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A parliamentary commission in Türkiye has released its report on the deadly Kartalkaya hotel fire, a disaster that killed 78 people at a ski resort in Bolu in January 2025.
The report has triggered criticism from opposition lawmakers after it included extensive sections on the history of tourism while dedicating relatively little space to responsibility and prevention measures related to the disaster.
The fire at the Grand Kartal Hotel in Kartalkaya killed 78 people, including 34 children, and injured 137. It remains one of the deadliest hotel fires in the world in terms of loss of life.
As previously reported by Türkiye Today, investigators concluded that the disaster followed a chain of failures beginning in a restaurant area of the hotel and spreading rapidly due to safety deficiencies and oversight failures.
The parliamentary commission established by the Turkish Grand National Assembly published its findings this week after months of investigation.
The introduction of the report includes a 25-page section titled “Development of tourism in the world and Türkiye,” according to reporting by journalist Sarp Sagkal.
This section describes the evolution of tourism through history. It references early human settlement and even notes that travel increased after the invention of the wheel in 4000 B.C.
In contrast, the report dedicates around 10 pages to the section on findings and recommendations related to the Kartalkaya disaster itself.
The structure of the document drew criticism from opposition lawmakers who argue that the focus on historical background distracts from the report’s main purpose.
Members of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) submitted a dissenting note criticizing the report’s content and preparation process.
In their written objection, the members argued that the lengthy tourism history section has little relevance to understanding the disaster.
They wrote that the chapter “gives the impression of overshadowing certain responsibilities and serves little purpose beyond increasing the length of the report.”
The opposition also claimed that commission members from opposition parties were not invited to meetings during the preparation of the draft report and were not included in discussions before it was finalized.
The opposition party's dissent listed several issues they say the report fails to address adequately.
Among their criticisms:
The dissent argued that while the report contains technical findings, it does not sufficiently address administrative and political responsibility.
According to the dissent, the report defines institutional authorities but does not examine why those authorities were not exercised or who bears responsibility for those failures.
The Kartalkaya fire continues to draw attention in Türkiye as legal and political debates over accountability remain ongoing more than a year after the disaster.
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