Sivas Massacre: Opposition demands facing the past, opening of 'Museum of Shame'

The aftermath of the fire in Madımak Hotel.

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The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) have submitted a parliamentary motion for an inquiry into the Sivas Massacre and a law proposal regarding the incident.

Thirty-seven people, including 33 intellectuals and writers, were killed in a hotel fire started by a mob in the central Anatolian province of Sivas on July 2, 1993. They were in the province to attend the Alevis' Pir Sultan Abdal Festival.

CLICK - 'Commemorations are a warning against lynch culture'

Among the HDP reputies, Gaziantep MP Mahmut Toğrul submitted a parliamentary inquiry, requesting the perpetrators of the massacre to be identified.

He said that more than 15,000 people joined the attack, citing Sivas Security Directorate records dated on the day of the massacre. However, he added, legal action has not been taken against officials on duty at the time at the governor's office, security directorate and the gendarmerie command.

Everyone who is responsible for the massacre, from top to the bottom, including the president, the prime minister and ministers, should be revealed, he said.

Madımak Hotel

Muş MP Gülüstan Kılıç also requested an investigation of the massacre and the revelation of those who politically supported the massacre.

She said the trial of the massacre didn't meet the expectations of the people, especially the Alevis. The state should face this hate crime and apologize from the aggrieved people, she added.

Kocaeli MP Ömer Gergerlioğlu submitted a law proposal for the acts of lynch to be defined as a crime against humanity in the Turkish Penal Code and for the massacre's to be given an aggravated prison sentence of minimum 10 years.

Another inquiry request by HDP İstanbul MP Zeynel Özen has been rejected by the votes of deputies from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), and its ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

The HDP MPs also stated that the state should disclose secret documents regarding the incident and the "deep powers" behind it should be revealed.

Süleyman Bülbül, a CHP MP from Aydın and a member of the Parliamentary Committee of Justice, submitted a bill to turn the Madımak Hotel into the "Madımak Museum of Shame."

Criminal complaint by AKP youth head

Murat Toraman, the AKP youth organization's chair in Sivas, and a municipal council member of the city, filed a criminal complaint against those who use the "Sivas Massacre" expression.

He said in his petition of complaint that he wanted those associate the massacre with Sivas city to be sentenced.

Meanwhile, Hüseyin Karababa, who lost his sister Gülsün Karababa in the massacre, also filed a complaint against Governor of Sivas Salih Ayhan, who referred to the massacre as "the Sivas incidents." He asserted that Ayhan's expressions meant the denial of the massacre. (TP/VK)

Sivas Massacre and its trial

26 years ago on July 2, 37 people, including 33 artists and writers, 2 hotel workers and 2 attackers, lost their lives in the fire started at Madımak Hotel in Sivas. 33 intellectuals were in Sivas to attend the Pir Sultan Abdal festivities. 65 people, 14 of whom were police officers, got wounded in the fire.

124 people were arrested in relation with the fire. In the seven-year trial process, 33 people sentenced to death and 85 people were given prison sentences of 2 to 15 years. 37 defendants were acquitted. The death sentences of 33 people were converted to aggravated life sentences.

On March 13, 2012, the Ankara 11th Heavy Penal Court dropped the charges of the Sivas Massacre trial in line with the prosecutor's demand to apply the statute of limitations to the case.

As the 9th Penal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the verdict on violation of statute of limitations, attorney Şenal Sarıhan took the case to the Constitutional Court in 2014. However, the court has not yet announced its judgement. In response, lawyer Sarıhan appealed to the Constitutional Court regarding the long judicial processes.

Names of the people who lost their lives in the massacre: Muhibe Akarsu – (35 years old, guest), Muhlis Akarsu – (45 years old, artist), Gülender Akça – (25 years old, artist), Metin Altıok – (52 years old, poet and writer), Ahmet Alan – (22 years old, artist), Mehmet Atay – (25 years old, journalist), Sehergül Ateş – (30 years old, artist), Behçet Aysan – (44 years old, poet), Erdal Ayrancı – (35 years old, director), Asım Bezirci – (66 years old, researcher and writer), Belkıs Çakır - (18 years old, artist), Serpil Canik –(19 years old, artist), Muammer Çiçek – (26 years old, actor), Nesimi Çimen – (67 years old, poet and artist), Carina Cuanna – (23 years old, journalist from the Netherlands), Serkan Doğan – (19 years old, artist), Hasret Gültekin– (23 years old, poet and artist), Murat Gündüz - (22 years old, artist), Gülsüm Karababa –(22 years old, artist), Uğur Kaynar – (37 years old, poet), Asaf Koçak – (35 years old, cartoonist), Koray Kaya – (12 years old, child), Menekşe Kaya – (17 years old, artist), Handan Metin – (20 years old, artist), Sait Metin – (23 years old, artist), Huriye Özkan – (22 years old, artist), Yeşim Özkan – (20 years old, artist), Ahmet Öztürk – (21 years old, hotel employee), Ahmet Özyurt – (21 years old, artist), Nurcan Şahin – (18 years old, artist), Özlem Şahin – (17 years old, artist), Asuman Sivri – (16 years old, artist), Yasemin Sivri – (19 years old, artist), Edibe Sulari – (40 years old, artist), İnci Türk – (22 years old, artist), Kenan Yılmaz – (21 years old, hotel employee).

(EKN/SD)

(TP/VK)