Türkİye

Turkish Press Review

Turkish dailies on Friday cover reactions to the mine accident in central Turkey where 18 miners remain trapped because of a flood, as well as to the crossing of peshmerga forces into Kobani via Turkey

31.10.2014 - Update : 31.10.2014
Turkish Press Review

ISTANBUL

Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Most Turkish dailies reported Thursday on reactions to the mine accident in central Turkey, where a flood has trapped 18 miners. 

A group of 34 miners were trapped underground Tuesday after a water pipe malfunction caused flooding in the mine. Efforts were underway to rescue the 18 miners who remain trapped in the Ermenek district of the central Anatolian province of Karaman, around 400 kilometers south of Ankara capital. 

SABAH asks "Will they get away with it again?" referring to the company that owns the mine, Has Sekerler Mining Limited Company.

The company has denied any negligence, describing the incident as a "natural disaster."   

The paper says that statements by workers and Energy Minister Taner Yildiz suggest that the owner of the mine may be responsible for the accident through negligence.

Describing the mining company, YENI SAFAK says the accident was the result of "not caring." The daily claims that the head of Has Sekerler Mining Limited Company, Saffet Uyar, strained every nerve to cut to costs, even did not pay the miners' salaries. 

However, a representative of the company said Thursday that measures were taken for worker health and safety, and all necessary audits were made by the authorized organizations.

"It is impossible to state a reason for the mine accident. According to information that we received from surviving workers, it could be a natural disaster," the company had said.

VATAN quotes Energy Minister Taner Yildiz as saying "They cannot escape" for the the mining company which called the accident a "natural disaster". 

On Thursday, Yildiz had criticized those who called the accident in the mine a "natural disaster." "This is not a natural disaster and we have to share everything truthfully with public opinion," he said.

HABERTURK also told the heartbreaking story of a trapped miner, Tezcan Gokce, whose aged father and mother are waiting for him to come home. "My son (Tezcan) cannot swim, what does he do in the water?" the daily quoted the miner's mother Ayse. 

Turkish search-and-rescue teams opened a third location for drilling in an effort to rescue 18 miners trapped miners. "We will drill 170-meter deep down from a hill and establish a separate intervention location," said Yildiz, adding that the exact cause of the accident would be determined after the mine had been penetrated and cleaned. 

In other news, Turkish dailies also covered the peshmerga forces from northern Iraq entering the battle-torn Syrian town of Kobani via Turkey.

"Peshmerga troops enter Kobani, draw criticism from Syria," says ZAMAN, reporting that Syria has lashed out at Turkey for allowing foreign fighters into the country. 

The first batch of Kobani-bound peshmerga troops landed on a private plane at Turkey's GAP Airport from Erbil International Airport early Wednesday, and then were stationed in the Suruc district of Turkey's border province Sanliurfa.

A separate truck convoy carrying their heavy weaponry also entered Turkey on Wednesday via the Habur border crossing in the southeastern province of Sirnak.

The leader of the Iraqi Kurdish regional rule, Massoud Barzani, said that access of peshmerga forces into Kobani would have been impossible without Turkey's approval, AKSAM reported. 

The daily quotes Barzani as saying, "intense bilateral and trilateral talks were held among the U.S., Turkey and the Kurdish region to arrange the access for the peshmerga."

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