Turkish contractor caught fleeing abroad after major destruction in his building

Duvar English

Mehmet Yaşar Coşkun, the contractor of Rönesans Residence which was destroyed in the earthquake in southeastern Turkey, was caught in Istanbul Airport while trying to flee Montenegro.

Police forces detained him at the airport upon the public prosecutor’s instruction. He was taken to the police station later, where his interrogation took place. Afterwards, he was referred to a court which ordered that he be jailed pending trial. 

The 12-story Rönesans Residence, which has 250 apartments and was completed in 2013 in Hatay's Antakya district, was destroyed in the Maraş-centered earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7. After the earthquake, the building collapsed over its pool and damaged nearby buildings as well. 

It is believed that approximately 1,000 people were living in the residence, and most of them are still under the rubble. In 2013, Coşkun's construction company had shared the now-demolished residence's photos on social media with the note of "A frame from heaven, Rönesans Residence."

In the aftermath of the Feb. 6-dated major earthquakes, 170 lawyers filed a joint criminal complaint, demanding that authorities launch an investigation into the contractors of the demolished buildings and ban them from leaving the country pending trial.  

As the death toll exceeds 20,000, public outrage is growing as people say that monitoring of the construction regulations only exists on paper. The widespread catastrophe is interpreted as an indication that there are significant issues with the adoption and enforcement of the required construction standards.

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