A Turkish court has jailed the owner and architect of a hotel that collapsed in a 2023 earthquake, killing 72 people.
Isias Grand owner Ahmet Bozkurt and architect Erdem Yilmaz each received 18 years and five months, the official Anadolu news agency reported. Bozkurt's son, Mehmet Fatih, was sentenced to 17 years and four months, the release said.
The hotel in the southeastern city of Adiyaman was hosting a school volleyball team from Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus and a group of tour guides when the earthquake struck last February.
The three men were convicted of “causing death or injury to more than one person through deliberate negligence,” Anadolu said.
Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Unal Ustel said the sentences were too light and that authorities would appeal, AFP reported.
“The hotel owners didn't get the punishment we expected,” Ustel said. “However, everyone, from those responsible for building the hotel to the architect, was convicted. That made us somewhat happy.”
More than 50,000 people died in Turkey and Syria in the February 6, 2023 earthquake.
About 160,000 buildings collapsed or were badly damaged, leaving 1.5 million people homeless.
Several weeks later, the Turkish government announced that hundreds of people were being investigated and nearly 200 people had been arrested, including developers and property owners.
A group of 39 people, including boys and girls, teachers and parents from the Turkish College of Education in Famagusta, were traveling to Adiyaman for a volleyball tournament when the earthquake struck.
Four parents are the only survivors among them. They managed to dig themselves out of the rubble, while 35 others, including all children, were killed.
The volleyball group had chosen the seven-story Isias Grand, along with as many as 40 tour guides who were there for practice.
It was one of the most famous hotels in Adiyaman, but it collapsed in an instant.
Isias has been in operation since 2001, but according to scientific analysis, gravel and sand from the local river were mixed with other building materials to form the columns supporting the building.
The sheer scale of collapsed buildings in the earthquake has sparked widespread criticism of the Turkish government for encouraging a building boom while failing to enforce building regulations that have been tightened after previous disasters.