Thousands protest dropping of Sivas case

Hurriyet.com.tr

DHA photo

Turkey's Alevi organizations have staged a rally in Istanbul's Kadıköy district today to protest the dropping of the case over the Sivas Massacre.
 
An Ankara court had dropped a high-profile case over the deadly 1993 torching of a Sivas hotel on March 13, ruling that the charges against the suspects exceeded the statute of limitations.  
 
Thousands have turned up for the rally, gathering at Kadıköy's main square. Certain roads were previously closed by the city to allow room for the meeting.  
 
No clashes have been reported as the rally continued peacefully.
 
Thirty-three intellectuals and two hotel employees perished during an Alevi cultural festival on July 2, 1993, when an Islamist mob torched the Madımak Hotel in the Central Anatolian province of Sivas.

The mob was agitated mainly by the presence of popular atheist writer Aziz Nesin, who was then translating Salman Rushdie’s “Satanic Verses.” Two of the arsonists also died.