Dutch Socialist Party Deputy Sadet Karabulut stated to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Dutch Carina Thuijs lost her life in the Sivas Massacre, and submitted a new parliamentary proposal regarding the request to intervene in the case. In its response, the ministry said that they would follow the case "seriously and in detail".

The massacre case that resulted in the deaths of 33 intellectuals and 2 hotel employees on 2nd July 1993 at the Madımak Hotel in Sivas was dropped in 2012 due to the statute of limitations, those who left the case, the fugitive defendants Murat Sonkur, Eren Ceylan and Murat Karataş are being held at the 1st High Criminal Court. The trial on the 20th January was postponed to 9th of June.

Dutch Socialist Party Deputy Saadet Karabulut stated that Carina Thuijs, who was Dutch, lost her life in the Sivas Madımak Hotel massacre. She demanded that the Dutch government intervene in the case, and asked the Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok to provide answers with a new parliamentary question. She reminded again that Dutch Carina Thuijs died in the massacre. Karabulut stated that it was understood that the Dutch government did not follow the case with the answer given by the Minister of Foreign Affairs to the previous parliamentary question, and asked whether the trial of the three defendants would follow the hearings.

THE MINISTER RESPONDED TO THE QUESTIONS

Responding to the questions, Minister Blok, reminded that followed by the embassy cases heard on January 20th, the Netherlands are interested and paying attention to many cases in Turkey, “These proceedings, where possible, are followed physically by the Dutch Embassy. Priority is given to criminal cases against human rights defenders and Dutch citizens”. Karabulut, who repeated his request of the Dutch government to be involved in the case to defend the rights of the Dutch citizen Carina Thuijs, who died in the massacre. The family and relatives of those killed in the massacre and Alevi associations participated in the case. The Minister of the Dutch Embassy spoke with a representative of the family and relatives stating that he had submitted his request to attend and intervene in the hearing held in January. Reiterating that the Embassy attended the hearing on January 20th, the Minister said, "The Netherlands will continue to follow this case in a serious and detailed manner, and in particular, it will be careful not to violate international law in the case." Considering that the Turkish judge has correctly interpreted international law so far, the Minister said, "For this reason, he sees no reason to interfere with Turkish procedures." The Minister also stated that if the interpretation and application of international law does not comply with the opinion of the Netherlands, they may intervene in the process.

Reminding that the lawyers of the case reported that the 8 defendants involved in the massacre were in Germany, Karabulut stated that the Dutch citizen Carina Thuijs lost her life in the massacre, and asked whether the Netherlands would evaluate this situation with Germany and evaluate the possibilities of the trial of the defendants in question. The Minister said that 8 people residing in Germany were not confirmed by the German Government and therefore they could not take any steps. (EVRENSEL DAILY)