[3][4] In the 1970s, political violence became a serious problem in Turkey and started threatening the order of the country.

[7] Most notable incidents of political violence prior to the massacre in Ümraniye was murder of a right-wing university student Ertuğrul Dursun Önkuzu on 23 November 1970,[8] murder of a left-wing university student Hüseyin Arslantaş on 9 December 1970[9] and an attack on Istanbul University targeting left-wing students with a bomb and gunfire, in which 7 died and 41 were injured on 16 March 1978,[10] one day before the massacre in Ümraniye.

On 17 March, around 20:00, five workers were forcibly taken away by four armed men (Burhanettin Yıldız, Kekeme Ayvaz, Aşık Ferhat and Gavur Ali) from a coffeeshop into a secluded area.

Ten other left-wing men (Mehmet Kurtoğlu, Ömer, Ali, İsmail, Kazım Bayboğa, Hıdır Fırat, Erol Bektaş, Sabri Koçyiğit, Hasan Kara) later joined the group.

Several unknown men opened fire against forensic experts searching the crime scene at 00:00, but there were no casualties.