All Turkey remembers massacre in Madımak

Hürriyet Daily News with wires

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The murder of 33 Alevi artists and intellectuals on July 2, 1993, in the central Anatolian province of Sivas was marked yesterday in ceremonies held at the site of the tragedy and around the country. 

Sixteen years ago, enraged crowds led by fundamentalist agitators set fire to the Madımak Hotel, causing the deaths of 37 people who had come to Sivas to attend the Pir Sultan Abdal Culture Festival. Two hotel personnel and two attackers who attempted to enter the building also died in the incident. Guests at the hotel, mainly Alevi intellectuals and artists, reportedly could not escape the fury of the crowds outside.

This week, thousands gathered in front the Madımak Hotel, and some tearfully laid flowers as they remembered the 37 individuals who died inside the building that day. Officials at the time were criticized for not stopping the crowd, which began gathering in front of the hotel almost eight hours before the fire broke out.

’In front of state’s eyes’

Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay admitted that the Madımak massacre happened "in front of the eyes of the state and with unusual neglect by the state," daily Vatan reported yesterday.

"By overcoming the insensitivity and negligence of the past this year, even though it is late, we have escaped the shame of having a kebab restaurant in a place where people died," Günay said. A restaurant that used to be located on the hotel’s entrance floor was closed down in the face of increasing complaints.

Günay said he wished from the heart that people would never again feel those kinds of pains, adding that the government would enact the necessary regulations in the near future.

During the memorial ceremonies, many members of political parties and nongovernmental associations Ğ including the Alevi Foundations Federation, the Atatürk Thought Association, the Republican Schools, the Republican Women’s Association, the Sivas branches of the Education-Labor Union and the Cem Foundation, and the Turkey Youth Union Ğ placed a wreath on the Atatürk statue in the city.

Doğan Permek, head of the Alevi Foundations Federation, said Turkey has to face up to its past and that the state should speak out against the attacks made on the secular and modern republic. Permek called on Turkish leaders to attend the July 2 remembrance.

On the day of the massacre, a crowd 1,000 strong left two local mosques after Friday prayers and marched to the hotel where the Alevis were staying. By the time it reached its destination, the crowd had grown to almost 16,000. Some of the demonstrators set fire to the hotel, along with parked cars. When security forces arrived on the scene, they succeeded in pushing the crowd back by firing their guns into the air. Of the 150 people who were inside the hotel, some escaped out the exits and others were helped by the fire brigade or jumped to the building next door. By the time the fire was extinguished, 37 people had died.



’Hotel should be a museum’

Though there have been debates about converting the hotel into a memorial for the dead, nothing has yet come out of such discussions. Republican People’s Party, or CHP, Secretary-General Önder Sav said the hotel should immediately turn into a "museum of tolerance."

Masum Türker, the leader of the Democratic Social Party, or DSP, echoed Sav’s request, saying, "It will help to spread peace and love among the next generations."

The Sivas Police Department installed surveillance equipment along the route followed by the mourners. More than 2,000 police officers were on hand to ensure there were no unwanted incidents.

In Istanbul and İzmir, meetings were scheduled Thursday afternoon to memorialize the murder victims.

Alevism is a liberal sect of Islam, with practices distinct from those of Turkey’s Sunni majority. The Alevi house of worship is called a cemevi, while Sunnis worship in a mosque. The two sects’ rules on fasting and prayer also differ.