The Madimak Hotel in the city of Sivas in central Turkey is one of the country's most tragic landmarks, the site of one of a horrifying episode of ethnic/religious strife.
In 1993, the hotel was the venue for the gathering of a group of Turkey's Alevi community, a minority group that sees itself as distinct from the country's Sunni Islamic majority. While the group was meeting, a gang of local Islamists attacked the hotel and set it on fire, killing 37. Since then, no one has been able to figure just what to do with the Madimak and how to commemorate the tragic event that happened inside it. From a report in the Hurriyet Daily News:
A hotel in the Central Anatolian province of Sivas that was the site of a 1993 massacre is in the process of being bought by the government amid debates about the most suitable future use for the building.
The money necessary to buy the hotel has been sent to the authorized provincial administration in Sivas, State Minister Faruk Çelik announced Thursday, speaking at a meeting in Ankara on the legal status of Alevi houses of worship, or “cemevi.”
“The project will cost 4.5 million Turkish Liras. The ministry will provide additional resources for the restoration work,” the minister said.In February, Çelik had said it was not important whether the Madımak Hotel became a museum or something else as long as local residents were the ones to decide the building’s fate.
The Cem Foundation, a prominent Alevi organization, says the hotel should be demolished and a park and monument built in its place.
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