The Taksim Square massacre ( or the Bloody First of May) was an attack on leftist demonstrators on 1 May 1977 (International Workers' Day) in Taksim Square, Istanbul, Turkey. Casualty figures vary between 34 and 42 persons killed and 126 and 220 injured. Over 500 demonstrators were later detained by the security forces, and 98 were indicted. None of the perpetrators were caught, although suspicion soon fell on the Counter-Guerrilla and associated right-wing groups. The massacre was part of the wave of political violence in Turkey in the late 1970s.
Background
In the Ottoman Empire, the first celebration of Labour Day was organized in Skopje in 1909. In Istanbul, Labour Day was first celebrated in 1912. No celebrations could be organized between 1928 and 1975. On 1 May 1976 the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK) organized a rally on Taksim Square with mass participation.
Rumours that Labour Day 1977 would involve clashes between different leftist parties were circulated by the Turkish press before the rally, once again organized by DISK.
The event
The number of participants in the Labour Day celebrations on Taksim Square in 1977 is usually estimated at 500,000. Many participants and in particular the Maoist bloc had not even entered the square when shots were heard. Most witnesses stated that they came from the building of the water supply company (Sular İdaresi) and the Sheraton Hotel (re-branded in 1996 as the Intercontinental Hotel and now known as the Marmara Hotel), the tallest building in Istanbul in 1977. Subsequently, the security forces entered with armoured vehicles making much noise with their sirens and explosives. They also hosed the crowd with pressurized water. People tried to escape through Kazancı Yokuşu, the nearest exit from the square, but a police vehicle blocked their escape route. Most casualties were caused by the panic that the police intervention created.
Casualties
The figures on the casualties vary between 34 and 42 persons killed and 126 and 220 persons injured. An official indictment against 98 participants in the celebrations presented 34 victims' names. The Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions (DISK) prepared a list with 36 names. Fahrettin Erdoğan, the press advisor for DISK, concluded that these names taken together would raise the death toll to 42.
On the day of the incident, Istanbul Radio Station announced that 34 people had been killed and 126 injured. According to the autopsy reports, only four victims had been killed by bullets. In three cases the cause of death could either be a bullet or injuries to the head and 27 victims had been crushed. Several witnesses stated that Meral Özkol had been overrun by an armoured vehicle.
Legal measures
None of the perpetrators were caught and brought to justice. After the incident, over 500 demonstrators were detained, and 98 were indicted. Among the 17 defendants, who had been put in pre-trial detention, three were released before the first hearing and nine were released at the first hearing on 7 July 1977. The remaining prisoners were released soon afterwards. The trial ended in acquittal on 20 October 1989. Various sources stated that from the roof of the Water Supply Company, some 20 snipers were detained by the gendarmerie and handed over to the police. However, none of them appeared in the records of the police. This information comes from the prosecutor investigating the Taksim Square Massacre, Çetin Yetkin. He said that Lieutenant Abdullah Erim made the detentions and handed the detainees over to the police officers Muhsin Bodur and Mete Altan (who after the military intervention of 12 September 1980 worked in the political department of Istanbul Police HQ). Both officers rejected the claim that they had been involved.
After three months of investigation, the prosecutor Çetin Yetkin was appointed elsewhere and resigned. Çetin Yetkin claimed that a sack with explosives had been handed over to the police, but later disappeared. Similarly the lawyer Rasim Öz alleged that he had shot a film of the incident showing many things including the snipers on the roof of the Water Supply Company. He had handed it over to the prosecutor's office, but it had been "lost" at Istanbul Police HQ.
Hope of legal recourse finally fizzled out due to the statute of limitations; a deliberate tack by the culprits, according to Öz.