Some just want to forget the incident in which 37 people were killed in a hotel torched by rioters, while some want to confront the event and seek reconciliation. Regardless of their suggestions for comforting the city, almost everybody agrees that the city has never been the same since July 2, 1993.
On that day, during the Alevi Pir Sultan Abdal Cultural and Literary Festival, many participants who were staying at the Madımak Hotel in downtown Sivas found themselves besieged by an angry mob. The guests took refuge in the hotel, whereupon the rioting crowd set surrounding cars and the venue ablaze. When the fire was finally extinguished, 37 people were found dead, including two members of the mob and two hotel workers. Among those lucky enough to have escaped the blaze and thought to be the mob’s main target was Aziz Nesin, publisher of Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses.”
Fifteen years later, the Madimak Hotel is still operating as a hotel, and demonstrations were held in front of it yesterday. A part of the hotel now also serves as a kebab house. Those who want to confront the incidents want the hotel turned into a museum; those who want to forget the events are opposed to making the unfortunate event the defining moment in their city’s history. But most Sivas residents want to know the real perpetrators of the crime, pointing to the presence of provocateurs.
The killers were arrested and tried, and after some 13 years of trials, convicted. However some were later released under a law known as the “rehabilitation project,” which gave partial amnesty for terrorist crimes committed in 2003. Some perpetrators are still at large. The city’s inhabitants claim that some of the perpetrators were even not from the city and that some passersby were wrongly convicted.
“It’s enough. Sivas is remembered only for the [1993] incidents. We want to be left alone,” says a shoe seller downtown. “They are only coming to commemorate the events, disturbing us and leaving the next day,” he says, adding that there are other things to remember the city by, for example soccer club Sivasspor, which is doing well, and the Sivas Congress.
On Sept. 4, 1919, a congress was held in Sivas as the first step in the establishment of the Turkish Parliament. One of the decisions made by the congress was to resist occupation after World War I.
There are teahouses, streets and a hotel in the city bearing the Sept. 4 date in their names, but the city is usually remembered only by the July 2 tragedy. “The city was never the same,” says an Alevi café owner. “Many people have left the city. Before, we had good relations with the Sunnis, but it is not the same. Some tradesmen say that even their checks are not accepted just because they are from Sivas. They are right,” he says, adding that before the July 2 events, the city was developing economically and democratically, but after the deaths progress came to a halt. He contends that in order to comfort the city, The Madimak Hotel should become a museum, and a full-scale investigation should be launched. The main slogan and the theme of the demonstrations yesterday expressed this same wish.
One of the main questions connected to the events concerns the fact that there were eight hours between the mob’s initial provocations and the hotel’s torching, but during these hours, security forces did not intervene. At the demonstrations yesterday the reason for this non-interference was questioned.
The Sivas Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TSO) together with some civil society organizations, in a letter addressed to the president, prime minister, parliament speaker and government, said they were tired of accusations and wanted an apology from the state.
“The responsible state officials of the time did not take the necessary measures; this led to fatal results,” the letter says, contrasting the officials’ neglect with the attention of the tens of thousands of people from outside Sivas who come to the city to mark the event each year.
“The people of Sivas do not have any relations with the sad event; the city wants to live in peace, and it has the maturity to overcome its own wounds,” the letter pointed out.
The TSO also underlined that the Sivas event was a preplanned and arranged killing. The letter further indicates that the there is unity between Alevis and Sunnis and that a solution must be found regarding the Madimak Hotel that will be accepted by all. The letter stressed that the state should support the city in overcoming the problem.
The organizer of one of the memorial services, who completely opposes the idea of “forgetting the massacre,” says that in order to confront the events, the state should admit its responsibility, asserting that perhaps some participants are overshadowing the “humanitarian side” of the events with political motives, turning them into Alevi-Sunni clashes.
An Alevi university student agrees with him and says that the only way to confront the event is participation by the thousands in memorial services without looking at the issue as an “Alevi-Sunni” problem -- and admitting the shame of the incident while avoiding politicization of this very humanitarian pain.
Independent Tunceli deputy Kamer Genç and Social Democrat People’s Party (SHP) leader Murat Karayalçın made separate visits to the Madimak Hotel. The Republican People’s Party (CHP) also held its own tribute. A group from the Sivas Halkevleri chanted slogans against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) during their demonstration. Separately, a main memorial service including family members of the victims was held with the participation of thousands.
Benzer Haberler 
