Turks arrest builder over quake deaths

A Turkish contractor who built hundreds of homes which collapsed during last month's earthquake was being questioned by police in Istanbul last night. Veli Gocer was arrested at a relative's house yesterday after being in hiding for nearly three weeks.

Building contractors who ignored safety regulations have been the target of widespread public anger since the earthquake struck on August 17. Experts believe thousands of lives could have been saved if blocks of flats had been constructed properly.

A number of contractors have already been arrested, but Mr Gocer quickly became the most notorious. In telephone interviews before his arrest, he allegedly admitted improper building practices such as mixing sea sand with concrete.

"No one ever told me I shouldn't build with sea sand," the Anatolia news agency quoted him as saying. Mr Gocer admitted that he had no construction licence, but said he had never been asked to provide one by local officials.

"I'm not a builder, I'm a poet," he said in one interview. "If I'm guilty I will pay for it, but I don't feel guilty. I feel sorry but I'm not responsible for those deaths."

He was responsible, however, for the construction of 3,000 homes in Yalova, on the southern shore of the Sea of Marmara, almost 500 of which collapsed in the earthquake.

Among the rubble in Yalova, slabs of broken concrete can be found which contain sea shells and even bits of garbage. Mr Gocer has protested that if he is to blame, he is not alone. In that, at least, he is right.

An entire system oiled by petty corruption was exposed when the earthquake hit one of Turkey's most heavily populated regions. Building contractors paid bribes to local officials and inspectors to build quickly and cheaply as the housing market boomed.

Safety regulations were ignored in the construction of high-rise blocks of flats. These breaches became apparent when buildings which were constructed properly survived the tremors.

Government officials appear reluctant to probe too deeply into the shadowy world of the contractors, many of whom have influential political links.

At one site in Yalova where more than 300 people died, bulldozers from the ministry of housing have removed all the rubble from a building which had been constructed by a well-connected company.

Architects and engineers have complained that they are not being given time to gather potential evidence for future prosecutions.

"I understand the frustrations, but it could be very difficult to prove in court which bit of rubble is which," said the prime minister, Bulent Ecevit, in an interview last month, suggesting that the focus should now be on proper enforcement of building regulations in the future.

Both government and military leaders are now accusing critics of the state of being unpatriotic at a time of national trauma, but they seem to have underestimated the level of popular discontent.

Many families have already begun the lengthy process of filing hundreds of private lawsuits against companies and individuals.

In theory, contractors could be sentenced to up to 10 years in jail if found guilty of causing death by neglect. In the past, however, defendants have paid small fines instead of going to prison. The scale of the tragedy may prevent that this time.