July 2nd 1993, Sivas

On the 2nd of July 1993, a Festival of Pir Sultan Abdal Association was organized in Sivas. Aziz Nesin, a writer who was intended to translate the "Satanic Verses" of Rushdie, was invited. Right-wing and Islamist demostrators approached the hotel, where the festival was taking place, demolished the statue of Pir Sultan Abdal, besieged and set fire to the hotel. 37 people were killed. The neutrality of the local authorities as well as of the official state was striking.