SERPİL SAVUMLU

News Center- The history of Türkiye is full of massacres. 32 years ago, a massacre took place in Sivas. 33 people, including women, children, artists, writers were brutally killed at the Hotel Madımak in Sivas on July 2, 1993.

Artists, writers and musicians gathered in the hotel for the 4-day Pir Sultan Abdal Festival. A radical Islamist group marched to the hotel after attending Friday prayers in a nearby mosque. They set the building on fire and killed 33 people.

The names of 33 people killed in the hotel: 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 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).

The attackers waiting outside of the hotel watched the massacre.  Following the massacre, 35 people were detained. Then, that number rose to 190. 66 out of them were released in a short time. 124 defendants were charged with “attempting to establish a religious state by changing the constitutional order” and were indicted on charges. The first hearing of the Sivas Massacre Trial was held at the Ankara State Security Court on October 21, 1993. On December 26, 1994, 22 defendants were sentenced to 15 years in prison, three to 10 years in prison, 54 defendants to three years in prison and six defendants to two years in prison. After lengthy court proceedings, the 33 defendants were sentenced to death and 14 defendants were sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1998. When Türkiye overturned the death penalty in 2002, the sentences were commuted; the 33 defendants were sentenced to life sentences. Over time, some defendants were paroled or released after completing their sentences.

The Sivas Massacre went down in history as one of the most brutal massacres carried out by radical Islamists in the Republic of Türkiye.

NuJINHA spoke to Neval Balkız, a witness of the Sivas massacre, about the massacre and the massacres committed in Syria.

At the beginning of her speech, Neval Balkız recalled the massacres and attacks that took place in Sivas, Başbağlar, Gazi neighborhood, Roboski (Uludere), Suruç, Ankara, Istanbul, Diyarbakır and other cities of Türkiye. “Those saying that ‘removing a brick will not cause the wall to collapse’ always build the mechanisms to make this wall permanent, as a fundamental element of the system.”

Neval Balkız thinks that the Sivas massacre, also known as the Madımak massacre, had similarities with other massacres. “A spiral of violence has been taking place in Türkiye since the Sivas Massacre.”

Speaking about the rise in social polarization and hate speech in the country, she said:

Neval Balkız believes that the rise in social polarization and hate speech can be prevented when “people should put themselves in each other’s shoes. In this way, we can build social peace.”

Attacks on Alawites in Syria

Neval Balkız also talked about the attacks on the Alawites in Syria. “Massacres were committed against the Alawite community during the Ottoman Empire. In the history of the Republic of Türkiye, many massacres such as Maraş, Çorum, Malatya, Sivas, Madımak and Gazi massacres, have been committed against the Alawite community. In Syria, the massacre against the Alawites continues. Women are kidnapped, raped, sold in slave markets, displaced and their places of worship are burned down. We can say that a Madımak takes place in Syria every day. Despite all these attacks on the Alawites, the people in Türkiye and in the region remain silent. Only the Alawites raise their voices against these attacks.”

Massacres and conflicts take place in Syria, ethnic and religious groups are at risk in the war-torn country, Neval Balkız said. “A common secular struggle against imperialism and the climate of fear imposed on the people can end the massacres.”