Trkiye: Ensure Accountability for Deaths in Earthquake [Video]

The Turkish government has an obligation to ensure that public officials responsible for thousands of defective buildings that collapsed in the February 6, 2023 earthquakes, are held accountable, Human Rights Watch said today. The earthquakes, which devastated Türkiye’s southeastern provinces, left more than 50,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands injured and displaced.

Trials of real estate developers, building controllers, and technical personnel have opened in recent months. But not a single public official, elected mayor, or city council member has yet faced trial for their role in approving numerous construction projects that fell far short of safe building standards or for failing to take measures to protect people living in buildings known to have structural …