Entire families perished in a tragic fire at a ski hotel in Turkey’s Bolu province on Tuesday. It claimed the lives of 76 people and left 51 others injured.
Zehra Sena Gultekin, her husband and their three children died at the Grand Kartal Hotel in Kartalkaya, along with nine other relatives, while holidaying during the school and university break.
Tragically, they were not alone: many similar families were killed by the blaze.
Nedim Turkmen, a columnist for the popular Sozcu daily, also died in the fire along with his wife, Ayse Neva, and their children, Ala Dora and Yuce Ata, both university students.
Economist Atakan Yalcin, a frequent media commentator, and his daughter also succumbed to the disaster. The Gungor family – Burcu, Kivanc, and their young children Pelin and Kerem – were among the victims.
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Likewise, neurology specialist Dr Ahmet Cetiz, his wife, their twin children, Sedat and Vedat, and their youngest child, Esat, all perished.
Official inquiries have been launched, and nine people were arrested on Tuesday.
Even before the full extent of the disaster could be understood, politicians, local government officials and ministers began blaming one another for the tragedy.
Survivors reported that smoke detectors were not functioning, with many saying they were awakened by noises and knocks on their doors at 3am (12am GMT), only to find the building engulfed in flames.
The sprinklers did not work, and there were no signs directing guests to the two emergency staircases. Those who found the staircases discovered, after descending a few levels, that they were also filled with smoke and fire.
Instead of focusing on identifying the causes and those responsible, the tragedy quickly devolved into a political blame game between the government and the opposition. The city of Bolu is governed by Mayor Tanju Ozcan, a nationally recognised and outspoken anti-immigrant politician who belongs to the opposition.
Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said on Tuesday that the hotel had been inspected by the ministry in 2021 and 2024 and held a fire safety certificate. However, sources told Middle East Eye that the certificate dated back to 2007.
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While Ozcan claimed the hotel was outside the municipality’s jurisdiction for regular inspections, as it is located 38km from the city centre, leaked documents revealed that Bolu’s fire department had inspected the building in December. The inspection uncovered several serious shortcomings, including a non-functioning fire alarm system and unsuitable emergency and fire doors.
Ismail Saymaz, the journalist who released the inspection files, reported that the hotel owners petitioned the municipality to withdraw their application for inspection, which was likely to fail. It remains unclear whether the municipality notified the Ministry of Culture and Tourism about the hotel’s lack of compliance with fire safety regulations.
Reports on Wednesday said that police detained the deputy mayor, Sedat Guluner, and the deputy fire department chief, Kenan Coskun, following the leak.
A directive regulating tourism facilities also clearly places responsibility on the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to regularly inspect hotels and ensure they meet safety standards, regardless of whether they possess a fire safety certificate.
“Everyone is blaming each other,” said journalist Kivanc El. “If we stop viewing the question of ‘who is responsible?’ from a political perspective, the responsible parties include the ministry, the municipality, and all those who fail to prepare proper laws, regulations, and circulars.”
Truth obscured by polarisation
Political polarisation in Turkey is nothing new. However, in recent years, it has become a dominant force that disrupts debates on the root causes of disasters, leading to a culture of unaccountability.
A similar pattern was observed during the twin earthquakes that struck Turkey in February 2023, which claimed tens of thousands of lives. Public opinion was sharply divided, with blame directed at both the government and, to a lesser degree, the local administrations.
When 29 construction workers died in a nightclub fire in Istanbul’s Besiktas district, fingers were rightly pointed at the opposition-run municipality for failing to inspect the building properly. Yet again, the issue was politicised, with attention shifting to political messaging rather than identifying those directly responsible for the tragedy.
‘We are a society so polarised that we distinguish and protect perpetrators and those responsible based on their political affiliations’
– Yildiray Ogur, columnist
Although some argue that opposition-run municipalities are at fault, critics point out that most municipal administrations – regardless of political affiliation – fail to carry out proper inspections due to corruption and networks that allow permits and approvals to be issued through money and influence.
The Grand Kartal Hotel is no exception. Established in the late 1970s, it was the first facility built in what is now a popular winter holiday destination. The late founder, Mazhar Murtezaoglu, and his family reportedly wielded significant influence within both the local administration and the government, with political connections spanning both sides of the divide, according to Yildiray Ogur, a columnist for Karar daily.
In his column on Wednesday, Ogur contrasted the response in Turkey with that in Serbia, where protests have been ongoing for weeks following the deaths of 15 people in a renovated train station in Novi Sad caused by an improperly built cement platform.
“In Serbia, citizens have been advocating for the rights of those who lost their lives due to negligence – people who could have been them,” Ogur wrote. He observed that protesters came from across the political spectrum, united in their demands for justice – something that has yet to be seen in Turkey following the Kartalkaya fire.
“Those who support the government blame the opposition-run municipality, while opponents blame the Ministry of Culture and Tourism,” Ogur continued. “The cold truth – that both are responsible – receives little attention.
“We are a society so polarised that we distinguish and protect perpetrators and those responsible based on their political affiliations,” he concluded.
