About 500,000 workers and other Turkish citizens gathered in Taksim Square in Istanbul, the capital of Turkey, for May Day on the holiday of May 1, 1977, which was International Workers' Day. Suddenly, bullets began to be fired from sniper rifles from the rooftops of high-rise buildings in the area. About 34 people were killed and 126 were wounded in the Taksim district that day. Nearly 2,000 rounds were fired in the massacre, and five people were killed by gunshot wounds. The abuses and massacres were referred to as the Taksim Square massacre and Bloody 1 May 1977.
About 28 of the 34 people who died were crushed to death by the panicked crowd of comrades. A crowd attempting to flee down Kazançi Hill, the nearest exit from Taksim Square, had their escape route blocked by armored vehicles of the security forces. To further frighten the Turkish citizens, they again made noise with sirens and explosives, and sprayed them with pressurized water. About 25 of them were crushed and crushed to death on the Kazanç hill. Others died after being attacked and run over by armored vehicles of the security forces.
More than 500 protesters were detained by the security forces, and about 98 of them were put on trial. The court indictment charged that the purpose of the demonstration was to "cause intimidation, fear and panic among the people. However, none of the perpetrators were caught and disappeared. Right-wing groups associated with the Counter-Guerrilla were suspected, but records were lost of about 20 snipers who were detained by security forces and handed over to the police.
The Revolutionary Trade Union Confederation (DISK) held a May Day demonstration in Istanbul's Taksim Square on May 1, 1977. Demonstrators filled the square and crowds streamed into the surrounding areas. By the time the president gave his May Day speech, all the roads leading to the area were filled with marchers. It was almost 7:00 PM when the last group of people arrived in Taksim district.
As the DISK chairman finished his speech, about three gunshots rang out. Immediately after the silence, the crowd of about 500,000 people fell into a state of panic and chaos. From the high-rise buildings around the conference center, automatic weapons showered the crowd with bullets. Armored vehicles of the security forces were dispatched, and with noise bombs and automatic weapons firing, the meeting place suddenly turned into a battlefield. Thousands of people lay on the ground, and those who fled were pushed into corners and crushed by armored vehicles. In addition, automatic weapons were pointed at thousands of people fleeing the hills of Kazanchi. A truck parked in the middle of the narrow road blocked the way. The fleeing people pushed and shoved each other, overlapping each other, and many of them suffocated or were crushed to death. The massacre caused a huge shock to the press in Turkey and around the world. About 36 people were killed, hundreds were injured, and about 453 were arrested.
According to the evidence presented in the courtroom of the trial, the police indicted about 98 people, arrested indiscriminately, as responsible for the massacre. None of them were implicated and all were acquitted. The presiding judge called on the authorities to reopen the investigation and prosecute those truly responsible, but successive governments, led by the military, suppressed the case. on May 7, 1977, Brent Ecevit, who would later become prime minister, drew attention when he said at a meeting in Izmir that the May 1 bloodbath had anti-guerrilla fingers. Under Article 102 of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK), the case was extinguished by prescription when 20 years had passed. The massacre case was deliberately extinguished by the statute of limitations. Turkey has since commemorated this incident on May 1, but did not allow Taksim Square to be used for May Day after 1977. after the Turkish military coup of September 12, 1980, a military government was established and the May Day movement was banned for about eight years.
