By Esra Yalçınalp in Istanbul and Osman Kaytazoglu in LondonBBC Turkish3 hours agoImage caption, Nurgül Göksu says she used to be a “normal” housewife before the quake struckOn 6 February 2023, a massive earthquake hit southern Turkey, claiming over 55,000 lives. It has now become evident that many lives could have been spared if building regulations had been adhered to. One mother has made it her mission to investigate what caused the collapse of the building where her family lived.Before the earthquake, Nurgül Göksu led a routine life as a housewife. She enjoyed cooking, with “içli köfte,” a traditional dish of meatballs, being one of her favorite recipes. She resided on the outskirts of Istanbul. Her 31-year-old son, Ahmet Can Zabun, who was married with a young baby, lived in the southeastern city of Kahramanmaras. Ahmet Can was not her only child, but as her eldest son, whom she had as a teenage mother, their bond was special. She supported him through university and was proud of his accomplishments. Both Ahmet Can and his wife Nesibe were lawyers. Nurgül herself did not attend university and completed her education through an external program. When the earthquake struck Kahramanmaras, at least 7,000 buildings in the city collapsed, including the one where Ahmet Can lived. Nurgül rushed to the city to search for her son, his wife, and their child – or, as she describes them, her “three children.”Image caption, Ahmet Can, his wife Nesibe and their baby daughter Asude were killed in the earthquakeAlthough many buildings in Kahramanmaras were destroyed, the area where Nurgül’s son lived did not seem to have been as severely affected. Much of the neighborhood sustained minimal damage. However, his ten-storey residential block, known as the Ezgi Building, was one of the few that were completely destroyed. Similar inconsistencies were observed in other areas affected by the earthquake. Many in Turkey began questioning why some buildings collapsed while others did not, even if they were situated next to each other and had similar height, age and construction styles.Nurgül waited as rescue teams sifted through the rubble of the Ezgi Building. Eight days later, the bodies of Ahmet Can, his wife Nesibe, and their six-month-old daughter Asude, Nurgül’s granddaughter, were discovered. “Losing not just one but three children is truly hard,” says Nurgül. She often shares family photos on social media accounts she created after the disaster. “I didn’t want them to die in vain and for me to just forget about them,” says Nurgül.A total of 35 people died in the collapse of the Ezgi Building, with only two survivors. Image caption, The Ezgi Building in Kahramanmaras collapsed when the earthquake hit – while many other buildings around it remained standingAfter losing her family, Nurgül resolved to uncover the reasons why her son’s building collapsed while others did not. However, she needed evidence and expert knowledge. She consulted with local civil engineers and construction experts. She learned how to find “before” and “after” photos online and began understanding building regulations and the necessary processes for approving any modifications.Then, in June of last year, she came across a BBC Turkish video on YouTube, which focused on the collapse of a building in the city of Izmir following an earthquake in 2020. Nurgül reached out to the BBC via social media seeking assistance in analyzing the collapse of the Ezgi Building. Over the following months, she continued her investigation into whether the alterations made to the building had been conducted properly, while staying in touch with the BBC. We used visuals to illustrate her findings. Image caption, Evidence that kitchen fans (highlighted in red) were cut into the supporting walls was found among the rubble”I tried to gather as much evidence as I could at the place where I lost my child,” Nurgül says. “It shouldn’t have been my responsibility. But it seems that had I not done it, we wouldn’t have found anything.”Nurgül discovered that in many areas affected by the earthquake, investigations into claims of building regulation violations were being closed due to insufficient evidence. She did not want this to happen to her own investigation, so she gave numerous TV interviews to bring attention to her case. Despite not being an avid social media user prior to the earthquake, she also created an Instagram account about the Ezgi Building, aiming to gather information from other families of the deceased and building experts.Nurgül emphasized that the prosecutor could have utilized public records to collect evidence regarding the building’s initial construction. However, she wanted to ensure that all parties responsible for the building’s collapse would be held accountable – which is why she focused on gathering evidence of the restorations and alterations to the building. Video caption, Watch: Survivors of the earthquake in Syria still sleep in a tentWhen the prosecutor’s office initiated an inquiry and commissioned an expert report into the collapse of the Ezgi Building, Nurgül’s evidence played a crucial role.The report, completed in July 2023, revealed that numerous alterations to the building had been carried out in violation of existing regulations and were unlawful.An associate professor of civil engineering at Istanbul Technical University, Dr Beyza Taşkın, told the BBC that the fact that surrounding buildings remained intact indicates a major structural issue with the Ezgi Building.The report also disclosed that a key support element was either improperly constructed or later modified. Official laboratory analysis further revealed that certain materials and construction processes did not meet approved standards.And there was another issue: the building’s cafe. Image caption, A mock-up of the Ezgi Building (on the right). Other structures nearby were unaffected by the earthquakeQuestions about the previous renovation of a cafe on the ground floor began to arise soon after the Ezgi Building collapsed. The renovation involved consolidating three separate units on the ground floor into one large area. A service lift was installed by removing part of the floor, and multiple large holes for ventilation were cut from curtain walls. Another alteration involved the removal or replacement of a load-bearing wall, which had been part of the original design of the building but disappeared later. In 2021, residents of the Ezgi Building petitioned the local authority to inspect the causes of the collapse, as they were concerned that the renovations had compromised the structural integrity of the building. The response stated that “no deviation” from the original architectural plan had been found.Nurgül now questions why the plea for help was disregarded, and whether the authorities “even looked at the building when they wrote this reply.”Once the report on the causes of the collapse was received, the prosecutor’s office initiated a criminal case. The interior designer of the ground floor cafe and the engineer primarily responsible for the initial construction of the building were arrested in September 2023 and are awaiting trial. An arrest warrant for the building contractor was also issued but was not executed, likely due to his advanced age. His lawyer refuted allegations that his client was responsible for the collapse and attributed it to later alterations. The lawyer has not yet responded to our request for further comment. The cafe owners, for whom the prosecutor also issued arrest warrants, disappeared and remain at large. Last September, they took to social media to deny any responsibility for violating building regulations in the renovations of the ground floor.The local authorities are yet to be questioned.We have asked the Turkish ministry of the interior to comment but have not yet received a response.Image source, Kawoon Khamoosh/BBCImage caption, Nurgül Göksu has been helping other victims of the earthquake bring those responsible for illegal building alterations to justiceArrests and criminal charges are not unique to the Ezgi case – dozens of cases related to faulty constructions and illegal building alterations have been opened across quake-hit areas.In July last year, the Turkish ministry of justice stated that over 350 people had been arrested in such cases.While working on her own case, Nurgül has also been aiding others, sharing her knowledge of building regulations and civil engineering, as well as her skills in utilizing open source intelligence.She is determined to hold those responsible for the collapse accountable to ensure that no one is tempted to bypass or violate building regulations in the future.”Maybe for the sake of the Ezgi Building, such things will not happen in the future. I am fighting to set an example.”
