Rights groups urge Türkiye to disclose investigation details of 2023 ...

Three human rights groups — Human Rights Watch, the Platform for Families in Pursuit of Justice, and the Citizens’ Assembly — called on the Turkish authorities Friday to disclose information about civil servants under investigation for the collapse of buildings during the 2023 earthquake. Human rights groups are demanding that the perpetrators be brought to justice and that impunity be ended.

The statement demands transparency and accountability from the government. The groups said that currently only a few government officials are being investigated, although many private contractors are under investigation for violating building regulations. They also believe that concealment of information about the perpetrators may lead to further impunity, which can lead to a repetition of similar tragedies in the future.

Citizens’ Assembly and Human Rights Watch conducted research earlier this year. They contacted various government agencies in Türkiye to request information on the number of officials under investigation for building collapses. However, the requests were rejected or went unanswered.

In particular, the General Directorate of the Provincial Division at the Interior Ministry refused to disclose the number of investigation authorizations, citing the confidentiality of the investigation. The decision was later overturned by the Council on the Right to Information under the Ministry of Justice, which the Ministry of Internal Affairs appealed to the court. On September 26, the Ankara court rejected the request. On November 28, the Interior Ministry appealed the court’s decision, but the outcome is unknown.

Hugh Williamson, Director of Europe and Central Asia at Human Rights Watch, said that the Turkish people have a right to know the number of public officials held accountable for neglecting building standards that have caused thousands of deaths. He emphasized that “withholding information about the extent of efforts to hold municipalities and politicians accountable is tantamount to admitting that they have impunity for their crimes.”

The right to access information held by public authorities is a fundamental right under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as an element of the right to free expression. The right to know is important in holding government officials accountable for misconduct.

The right to life may also be engaged. In the 1999 earthquake, in which more than 190 people died under the rubble of buildings, the European Court of Human Rights found that Türkiye violated the right to life because it did not conduct effective investigations and timely prosecutions to convict the perpetrators.

On January 6, 2023, a massive earthquake devastated 11 provinces in southern and southeastern Türkiye, injuring or displacing hundreds of thousands, causing widespread destruction and killing more than 53,000 people. More than 160,000 buildings in Türkiye were damaged by the earthquake, raising questions about the continued neglect of building codes in the earthquake-prone zone.