[3][4] The attack took place not long after traditional Friday prayers, when the mob broke through police barricades to surround the Hotel Madımak, where artists, writers and musicians had gathered to celebrate the life of 16th-century Alevi poet Pir Sultan Abdal.

The hotel was set alight, and the fire claimed 37 lives, including those musicians and poets attending the festival.

[5] Thousands of Sunni residents of Sivas, after attending Friday prayers in a nearby mosque, marched to the hotel in which the conference was taking place and set the building on fire.

[4] Many well-known Alevi intellectuals, poets and musicians were killed in the fire, including Hasret Gültekin, Metin Altıok, Asım Bezirci, Behçet Aysan, Nesimi Çimen and Muhlis Akarsu.

In March 2012, the Sivas massacre case against the remaining five defendants was dropped, owing to the statute of limitations.

[8] The event was seen as a major assault on free speech and human rights in Turkey, and significantly deepened the rift between religious and secular segments of the society.

The first hearing of the case, publicly known as the Sivas Massacre Trial, Ankara State Security Court No.

[11] Each year on the anniversary of the massacre, demonstrators hold protests and vigils to commemorate the victims of the fire.

In June 2010, the Minister of Work and Social Security announced that the money for buying the hotel had been transferred, and that the Ministry would provide additional resources for restoration.