Turkey: Sivas Massacre lawsuit dropped due to statute of limitations

The trial of three suspects allegedly involved in the mass killing of 33 people in Turkey's central city of Sivas thirty years ago was dropped by the court on Thursday due to statute of limitations.

The hotel where visitors of a festival organized by Alevi groups stayed was torched and burned down by a lynching mob on 2 July 1993. Thirty-three people, many teenagers and some prominent intellectuals among them, perished in the fire.

Although an estimated 15,000 people took part in the encircling of the hotel and in the angry demonstrations against the participants of the Alevi festival, a mere 124 were prosecuted, and the investigation did not seek to find out if the massacre was an organized one and there were were instigators behind it.

Three suspects, Murat Sonkur, Murat Karatas and Eren Ceyla, fled abroad in the course of the investigation, and the final hearing in the trial of the three fugitives was held today in Ankara.

One of the complainants, Huseyin Karababa, told the court that no state official was indicted over the incident, which he said was "a massacre committed by the state against Alevis."

He continued:

"They have tried to make this massacre look like an ordinary incident by putting the blame on a couple of jackals."

Senal Sarihan, one of the lawyers representing the families of victims, said:

"We have been reinstating for years that the case involves a crime against humanity. There can be neither an amnesty nor statute of limitations in such cases."

The panel nevertheless decided to drop the lawsuit due to statute of limitations, sparking a protest by an Alevi group in the court house. The police barred the group's representatives from making a statement for the press outside the court house.