Thirty-two individuals have gone on trial in Turkey in connection with a devastating fire at a luxury ski resort hotel that killed 78 people, including 36 children, earlier this year. The Grand Kartal Hotel in the northern mountain resort of Kartalkaya was engulfed in flames during the early hours of 21 January, leaving more than 130 people injured and the 12-storey building completely destroyed.
The high-profile trial began this week at a specially arranged courtroom inside a secondary school sports hall in Bolu, due to the sheer number of defendants and civil plaintiffs involved. A total of 210 civil parties are participating in the proceedings.
Thirteen of the defendants — including the hotel’s owner, board members, senior managers, and local officials — are facing the most serious charges. Prosecutors have accused them of “manslaughter with possible intent,” and each could face up to 1,998 years in prison if convicted on all 78 counts.
Those indicted also include the deputy mayor of Bolu and two senior fire department officials. According to the formal indictment, the hotel’s fire alarm system failed to operate during the blaze. Survivors and fire safety experts have alleged that guests were not warned in time, contributing to the high death toll.
Ahead of the trial, grieving families of the victims gathered outside the school, holding portraits of their loved ones and reading a public statement condemning what they described as systemic negligence and attempts to cover up the extent of the failures.
“During the fire, the owners, managers and employees of the Grand Kartal Hotel failed to alert guests or activate the alarm system,” they said. “They rushed to save their cars while our loved ones suffocated in smoke.”
The families also pointed to a damning inspection report issued just one month before the fire, which flagged serious shortcomings in the hotel’s fire safety protocols. “The hotel owners ignored the findings, saying the required upgrades were too costly,” the statement read.
Allegations have also surfaced that security camera footage was deleted and other evidence tampered with in the aftermath of the fire. Responsibility for the disaster has been the subject of public dispute between Turkey’s tourism ministry and Bolu’s city council, each blaming the other for oversight failures.
The leader of Turkey’s main opposition party, Özgür Özel of the CHP, was expected to attend the hearings, underscoring the national significance of the case.
The trial is expected to last for at least two weeks.
