Bolu court wraps up first week in hotel fire hearings

BOLU

A week has passed since the first hearing in the deadly January fire case in the northern province of Bolu, with judges hearing testimonies from both the defendants and the families of the victims.

The Jan. 21 blaze ravaged the 12-story Grand Kartal Hotel at the Kartalkaya ski resort during the winter school holiday, killing 78 people. Thirty-six children taking family vacations were among the victims.

Due to the unusually high number of parties involved —210 civil plaintiffs — the trial is being held in a high school gymnasium, with the initial round scheduled to span 14 days.

By the weekend, all defendants delivered their defenses, shifting the focus to the relatives of the victims.

"This case will be one that dispels the perception of impunity. It will be a case of good versus evil," said Abdurrahman Gençbay, the head of the nineth chamber of the Council of State and the father of Yiğit Gençbay, a medical student who died in the fire.

He described the trial as one that would go down in history in every respect.

The tragedy, which saw hotel guests and staff leaping out of windows to escape smoke- and flame-filled rooms — or using bedsheets as makeshift ropes to lower themselves — sent shockwaves across Türkiye.

It ignited a nationwide outcry for accountability, particularly over safety lapses and negligence.

Serious questions have been raised regarding the hotel's fire safety measures, with grieving families asserting that neglect played a key role in the high death toll.

"When hotel management fled the building, they didn’t even bother to wake up the people in the rooms next to theirs. What kind of cruelty is this? The things we’ve heard in this courtroom are a mockery of our grief," said Gözde Ezgi Çilingir Bağcı, who lost her 15-year-old son, Eren Bağcı, in the fire.

During weekday sessions, defendants consistently denied the charges, while lower-level employees— such as kitchen staff where the fire started — pointed fingers at the hotel’s top management. In turn, senior executives blamed their subordinates.