Turkey’s lax policing of building codes flagged before quake

ZEYNEP BILGINSOY and SUZAN FRASER
Associated Press

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey has for years tempted fate by not enforcing modern construction codes while allowing — and in some cases, encouraging — a real estate boom in earthquake-prone areas, experts say. The lax enforcement, which experts in geology and engineering have long warned about, is gaining renewed scrutiny in the aftermath of this week’s devastating quakes, which flattened thousands of buildings and killed more than 20,000 people across Turkey and Syria. As one expert put it: “This is a disaster caused by shoddy construction, not by an earthquake.” The well-known construction deficiencies were largely ignored, experts said, because addressing them would be expensive, unpopular and restrain a key engine of the country’s economic growth.