Erzin is the only city in Khatai not destroyed by the earthquake. Why?

Erzin is one of the few cities in the Hatay region that did not mourn those killed in the earthquake in Turkey, all of its buildings survived and none fell. The mayor of the region Okes Elmasoglu explained to Euronews why this happened.

“Erzin is a city with a population of 42 thousand people. We are located 15 km from Osmaniye, 110 km from Hatay and very close to Adana,” Mayor Okes Elmasoglu said. “Nevertheless, we did not lose a single life of our inhabitants. No one was hurt. Only those who died because of our people who went to neighboring provinces.”

He then said, “I tried my best to prevent illegal construction under any circumstances.”

Elmasoğlu added that he broke contracts several times with citizens who wanted to build illegal structures. We issued fines for those who do this. “They were recorded in the protocol. We sent the necessary notifications to the prosecutor’s office. In this sense, my conscience is clear,” he explained.

Hatay’ın can kaybı olmayan ilçesi Erzin’in Belediye Başkanı Ökkeş Elmasoğlu:

Kaçak yapıya müsaade etmedim. Bazen de kızdılar bana. “Memlekette tek doğru adam sen misin” dediler. Bir çok kişiyle kötü oldum. Depremden üç gun önce bir vatandaş selamımı almadı. Vicdanım rahat. pic.twitter.com/NWRSJvbZTV

— Con Sinov (@lordsinov) February 11, 2023

“We need to enforce our rules and revise the building inspection system. But the state and we, all managers, must apply willpower to this issue and strongly show this to citizens. Otherwise, lives will be lost. We hope that this earthquake will be for us a lesson so that such major catastrophes do not recur.”

Okes Elmasoglu was born in Erzin in 1979 and graduated from Marmara University in 2002 with a law degree. The mayor, who briefly worked as a lawyer in Istanbul, returned to Erzin in 2005. Elmasoğlu, who acted as a lawyer for the municipality of Erzin, also served as president of the municipal council of the region. He was a member of the Supervisory Board of the Khatai Bar for three terms. He was elected mayor of Erzin by the Republican People’s Party in the March 31, 2019 local elections. He is married and has two daughters.

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