The Blue Market massacre ( tr, Mavi Çarşı Katliamı) refers to the terrorist attack of

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK) on 13 March 1999 which resulted in the killing of 13 civilians.

Attack

The attack happened on a busy Saturday afternoon in Blue Market ( tr, Mavi Çarşı) a small sized local

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

in Goztepe, located in the Asian side of

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. Three attackers wearing

ski mask A balaclava, also known as a balaclava helmet or ski mask, is a form of cloth headgear designed to expose only part of the face, usually the eyes and mouth. Depending on style and how it is worn, only the eyes, mouth and nose, or just the front ...

s arrived the scene by car and entered the ground floor of the building pouring

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

and throwing

Molotov cocktail A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with flamma ...

s. The attackers fled on foot, pursued by police officers. The blaze swept rapidly upwards and engulfed the five-storey building, shattering windows and driving shoppers up staircases in search of safety. Despite the effort of the

emergency services Emergency services and rescue services are organizations that ensure public safety and health by addressing and resolving different emergencies. Some of these agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies, while others deal wit ...

deployed to the scene, 13 people, mostly women and employees of the store, were killed and 5 injured.

Aftermath

President

Süleyman Demirel Süleyman Sami Demirel (; 1 November 1924 – 17 June 2015) was a Turkish people, Turkish politician, engineer, and statesman who served as the List of Presidents of Turkey, 9th President of Turkey from 1993 to 2000. He previously served as the ...

condemned the attack as "insidious" and the Prime Minister,

Bülent Ecevit Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (; 28 May 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist, who served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in ...

, said it was part of a campaign to disrupt national elections on 18 April 1999. An angry crowd outside of the rumbles of building gathered and chanting "Death to the

PKK The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla warfare, guerrilla List of guerrilla movements, movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based ...

", protesting the attack.

Perpetrators

On 23 March 1999, Turkish Chief of the General Directorate of Security, Necati Bilican announced that four suspects, including the planner, have been apprehended in connection with the attack. On 14 July 1999 the four defendants, one of whom is a woman, were brought to the court and admitted in their initial statements to having planned the incident. The public prosecutor asked for the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

for all of the defendants. After a long trial process three suspects were sentenced to life imprisonment without parole and one into

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

since Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blue Market massacre Massacres in 1999 March 1999 events in Turkey March 1999 crimes Terrorist incidents in Istanbul Arson in Turkey Massacres in Turkey Kadıköy 1999 crimes in Turkey 1990s in Istanbul Kurdistan Workers' Party attacks 1999 murders in Turkey Shopping mall bombings

Attack

Aftermath

Perpetrators

See also

References