She gave instructions three days after the Kartalkaya disaster: She had said 'I have no authority'

It has emerged that Ceyda Hacıbekiroğlu created an 'occupational safety' WhatsApp group three days after the Grand Kartal Hotel fire disaster in Bolu, which claimed 78 lives. It was observed that Ceyda Hacıbekiroğlu, a board member of the hotel and daughter of the imprisoned hotel owners, who had claimed 'I have no authority whatsoever,' was giving instructions to her employees. 

The defendants' phone conversations between November 20, 2024, and March 1, 2025, were examined. According to the examination of the phone of Ahmet Demir, the general manager of the Gazelle Hotel, it was determined that a WhatsApp group named 'Urgent Occupational Safety Matters' was established on January 24, three days after the fire.

It was noted that imprisoned defendant Ceyda Hacıbekiroğlu, one of the partners of the Grand Kartal Hotel and daughter of Halit Ergül, gave directives to hotel staff from this group following the fire incident.

In the trial regarding the fire, the imprisoned defendant Hacıbekiroğlu had claimed in her defense statement that she was not involved in anything related to the hotel and only visited for vacation, drawing backlash with her words, 'I have no authority at the hotel.'

Some of the conversations that took place in the aforementioned WhatsApp group are as follows:

Imprisoned defendant Ceyda Hacıbekiroğlu: 'Ms. Bihter said that if we put a disability sign on the blue one, it turns green.'

Imprisoned defendant Tahsin Pekcan, one of the hotel's technical staff: 'It does not say it is an obstacle to TS usage. It says slightly defective; we need to replace the elevators completely to get them all to green. Red means unsafe and fully defective, it cannot be used in any way. The cabin dimensions do not meet the requirements, Ms. Ceyda.'

Imprisoned defendant Ceyda Hacıbekiroğlu: 'Can we ask what it takes to turn this red into green?'

Muharrem Tabur: The new regulation makes it mandatory for mechanical engineers who are members of the occupational health and safety equipment network to perform periodic inspections of pressure vessels (such as rupture discs, etc.) and to be assigned to the task.

Detained defendant Tahsin Pekcan, one of the hotel's technical staff: Unfortunately, Ms. Ceyda.

Detained defendant Ceyda Hacıbekiroğlu: Is the horizontal elevator in a different category, etc.? Was the elevator going to the Han restaurant also a problem? It was red because it was evaluated in the normal elevator category. I don't know if any changes were made.

Detained defendant Tahsin Pekcan, one of the hotel's technical staff: We don't have any unusable elevators right now, Ms. Ceyda, we won't have any problems with the inspection.

Detained defendant Ceyda Hacıbekiroğlu: Then what will we do when they come for the inspection? Should we write 'out of service' or something? Some hotels in the south have that. For example, D-Maris Bay has it. Are theirs red too?

Detained defendant Ceyda Hacıbekiroğlu: Ms. Bihter says there is an obstacle at the emergency exit. Let's remove these. Let's stick one on the door on the left side. Also, do we need to show these changes we made on the fire escape plan? We showed it to Engin from accounting. Let's do everything we can as urgently as possible.

Detained defendant Ceyda Hacıbekiroğlu: The painter was supposed to come in the evening, right? Let this place be painted at night too.

Are there any deficiencies in the staff areas? Can we temporarily put these in the staff fire escape stairs?

Non-detained defendant Salun: "I say let them play the three monkeys"

In a message exchange between non-detained defendant Mehmet Salun and a person registered as "Mustafa Yılmaz," he wrote: "If you call Mehmet Kuran and Şenol Özhan, it will be enough for them to say, 'I have no knowledge of this emergency, the signatures are not mine, I don't know who prepared them. I didn't see them hanging in the cafeteria.'

I say let them play the three monkeys. Let them not provide information outside of their own departments. Otherwise, the situation becomes absurd," a message that was also entered into the case file.

PRISON SENTENCES SOUGHT

In the indictment prepared regarding the fire, it was alleged that the owners of the Grand Kartal Hotel, company board members and executives Halit Ergül, Emine Murtezaoğlu Ergül, Ceyda Hacıbekiroğlu, Elif Aras, Emir Aras, Zeki Yılmaz, Ahmet Demir, Kadir Özdemir, Cemal Özer, Mehmet Salun, as well as Bolu Deputy Mayor Sedat Gülener, Acting Fire Chief Kenan Coşkun, and firefighter İrfan Acar were "responsible for the incident due to their probable intent," and prison sentences were requested for 78 counts of "killing with probable intent" and the crime of "causing injury with probable intent."