Retired Architect Emir Tekin, a resident of the neighborhood who made observations about the building, said, "We need to make a distinction between before and after the year 2000. After the 1999 earthquake, building inspection companies were established by law. Now the building is being built under control and there are almost no problems in these buildings, so the control is done very well.
I am 1.5-2 kilometers away from the collapsed building. But I looked at old photos of the building and its current state. The building collapsed onto the ground floor. The shop floor is quite high. There is also incompatibility with the project in buildings built before 2000.
In other words, the building was enlarged by 50 percent on site. It was physically enlarged with the same iron and the same girth. In order to issue title deeds, the number of flats was not increased, but was enlarged horizontally. It is obvious that we are experiencing the same thing in this collapsed building.
A building was built on a small plot of land with 4 flats. There are more than 20 apartments and shops in this building. Even if it were this much, this structure would not be possible with a 1.50 precedent. This building has been enlarged by at least 50 percent. There is a problem: These buildings cannot be transformed. The ministry gives a 30 percent zoning increase so that the building can be transformed. "Even a 30 percent zoning increase does not provide today's construction area," he said.
Stating that her friend talked to the people in the building about urban transformation, Meryem Gençağ said, "The friend's children are under the rubble, we are waiting for him. The mother also set out from Trabzon and is coming. She lives here and went to Trabzon because she has a job. She comes when she gets the news. They recently talked about urban transformation. They could not reach an agreement with the flat owners."
He had two children, both of them under the rubble. One is a university student girl. His son is also 25-26 years old. The parents had work in Trabzon and went there. They are on their way, they are coming. Our friend's daughter and son are under the rubble. We are very sorry. It cannot be explained, we are at the end of words. "We cannot express our feelings, we are very sorry," he said.
Her other friend, Fatma Bel, said, "We are very sorry. We pray, I hope everyone gets out safely. He was also my friend. We pray. We are waiting for them. I hope they come."
Cemalettin Öztürk said, "We don't know exactly what happened, but we know that the vehicle remained under the building, that's what they informed us. We need to enter the scene so we can see what condition the vehicle is in. First of all, get well soon to those who are trapped under the building. Hopefully, no one will be killed or injured. This is our only wish."
A person who stated that his daughter's nursery friend was under the rubble said, "We have known her for two years, she is in the same nursery with my daughter. I saw it on the internet, I thought it was the similarity of her surnames. I also knew that she lived on this side. I came now. I watched her video, they took our friend out. But we don't know our Gülce. I guess our Gülce hasn't emerged yet. We are waiting for her too. We will go to the hospital now. God help us."
Speaking to journalists, Tolga Gülpınar, one of the residents of the building, stated that the fire brigade was evacuated with their mobile elevator and said, "I was alone at home during the collapse. We woke up with the impact of the collapse. We tried to stay as sane and calm as possible and evacuate without making our job difficult. The fire brigade did their best to evacuate us, and we tried to help them." he said.
Stating that he was taken out of the building by the mobile elevator of the fire brigade, Gülpınar explained that the building was old and that they had previously attempted urban transformation together with their neighbors.
Stating that they met with the contractors together with the residents of the apartment to benefit from the "Half is on Us" campaign, but they did not conclude an agreement, Gülpınar said, "We intended to do so, but we did not finalize it. I wish we had." he said.
Stating that he did not want to comment on the allegations that columns were cut or dismantled in the workplace on the ground floor of the building in the past, Gülpınar noted that he did not want to make serious accusations against anyone about an issue that he did not witness, and that experts would examine it and what was necessary would be done.
Stating that there were some cracks in the building before, Gülpınar said that some neighbors said they heard cracking sounds before the collapse, but he did not witness these sounds.
