The massacre was instigated by the murder of then-mayor Hamit Fendoğlu, after which Sunni Islamist groups entered the Alevi and left-wing areas of the city and committed violent acts.
This polarization was also observed in the 1977 Turkish general elections, in which the MSP and the Nationalist Movement Party received significantly more votes than in previous years.
[3] The events on 17 April 1978 began when a bomb exploded in the house of mayor Hamit Fendoğlu, killing him, his daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren.
There was not clear consensus about the organization that sent the bomb, but it was announced in the days following the incident that it could have only been produced at the Ankara Nuclear Research Center.
[5] The Ortadoğu Gazetesi falsely claimed that they seized a tape which stated that the assassination was "the work of leftists and separatists collaborating with them".