Istanbul flood triggers infrastructure debate

A heavy rainfall that hit Istanbul, causing fires and flash floods to occur across the city in the evening hours of July 27 has triggered debates over insufficiency of Istanbul's infrastructures.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) lawmakers Sezgin Tanrıkulu and Barış Yarkadaş submitted a motion in parliament on what they called a "disaster" in Istanbul on July 28. "The ruling Justice and Development Party [AKP] and especially the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's disregard for heavy rain warnings beforehand and not taking any affective, continuous, and concrete precautions suspended life in Istanbul first on July 18 and immediately thereafter on July 27. The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality ignoring infrastructure problems should not be ignored by the public," the motion said. 

Those who failed to take the necessary precautions regarding the issue and those who acted with "recklessness" should be determined, and the necessary procedures against them should be taken, it added. 

Meanwhile, CHP lawmaker Gülay Yedekçi in the parliament's general assembly on July 27 pointed to the city's deficiencies in terms of poor drainage systems and flood-prone areas. 

"We have shared on Twitter. The children are swimming in the streets. Your personal construction policies, constructions undertaken in stream beds, illegal and unlicensed construction understanding and structuring have turned Istanbul into a concrete city and the concrete has now gone bankrupt," she said.

"Istanbul is saying, 'Do not stab a dagger into my heart.' Hear Istanbul's scream, which is saying, 'Do not construct towers for income and overshadow Mimar Sinan's minarets that rise to the sky.' Istanbul is calling on you; hear its scream. Get your wild...