Five Syrian children and their parents died in a house fire in central Turkey on Friday, having moved there after surviving last week's earthquake.
The family had gone to Konya region from the Nurdagi district of Gaziantep, after the southern Turkish city was badly damaged by the February 6 quake that hit Turkey and Syria.
Munir, 45, and Meryem, 43, and their children Viam, 13, Riham, 13, Seyma, eight, Saddam, six, and Yusuf, four, had moved in with relatives in Konya, Anadolu state news agency reported, without giving the family's surnames.
The death toll from the 7.8-magnitude quake has now exceeded 41,000 across Turkey and Syria.
“We saw the fire but we could not intervene. A girl was rescued from the window,” resident Muhsin Cakir told Anadolu.
Konya's chief public prosecutor's office said the house was a single-storey property with 14 people living there.
“Seven people survived the fire and are continuing their treatment, and seven people died,” the prosecutor's office said.
An investigation is continuing by a deputy chief prosecutor and two public prosecutors, it added.
Turkey is home to nearly four million Syrians.
Many of them live in south-eastern regions devastated by last week's disaster, which has claimed the lives of more than 38,000 people in Turkey and nearly 3,700 in Syria, according to official figures.
There is no official figure for the number of people displaced in Turkey’s side of the disaster region, which is home to some 14 million people.
Nearly two weeks after the earthquake, many are still sleeping in tents, factories, train cars and greenhouses.
The Turkish government and dozens of aid groups have launched a massive relief effort. The UN launched a $1 billion appeal on Thursday to help more than five million survivors.
The government said on Wednesday that more than 5,400 shipping containers have been deployed as shelters and more than 200,000 tents dispatched.
In the mountain villages of Kahramanmaras province, locals are battling to keep warm during the bitterly cold nights, AP reported.
Buyuknacar, a village just a few kilometres from the epicentre, was severely damaged and 158 people were killed.
Two days after the earthquake, a military helicopter brought supplies and on the fifth day the road was cleared.
Villagers said they feared icy conditions in the mountains would lead to further deaths.
Umut Sitil, 45, told AP: “Our basic need is, first, containers. Tents won’t work here. People in tents will freeze to death.”
On Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 2.2 million people had left the disaster zone.
Of those, he said, the housing needs of 1.6 million had been met, including some 890,000 people placed in public facilities, such as student dormitories, and 50,000 in hotels.
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Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
