| Maraş Massacre | |
|---|---|
| Location | Kahramanmaraş Province, Turkey |
| Date | December 1978 |
| Target | Alevi civilians |
| Deaths | more than 100 |
| Perpetrator(s) | Grey Wolves |
The Maraş Massacre (tr: Maraş katliamı) or Kahramanmaraş Massacre of December 1978 was the massacre of over one hundred civilians, mostly Alevis, a minority Muslim group in Turkey. The direct perpetrators were Greywolves.[1] It was an attack by rightists on leftists, Sunnis (probably Kurdish as well as Turkish) on Alevis.[1]
Contents |
The incident in Kahramanmaraş lasted from 19 to 26 December 1978. They started with a bomb thrown into a cinema attended mostly by right-wingers.[2] Rumors spread that left-wingers had thrown the bomb. The next day a bomb was thrown into a coffee-shop frequented by left-wingers,[2] In the evening of 21 December 1978 the teachers Hacı Çolak and Mustafa Yüzbaşıoğlu were killed on their way home. They were known as left-wingers.[3] While a crowd of some 5,000 people prepared for the funeral right-wing groups stirred up emotions saying that "the communists are going to bomb the mosque and will massacre our Muslim brothers."[3]
On 23 December 1978 the incidents turned into a mass phenomenon.[2] Groups stormed the quarters where Alevis were living destroying houses and shops. Many offices including that of DİSK, TÖB-DER, Pol-DER and CHP were destroyed.[3] During the incidents 150 people were killed, more than 200 houses and approximately 100 shops were destroyed.[4][2] The figures on casualties vary slightly. The same figure is given in the Independent Communication Network Bianet[5] and the platform Turkish information, while the daily Zaman puts the death toll at 105.[6] On 26 December 1978 martial law was announced in İstanbul, Ankara, Adana, Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep, Elazığ, Bingöl, Erzurum, Erzincan, Kars, Malatya, Sivas and Urfa.
The court cases opened at military courts lasted until 1991. A total of 804 defendants, mostly right-wingers, were put on trial. The courts passed 29 death penalties and sentenced seven defendants to life imprisonment and 321 people to sentences between one and 24 years' imprisonment. The Court of Cassation quashed the sentences and because of legal amendments all defendants were released in 1991.
Hasan Fehmi Güneş, who became Interior Minister after the incidents is convinced that the massacre was planned.[2] Ruşen Sümbüloğlu, chair of the Association of persons from 1978 in Ankara claimed that the Counter-Guerrilla was behind the provocation.[2] Fevzi Gümüş, chair of the Cultural Association Pir Sultan Abdal is convinced that the CIA and the deep state must have been involved[2] Turan Eser, President of the Alevi Bektasi Federation, spoke at the 29th anniversary of the massacre in Maras. He claimed that before the events, "counter guerrilla and racist paramilitary imperialist henchmen made efforts to spread the seeds of hatred between those who were citizens of the same country and had lived together in peace for centuries."[5]
Ökkeş Şendiller, who had been on trial for being involved in the incident and later became a deputy, later joining the nationalist BBP maintained that the government carried responsibility. A secret document revealed that the secret service MİT had planned the incidents.[2] Opinions of witnesses include the following observations:[5]
On 28 December 2007 the radio station Voice of Free Radio and Songs (tr: Özgür Radyo ve Türkülerin Sesi Radyosu) broadcast a program in which Ökkeş Şendiller was interviewed over the phone. Passages of the conversation with Hasan Harmancı are (only quotes from ÖŞ):[7]
On 30 April 2011 Hamit Kapan, an alleged member of Devrimci Savaş[8] accused General Yusuf Haznedaroğlu, leading member of the command for martial law in Kahramanmaraş for being responsible for the torture at the time.[9] The general had tried to blame his organization for the killings. He had been held incommunicado for 300 days and two friends of his had died under torture.[9][10]