by Tufan Türenc of Hürriyet, July 26, 2004
(Translated into English by Ugur Akinci)
Journalist Tolga Akiner - Will the responsibility [for the crash] be limited to the machinists [driving the train] or will you take any [disciplinary] measures regarding the Minister of Transportation and Turkish Railways Administration Director General?
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan - Which media organization do you represent?
Journalist Tolga Akiner - [Daily] Radikal.
PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan - You are too radical.
Journalist Tolga Akiner - It's my duty to ask questions.
PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan - The nature of the question is what's important. You are not sharing the pain.
Journalist Tolga Akiner -- That's our pain as well.
PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan - If that was the case you wouldn't have asked this question. First dwell on the nature of this accident, why did this accident took place. Your first question is the last question that would not [sic] come to mind. Since 1950, over 10 accidents took place on the same line. Never any such [disciplinary] measures were required. Are we going to ask for the resignation of ministers, the cabinet, just like that for everything that comes to your mind, and every time there is an accident? Ask your questions by knowing your limits. These are the things that happen everywhere in the world. But your approach is ideological.
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Turkish Railways Administration Director General Süleyman Karaman - Soon we will inaugurate speed-train services.
German Railways Board of Directors President Hartmut Mehdom - Don't rush the speed-train service. Don't start the service before you test it for a year. Your technical infrastucture is not sufficient. A tragic accident would be inevitable.
Turkish Railways Administration Director General Süleyman Karaman (privately addressing his staffers who were with him at the same meeting) - These guys don't know s..t [sic] about these things. We are sweating for months on this project. What they're talking about is pure fiction.
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Minister of Transportation Binali Yildirim - I'm not a guy who would cut loose and run away when the going gets rough. I'm standing behind everything I did. If necessary, I'll give an accounting of this as well.
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Turkish Railways Administration Director General Süleyman Karaman - The cause of the accident is not high speed because at the point of derailment the train was running at a speed normal for that spot.
Minister of Transportation Binali Yildirim - At the time of the accident, the train was going at 118 km/hr instead of 80 km.hr.
Attorney of the machinists - “The train was going at 80 km/hr at that spot” is a lie because the machinists were instructed to go at 130 km/hr at that point.
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Prof. Aydin Arel, Faculty of Transportation, Yildiz University - The government has no respect for science.
Various experts - The Turkish railways are inappropriate even for normal trains let alone speed-trains.
President, Istanbul Bar Association - There must be a lawsuit against the prime minister and those in charge for causing multiple deaths.
The Turkish press - The 3 hapless machinists are targeted as the fall guys.