The 1995 Gazi Quarter riots () or 1995 Gazi Massacre () were events that occurred in March 1995 at the Gazi Quarter, a working-class neighborhood in the then Gaziosmanpaşa district, today Sultangazi district, of Istanbul, Turkey, where mostly Alevis live. The riots began after drive-by shootings on several cafés at the same time, and spread over other places in Istanbul and also in Ankara in the next days. During the four-day unrest, 23 people were killed and more than 1,400 rioters and police were injured.
Background
In the evening hours of March 12, 1995, three cafés and a cake shop were attacked at the same time with automatic rifles, fired by anonymous people from a passing taxicab. As a result of the attack, Dede Halil Kaya, a 61-year-old Alevi religious leader, was killed and 25 people were injured, five of them severely. The gunmen escaped unidentified after having murdered the cab driver by cutting his throat, and set the hijacked cab on fire.
Unrest
The attacks triggered chaotic events. Right after the attack, a great number of Alevi residents of the Gazi Quarter gathered in front of the cemevi, and marched to the neighborhood's police station. One of the protesters, Mehmet Gündüz, was killed and a good many were injured as the police fired into the air to disperse the crowd. The violence continued all night long.
In the early hours of the next day, Alevis from various places of Istanbul came to the Gazi Quarter to join the protesters. A massive crowd counting tens of thousands marched again toward the police station and clashed with the police, which was reinforced with the Flying Squad and the Special Task Force upon the orders of Istanbul Police Chief Necdet Menzir. The crowd overrun the barriers set up by the security forces and came some close to the police station countering police fire by throwing stones. The heaviest fight took place as the rioters almost reached the station. The police shot targeted to the people. The arriving gendarmerie units placed themselves between the opponents. However, this escalated the situation. It was not possible to control the events after hours. Fifteen rioters were killed and a great number of people were injured, among them journalists.
The commander of the 6th Brigade sought negotiation with the protesters. The rioters demanded to send a delegation to the police station in order to make sure that no one was taken into custody. The commander agreed, and he selected also a young woman, Özlem Tunç, as a member of the delegation. Özlem Tunç entered the station with the delegates. After inspecting every room, they became confident that there were no one arrested. However, the police officers insulted the delegates. The policemen could only be stopped by the military commander from attacking the civilians.
On March 14, Hayri Kozakçıoğlu, the governor of Istanbul Province, imposed martial law over Gazi Quarter and the neighboring two quarters in order to maintain order and security. On the same day, 36 people were injured during the protests that took place at Kızılay, Ankara in reaction to the events at the Gazi Quarter.
On March 15, the riots spread to a neighborhood in the Ümraniye district of Istanbul, on the Anatolian part. Upon the death of five people and injury of more than twenty, martial law was extended also there. The province governor lifted the martial law over the region the next day due to reinstatement of order.
Police brutality
In an interview published in the newspaper Özgür Gündem on March 12, 2008, Özlem Tunç revealed her experience of police misconduct during the event.
Following the inspection, she came out of the police station and climbed atop an armored security vehicle to address the masses. After she stepped down, Özlem Tunç was detained by two Flying Squad officials, and brought into a nearby café. There, she was badly tortured, hit in the face with a police baton, and kicked and trampled.
As she became faint, they took her out of the café. One officer pulled out his firearm and shot her in the head. She fell face down on the street. The police officer's colleague prevented a second shot at her. One policeman grabbed her by the hair, the other by the legs, and they dragged her onto the sidewalk. There, someone trampled on her back. In the belief that she was dead, they left her there lying on the pavement.
Tunç's body was picked up by the gendarmerie, and delivered to the police station, where she was thrown onto a pile of dead and injured people. Later, the corpses and the injured individuals were transferred to hospitals. She became unconscious in the ambulance, and was put in the hospital's morgue.