Sivas massacre commemoration forbidden
Sivas massacre commemoration forbidden
According to reports coming through Sivas governor Ali Kolat has denied permission to the group planning a commemoration of the Madimak Hotel massacre. The governor has denied both permission for a demonstration in front of the hotel and a press conference to be held in the same place.
What happened on 2 July 1993
On 2 July 1993, a group of radical Islamists calling for sharia and death to infidels gathered around the Madimak Hotel where the Pir Sultan Abdal Alevite Festival attendants were accommodated.
The demonstration which started under cover of protesting novelist, Aziz Nesin, who translated and published Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses and criticized Islam, turned into a violent attack and eventually the crown set fire on the Madimak Hotel.
Nesin was saved by security forces, but 37 other intellectuals and festival participants who stuck in the hotel, were killed. Security forces were criticized for not stopping the crowd.
Although a couple of perpetrators were arrested and after a 13-year trial were convicted they were soon released under an amnesty law known as the “rehabilitation project”
The Sivas massacre targeted not only Aziz Nesin and The Satanic Verses but also Turkey's Alevi minority who are the second largest religious community in Turkey, although no official statistics are available.
Human Rights Association in Turkey (IHD) has also proposed that Hotel Madimak where 37 people were set fire on and killed 17 years ago should be converted into a ‘Museum of Disgrace’. IHD discussed that ‘Madimak Museum’ will help Alevites to recover from the trauma caused by this massacre.
The Human Rights Association (IHD) has asked that the real responsible behind the Madimak massacre need to be found and brought before justice.
Recently a series of smearing reports had been published indicating that there was the hand of the PKK in the massacre. Clearly a smear campaign promptly suffocated in its on lies.
What happened on 2 July 1993
On 2 July 1993, a group of radical Islamists calling for sharia and death to infidels gathered around the Madimak Hotel where the Pir Sultan Abdal Alevite Festival attendants were accommodated.
The demonstration which started under cover of protesting novelist, Aziz Nesin, who translated and published Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses and criticized Islam, turned into a violent attack and eventually the crown set fire on the Madimak Hotel.
Nesin was saved by security forces, but 37 other intellectuals and festival participants who stuck in the hotel, were killed. Security forces were criticized for not stopping the crowd.
Although a couple of perpetrators were arrested and after a 13-year trial were convicted they were soon released under an amnesty law known as the “rehabilitation project”
The Sivas massacre targeted not only Aziz Nesin and The Satanic Verses but also Turkey's Alevi minority who are the second largest religious community in Turkey, although no official statistics are available.
Human Rights Association in Turkey (IHD) has also proposed that Hotel Madimak where 37 people were set fire on and killed 17 years ago should be converted into a ‘Museum of Disgrace’. IHD discussed that ‘Madimak Museum’ will help Alevites to recover from the trauma caused by this massacre.
The Human Rights Association (IHD) has asked that the real responsible behind the Madimak massacre need to be found and brought before justice.
Recently a series of smearing reports had been published indicating that there was the hand of the PKK in the massacre. Clearly a smear campaign promptly suffocated in its on lies.
