World February 22, 2023 | 6:48 pm

After the earthquake in Turkey: Lawyers are filing complaints against Erdoğan for killing

Complaints will also be filed against other officials. They are accused of negligent homicide and abuse of office.

Istanbul – Numerous lawyers have filed complaints against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and several other officials because of the earthquake disaster. They accuse the president, ministers, governors, and construction companies of intentional and negligent killing and abuse of office, as the criminal complaint shows. “As lawyers in this state, we cannot turn a blind eye to such injustice,” said lawyer Pinar Akbina Karaman.

61 lawyers have signed so far. In Turkey, there is still a lot of discussion about how and whether the extent of the earthquake catastrophe could have been prevented. The Turkish opposition accuses the government, for example, of not having invested enough in the provision and earthquake safety of the local buildings and of failing to respond to the crisis now. The Turkish government dismisses such allegations as misinformation, among other things, and argues that any difficulties are due to the scale of the disaster.

According to the United Nations, the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria was not only the worst in Turkish history in terms of fatalities. The mountains of debris and rubble are also unprecedented, said Louisa Vinton, the representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Turkey, on Tuesday. There were thousands more victims and damage in Syria. Vinton referred only to Turkey.