Gebze disaster revealed a chain of negligence. The technical report included in the specifications of the metro project in the area provided for the expropriation of 71 buildings that could be damaged by the construction. However, the Ministry of Transport, which took over the project in 2019, halted the expropriation work initiated by the municipality. The specifications were not implemented during the terms of the three ministers who served over the past six years.
The “Akse Junction Station Excavation Report” prepared by the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality when it started the Gebze-Darıca Metro Project in 2017 came to the fore. In line with this report, the municipality decided to expropriate 71 buildings that could be damaged by the construction work. Sixteen buildings were expropriated and vacated. However, when the project was transferred to the Ministry of Transport in 2019, the work was halted.
COLLAPSE WAS DUE TO POOR GROUND
According to a report by Büşra Cebeci in Karar, the Ministry did not take any action regarding the remaining 55 buildings. No steps were taken on this issue during the terms of Cahit Turan, Adil Karaismailoğlu and Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, who were in office during the intervening six years. In recent weeks, an incident occurred that took the lives of four members of the Bilir family. The technical report that emerged revealed that “the disaster would not have occurred if the expropriation work had been completed”. Ministry officials, however, claimed that “the collapse was due to poor ground”.
ACTIVITY REPORT
The 2017 activity report of the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality stated that expropriation work had begun on 71 buildings and an area of 156,626 square metres located on the metro route. The municipality continued the work in 2018. The 2019 activity report stated that 16 buildings had been expropriated and the expropriation process for the remaining 55 buildings was ongoing. However, in the same year, the Gebze–Darıca Metro Line project was transferred to the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure by a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette on 4 October 2019. Following the transfer, no expropriation procedures were carried out in the area. Today, the collapse that claimed four lives showed that the ground risks indicated in the 2017 report were not taken into account. The ground risks in the area have not been eliminated despite the passing years. After the expropriation process was halted, 24 buildings were evacuated along the route, but this number is still below the 71 buildings included in the municipality’s initial plan.
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Gebze’deki yıkım “sürpriz” olmamış: Bir aileyi yok eden ihmaller zinciri, published in BirGün newspaper on November 7, 2025.
