The Deputy Speaker of Parliament Fazilet Özdenefe and the Undersecretary for the State Planning Department Durali Güçlüsoy attended an expanded meeting in Ankara ahead of the resumption of the trial of those held responsible for the İsias Hotel collapse in Adıyaman, Türkiye that claimed the lives of 34 members of the Türk Maarif College secondary school volleyball team.

Evaluating the meeting to BRT, Özdenefe said that they will continue to follow the process closely.

Also speaking Güçlüsoy said that the government and Prime Minister Ünal Üstel were particularly showing great sensitivity towards the case and trial.

Meanwhile, the head of the association, Ruşen Yücesoylu Karakaya and association member Pervin İpekçioğlu, both mothers of children killed in the earthquake met with the Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç on Thursday.

Speaking after the meeting, Karakaya said “we lost our children, our lives, our most precious ones. We have been fighting for justice for 14 months. We are continuing to fight for justice for all the families.”

The trial of a total of 11 people who have been held responsible for the Isias hotel’s collapse is set to resume in Adiyaman on April 26, with the court having most recently convened in January.

All 11 defendants, including the hotel’s owner Ahmet Bozkurt and his two sons Mehmet Fatih Bozkurt and Efe Bozkurt, deny all wrongdoing. They stand accused of “causing death by conscious negligence”, and, if found guilty, could be jailed for up to 22 and a half years each.

However, the families of those killed and the entire Turkish Cypriot political spectrum have demanded that those charges be upgraded to charges of intentionally killing those inside the hotel.

Thousands of people, including President Ersin Tatar and multiple members of the TRNC’s cabinet, gathered in Gazimağusa in November to protest for the charges to be upgraded.

Another such protest is planned for Friday in Lefkoşa, with people set to march from the Lefkoşa bus terminal to the Turkish Embassy.