The trial concerning the Grand Kartal Otel fire in Bolu, a tragedy that claimed 78 lives, has entered its third day. A total of 32 defendants, including the hotel’s owner and municipal officials, are being prosecuted, with 19 of them currently in custody.
Amidst heightened security measures, complainants and their legal counsel passed through multiple checkpoints to enter the courtroom, which has been temporarily established in a converted sports hall.
The third day of the hearing commenced with the testimony of Mehmet Salun, the hotel’s assistant accounting manager, who is being tried without arrest. His testimony follows the first two days, during which 17 other defendants presented their statements.
In his defense, defendant Salun asserted his employment status was with a different entity. “My SGK registration is with Gazelle Otel. There are other employees like me,” he stated. “I had absolutely no authority at the Grand Kartal Otel to make decisions, hire, or fire. We handle accounting and the warehouse. I have no official capacity to represent the hotel anywhere. When guests arrived and managers weren’t present, we would naturally greet them since we were in the offices. I was not aware of any fire drill or the establishment of a fire response team at the Grand Kartal Otel. I know there was no occupational health and safety expert. I have nothing to do with the electrical system. I deny all accusations against me.”
Following his testimony, the court, which is trying Salun on charges of “murder with probable intent” and “intentional injury with probable intent,” granted the defendant the right to an additional defense for the charge of “causing the death and injury of multiple people through conscious negligence.”
Proceedings grew tense when Zeki Yılmaz, the hotel manager and an arrested defendant, took the stand. His attempt to offer condolences to the fire’s victims was met with an outcry from complainants, causing a dispute in the courtroom. After the presiding judge intervened to restore order, Yılmaz continued his testimony, claiming his managerial role was purely nominal.
“I worked as a receptionist for about 36 years. Although they gave me the title of manager, the work I did was that of a receptionist. I am an employee whose payroll lists ‘receptionist.’ I have no authority at the hotel whatsoever,” Yılmaz explained. “It is a family-run hotel; they make and oversee all decisions. They determine everything related to the hotel. Can someone who can’t even get a chair for himself be a manager? When the ministry came for an inspection, I accompanied the inspectors by taking the room keys; my involvement in the audit was limited to that. I have been in prison for approximately 6 months. My position as hotel manager was just a title. I did not hear an alarm during the fire, a fire drill had not been conducted recently, and I had no responsibility for inspections. I request my release and acquittal.”
During the cross-examination that followed, the detained manager Zeki Yılmaz recounted his actions during the blaze. “I walked down from the 9th floor to the 4th floor. The power was not out at that moment; I don’t know when it went out. I reached the 4th floor and there was smoke. I wanted to go back up to the 5th floor but couldn’t due to the smoke. I went down to the 3rd floor, shouted ‘fire,’ and pressed the fire alarm, but it did not work,” he stated. He then admitted, “Because I did not know the scale of the fire, I did not tell the receptionist to wake up the guests.”
In response to this admission, lawyer Yüksel Gültekin, who lost eight family members in the disaster, posed a critical question to the defendant: “If you had gone down from the 9th floor and told the receptionist, ‘There’s a fire, tell the guests, evacuate the hotel,’ would there have been this many casualties?” Upon hearing the question, defendant Zeki Yılmaz remained silent.
The cross-examination of the defendant is still in progress.
Kartalkaya Disaster Trial: Hotel Manager Denies Responsibility, Claims ‘I Was Just a Receptionist’
