‘While There are 1,334 Ill Prisoners, Why Only the Convict of Sivas Massacre?’

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Social Memory Platform has issued a statement about the pardon granted by President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Ahmet Turan Kılıç, one of the convicts of Sivas Massacre, which claimed the lives of 35 people in Madımak Hotel in 1993.

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The Platform has made the following statement:

"Yesterday, the aggravated life sentence of Ahmet Turan Kılıç, one of the defendants of Sivas Massacre, was removed by the special decree of the President. The 27-year lawsuit filed into a massacre was time barred, its murderers were and are still being rewarded with impunity. In fact, Sivas Massacre is a crime against humanity and statutory limitations are not applicable to crimes against humanity.

"The mindset that committed Sivas Massacre and the perpetrators who planned it have never been investigated. Only some of those captured by cameras were taken to court. These convicted murderers were regarded as victims by the political Islam supporters of the time and are regarded as such by the current government. The leaders and key figures of the massacre have been blessed by the government.

"Moreover, different figures that were not questioned before the law have been whitewashed by the so-called 'intellectuals' and 'journalists'. The history will, of course, not forgive all that has happened. Considering that there are several ill and old convicts in need of care in prisons, what is the reason for this special treatment, which is not the case for them?

"According to the data of Human Rights Association (İHD), there are 1,334 ill prisoners and 557 of them are critically ill. When it is the case, will prioritizing a single person not pave the way for an unequal understanding? And we, of course, have a few words for the ones who made him hit the headlines as a 'grandfather': 'No matter who forgives murderers, we will not forgive them."

About Sivas Massacre and its judicial process

26 years ago on July 2, 37 people, including 33 artists and writers, 2 hotels 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.

(RT/SD)