

Later on Tuesday, former Turkish Cypriot chief negotiator Kudret Ozersay said that Monday’s ruling “deeply wounded the public conscience”, and said that the case “has not only a legal dimension, but a social and a moral one, too”.

He said that the court had “ignored” the responsibilities held by the public officials, and added that “every signature has a price, and unless that price is paid, trust in justice will be undermined”.

Additionally, he said that it is “highly likely” that if no court in Turkey will grant the families’ demand that the six public officials and six others who were convicted for their parts in the hotel’s collapse be convicted of causing death by possible intent, the case will be taken to the European Court of Human Rights.

He said the possibility of a conviction for causing death by possible intent was “deliberately ignored” by the Adiyaman court, and said that “the principles of a fair trial in these criminal proceedings are also seriously questionable”.

“The children who lost their lives have become symbols for the Turkish Cypriot community. These events created a collective trauma. This pain is etched not only into the memory of the families, but into the collective memory of the entire community,” he said.

Monday’s ruling had seen three of the six public officials – former Adiyaman deputy mayor Osman Bulut, civil engineer Bilal Balci, and former Adiyaman town planning director Mehmet Salih Alkayis – handed suspended 10-year prison sentences and then released on bail conditions.

The three other defendants, former Adiyaman town planning director, building auditor Abdurrahman Karaarslan, and technician Fazli Karakus were all acquitted of all charges and as such freed.

After the decision was announced, Cyprus Turkish bar association chairman Hasan Esendagli explained that the court’s reasoning for its decision has not yet been disclosed, but will be made public in due course.