Turkish Police have already arrested 65 builders for alleged negligence after the earthquake

18 Feb. () –

The Turkish Police have already arrested 65 builders after issuing, so far, 245 arrest warrants in relation to alleged negligence in buildings collapsed by the devastating earthquake in the south of the country, which has already left more than 40,000 dead.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag has confirmed in the last few hours the arrest of five other builders, including Haydar Kurtar, the contractor of the Atabey apartment building, where Aleyna Ölmez was found alive after 248 hours.

Another detainee, the contractor Mesut Bashkir, on whom an arrest warrant was pending for “causing death or injury through negligence”, was captured while trying to escape to the Greek islands with a sailboat, according to sources from the newspaper ‘Hurriyet’.

The Turkish government has launched a macro-operation to search for and capture the contractors involved in the collapse of the buildings to appease the spirits of the population, amid constant complaints about non-compliance with minimum security measures, particularly in the far south of the country .