Sivas Massacre remembered on 28th anniversary

About Sivas Massacre

26 years ago on July 2, 37 people, including 33 artists, intellectuals and writers, two hotel workers and two perpetrators, lost their lives in the fire that 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 to the fire. In the seven-year trial, 33 people were 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 the statute of limitations, attorney Şenal Sarıhan took the case to the Constitutional Court in 2014. However, the court has not yet announced its judgment. In response, lawyer Sarıhan appealed to the Constitutional Court regarding the long judicial processes.

Those who lost their lives: 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).