22.09.2025 09:51
The second hearing of the case regarding the Grand Kartal Hotel fire, which occurred on January 21 in the Kartalkaya Ski Resort in Bolu, where 78 people lost their lives, 133 were injured, and 32 defendants, 19 of whom are in custody, are being tried, has begun.
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On July 7, the first hearing of the fire disaster at the Grand Kartal Hotel in Kartalkaya, where 78 people lost their lives and 133 were injured, began at the Bolu Social Sciences High School Sports Hall. During the hearings, the defendants' statements and victim testimonies were taken for 10 days. In an interim decision announced on July 17, the court ruled for the arrest of firefighter İrfan Acar, who had previously been under house arrest, and the release of the detained defendant, assistant chef Faysal Yaver, under judicial control. Additionally, a house arrest decision was issued for the defendants İbrahim Polat, İsmail Karagöz, Yiğithan Burak Çetin, and Ali Ağaoğlu for a period of 4 months.
PROSECUTOR PRESENTED OPINION Meanwhile, in the case related to the fire disaster, the public prosecutor presented his opinion on the merits to the court. In the opinion, it was requested that 7 defendants, including hotel managers and municipal officials, be punished for 'intentional killing' of 78 people and 'intentional injury' of many others.
SECOND SESSION OF THE DISASTER TRIAL OF 32 DEFENDANTS HAS BEGUN The second hearing of the trial of 32 defendants, 19 of whom are in custody, began at the Bolu Social Sciences High School Sports Hall. The hearing was attended by detained and non-detained defendants, complainants, relatives of those who lost their lives in the fire, and lawyers for the parties. After the documents received were recorded, the hearing commenced. With the combined indictment, 4 complainant files were included in the case.
CHANGE IN SENTENCE REQUESTS In the 21-page opinion sent to the 1st Heavy Penal Court by the Bolu Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, which included expert and forensic reports as well as the cause and process of the fire, changes were made to the sentence requests in the indictment for 10 defendants.
In the opinion, it was requested that the detained defendants, hotel owner Halit Ergül, the company's general manager Emir Aras, Gazelle Hotel General Manager Ahmet Demir, and the hotel's accounting manager Kadir Özdemir be sentenced to 1950 years for 'intentional killing' of 78 people, and up to 178 years and 582 months for 'intentional injury' and 'intentional damage to qualified property'. It was also requested that Deputy Mayor Gülener and Acting Fire Chief Kenan Coşkun be sentenced to 1950 years and up to 176 years and 570 months for the same crimes, while firefighter Acar faced a request for imprisonment of 1950 years and up to 172 years and 546 months.
In the opinion, it was requested that the board members of the company, Emine Mürtezaoğlu Ergül, Ceyda Hacıbekiroğlu, and Elif Aras, as well as hotel manager Zeki Yılmaz, accounting officers Cemal Özer and Mehmet Salun, be punished with up to 22 years and 6 months in prison for 'causing the death and injury of multiple persons with conscious negligence'.
It was also requested that technical personnel Tahsin Pekcan, Hüseyin Özer, and Bayram Ütkü, kitchen staff Faysal Yaver and Reşat Bölük, occupational safety experts Kübra Demir and Ece Kayacan, receptionist Yiğithan Burak Çetin, officials of Mudurnu Energy Industry and Trade Inc. İbrahim Polat and İsmail Karagöz, FQC Global Certification Inc. official Ali Ağaoğlu, and employee Aleyna Beşinci, as well as LPG installation maintenance personnel Doğan Aydın and Muharrem Şen, be sentenced to up to 22 years and 6 months in prison for 'causing the death and injury of multiple persons with conscious negligence' as stated in the indictment.
In the opinion, it was requested that the General Secretary of the Provincial Special Administration, Sırrı Köstereli, the Deputy General Secretary of the Provincial Special Administration, Bünyamin Bal, the Director of Licensing and Inspection of the Provincial Special Administration, Yeliz Erdoğan, and the former Director of Licensing and Inspection of the Provincial Special Administration, Mehmet Özel, be sentenced to 2 to 15 years in prison for 'causing the death and injury of multiple persons with negligence', while the acquittal of the non-detained kitchen staff Enver Öztürk was requested.
DETAILS OF THE CASE Meanwhile, new images have emerged of the restaurant, lobby, pastry shop, restaurant corridor, ski room and corridor, open and closed parking lots, staff entrance and floors, storage entrance, and the exterior of the hotel where the fire started.
The records show the paths people used to exit the building as smoke spread and moments of escape from the hotel, while it is seen that a person ran away about 40 seconds before the flames filled the corridor, and upon the warning of a person entering the second floor where the staff rooms are located at 03:27, all room doors were opened and people dressed and headed for the exit in less than 10 minutes.
The images recorded by security cameras in the lobby, laundry, storage, spa, the business named "White Fox" (a café rented within the hotel), ski slope exit, and open and closed parking areas reveal the extent of the fire.
Additionally, during the hearing, images emerged of the hotel’s general manager Emir Aras and his family leaving their rooms shortly after the fire started, as well as phone conversations of the hotel manager with hotel officials.
After the hearing, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced that an investigation permit had been granted by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security for Cemal Can Ayanoğlu, the former Chief Inspector of the Ankara Guidance and Inspection Group, to ensure that the issue is also examined by the judiciary regarding Levent Kırcan, who was the Vice President of the Board of Inspectors at the time of the fire, and the inspectors Barış Başayvaz and Abdülkadir Eren, who conducted the last inspection of the hotel.
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