20th anniversary of Sivas massacre

[Medusa]

in memory of those burned by radicals



songs are never burned!!!!!







20th Year anniversary of Sivas Massacre does not forgotten / Turkey News
How had it happened the Sivas Massacre

The Sivas massacre refers to the events of July 2, 1993 which resulted in the killing of 37 people, mostly Alevi intellectuals, and two hotel employees. Two people from the mob also died. The victims, who had gathered for a cultural festival in Sivas, Turkey, were killed when a mob of Salafists set fire to the hotel where the Alevi group had assembled.

The attack took place not long after traditional Friday prayers, when the mob broke through police barricades to surround the Otel Madımak, where artists, writers and musicians had gathered to celebrate 16th century Alevi poet Pir Sultan Abdal. Reportedly angered by the presence of Aziz Nesin, a writer who had translated and published extracts from Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, the enraged fundamentalists surrounded the hotel, shouting “Death to the infidel!” and threatening the assembled artists with lynching. The hotel was set alight, and the fire claimed 35 lives, including those of musicians, poets, tourists and hotel staff, while assembled police did nothing to intervene. Aziz Nesin was able to escape only because attackers initially failed to recognize him. According to reports, when rescuers eventually realized his identity, he was beaten by firemen while a city councilman, Cafer Erçakmak , from the Welfare Party shouted, “This is the devil we should have really killed.”

 

[Medusa]

translation of the song

Güneşin ak yüzüne bir duman çöktü ; a smoke have obscured the white sun
Bir türkü çığlıkla ateşe düştü ;a song fall into fire with a scream

Kuytu bir köşede bir çiçek küstü ; a flower huffed in a hidden corner
Döktü yaprağını boynunu büktü ; it drooped by droping its leaves

Şu Sivasın elinde sazım çalınmaz ;my saz isnt played in sivas
Güllerim yandı yüreğim dayanmaz;my roses were burned so l cant stand

Kararmış yüreğin hiç ışığı olmaz ;dark heart has no light

Bilmez misin ki türküler yanmaz ;dont you know songs never get burned
Günü gelir sanma hesap sorulmaz ; dont think you wont be brought to account
Dayanır kapına pir sultan ölmez pis sultan turns up and never dies

Şu Sivasın elinde sazım çalınmaz
Güllerim yandı yüreğim dayanmaz

 

[Medusa]

Procedural problems during the trials

The legal hearings started in 1993 and the final verdict was given in 2001. Under charges of “attempting to establish a religious state by changing the constitutional order”, 33 were sentenced to death and another 91 were handed varying prison sentences. The death sentences were later converted to life imprisonment due to changes in the law. But as early as 2004, following exoneration and discharges, the number of imprisoned defendants was down to 33.

Cafer Erçakmak, a member of Sivas City Council at that time, was one of the key figures in the investigation. He and seven others managed to escape in 1997 when the Court of Appeals reversed the verdict. Later, it became clear that Erçakmak had married in Sivas on the 27 July 1999, gone on military service on the 22 May 1997, and even applied to the police for a driver’s license.



a large number of lawyers that were attorneys to the defendants of the Madımak Massacre are a part of the AKP’s upper hierarchy: eight are MPs and many are within local politics, not to mention those who went on holding esteemed positions on judicial boards. It isn’t wrong per se for lawyers to defend clients on trial for heinous acts. But the high concentration of such figures within AKP ranks or high-up in parallel tracks points to a structural problem.

Lessons learnt?

Every other statement made by Erdoğan incessantly depicts the protesting ‘terrorists’/‘looters’ as disrespectful of religious values. His false attack on the protesters for “drinking in the Mosque” which started on 3 June 2013 is one such example. The müezzin of the mosque in question countered Erdoğan’s statements on two occasions. Once before he was ‘relieved’ of his duty at the mosque, and once after. Other statements by Erdoğan such as , “[SIZE=5[COLOR="#FF0000"]]if there are thousands on the streets, we have a 50% that we are holding back” or attempts to generally undermine the protests through campaigning around the clock to get as many AKP supporters to his rallies are actions that can only polarise the population.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
Lesson learnt from the Sivas Massacre? | openDemocracy

 

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a humanistic interpretation of islam