On 21 January 2025, a fire at the Grand Kartal Hotel at the Kartalkaya ski resort in Bolu Province, Turkey, killed at least 78 people, and injured 51 others.

Rescue efforts were hampered by freezing weather and the hotel's remote location; firefighters did not arrive until over an hour after the fire was reported.

[9] Another media outlet, citing an unofficial expert report, suggested that the fire originated from a wiring fault in the grill, however the findings were based solely on surveillance footage, with no evidence collected from kitchen staff.

[1] According to witnesses, no fire-detection system or fire alarms activated, leaving panicked guests attempting to escape via pitch-black smoke-filled corridors.

[28] Seventy-seven victims were Turkish citizens[29] and one was a Georgian national who worked as a babysitter, dying along with her two wards and their mother who were guests at the hotel.

[12] Turkish journalist İsmail Saymaz confirmed that Grand Kartal Hotel received no fire safety certificate from Bolu municipality, and said that it re-applied on 25 December 2024 but withdrew the application.

[38] On 22 January 2025, state-owned news channel TRT Haber claimed that Bolu municipality issued a fire conformity certificate to the hotel's restaurant 19 days before the incident.

However, the cited document was not a license[39] and only covered a 70 m² surrounding cafe[40] but not the hotel's kitchen where the fire started or the large overall building.

[39] The Bolu representative of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects, Erol Perçin, claimed that current fire regulations only vaguely state that guest and employee safety must be ensured.

[44] Seven people were also detained in Istanbul and Nevşehir for illegally sharing personal details of the fire victims online in order to contact relatives of the deceased and make insulting statements.

[12] Journalist Ismail Saymaz sent a tweet based on a 16 December 2024 document: The Bolu municipal fire brigade inspected the hotel on request and found seven deficiencies.

[35] On 28 January, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey unanimously approved the establishment of an investigative commission into the fire composed of 22 members and with a duration of three months.

[45] On 21 January 2025, Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) chairman Ebubekir Şahin imposed a broadcasting ban on the fire.

"[49] On the same day, the Turkish Football Federation announced a minute of silence would be held before all competitions and that all club members would wear black armbands during matches on 24–27 January 2025 in memory of the citizens who died in the fire.

[56] Özgür Özel, leader of the opposition Republican People's Party, said that there is "no excuse for such a high number of deaths in 2025" while visiting the site of the fire.

[57] Condolences were sent by Algeria,[58] Armenia,[59] Azerbaijan,[60] Bahrain,[61] Belarus,[62] Belgium,[63] Bosnia and Herzegovina,[64] Brunei,[65] China,[66] Colombia,[67] Croatia,[64] the Czech Republic,[68] Egypt,[69] Ethiopia,[70] the European Union,[71] France,[72] Germany,[73] Georgia,[74] Greece,[75] the International Organization of Turkic Culture,[76] Iran,[77] Iraq,[67] Jordan,[78] Kazakhstan,[79] Kosovo,[64] Kyrgyzstan,[80] Kuwait,[81] Nigeria,[82] Northern Cyprus,[83] the Organization of Turkic States,[84] Poland,[85] Qatar,[86] Pakistan,[87] Russia,[88] Rwanda,[89] Saudi Arabia,[90] Serbia,[91] Slovakia,[68] Slovenia,[67] Somalia,[92] Syria,[93] Ukraine,[81] the United Arab Emirates,[94] Uzbekistan,[95] Venezuela,[96] and Vietnam.