The outcome of the Alevi initiative is unknown

Sedat Ergin

Last Saturday was the 18th anniversary of the Madımak Massacre where 35 people were burned alive on July 2, 1993, and we came across a situation that we never saw before in the commemoration ceremonies of previous years.

Since the first commemoration organized on the first anniversary in 1994, Alevi groups have always been allowed to approach the front of the hotel but that was not allowed this year. Also, the police reacted quite violently with pepper gas and batons against those demonstrators who attempted to climb over the barricades set up at the entrance of the street leading to the hotel.

What are Alevis reacting against?

Alevi institutions are reacting against the new arrangement at the building in which the massacre was committed. It is, without any doubt, a positive development that the building has been nationalized and transformed into a science center for kids with one floor set aside to commemorate the memories of those who lost their lives in the incident; until recently, the building was home to a kebab restaurant and a hotel.

However, a large number of Alevi institutions demand that the building be converted into a monument of shame or a museum.

via The outcome of the Alevi initiative is unknown – Hurriyet Daily News.