section_path: Cause/Inspection and certification
section_name: Inspection and certification
paragraph_text: Inspection and certification
  
  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan 's AKP government exchanged accusations of blame with the local Bolu municipality, which is controlled by Turkey's main opposition party, the Republican People's Party.
  
  The Turkish Ministry of Tourism assigns inspectors who inspect tourism investments and enterprises. This includes inspecting safety measures. A 3 April 2012 regulation published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Turkey reduced the fire safety inspection rights of municipal fire brigades, transferring all matters requiring interpretation or clarification to the Turkish Ministry of Environment.
  
  After the fire, Turkish Minister of Tourism Mehmet Ersoy nonetheless claimed that fire brigades were responsible for issuing fire competence certificates, and that local fire brigades are the only authorities authorized to inspect fire safety measures. He later changed his explanation, saying that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism lacked authority to license or oversee the building, and that "If it is within the municipality's jurisdiction, the responsibility falls to the municipality. If it is outside the municipality, it falls under the special provincial administration." He added that Bolu municipality's fire department found "no negative situation regarding fire competence" at the hotel during inspections in 2021 and 2024. Mayor Tanju Özcan countered, saying that the fire department has not certified the hotel since 2007, at which time Bolu was an AKP -run municipality and 12 years before he became mayor. Turkish journalist İsmail Saymaz confirmed that Grand Kartal Hotel received no fire safety certificate from Bolu municipality, and said that it re-applied on 25 December 2024 but withdrew the application. Özcan added that the municipality is not allowed to issue licenses for hotels in the Kartalkaya region. He accused Ersoy of falsely deflecting responsibility. Özcan said "the hotel is outside Bolu's city limits, so the Ministry of Tourism is in charge".
  
  On 22 January 2025, state-owned news channel TRT Haber claimed that the Bolu municipality issued a fire conformity certificate to the hotel's restaurant 19 days before the incident. However, the cited document was not a license and only covered a 70 m² surrounding cafe but not the hotel's kitchen where the fire started or the large overall building.
  
  The Bolu representative of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects, Erol Perçin, claimed that current fire regulations only vaguely state that "guest and employee safety must be ensured". He called for stricter laws.