# List of massacres in Turkey

The following is a list of massacres that occurred in Anatolia and the Zagros Mountains (numbers may be approximate, as estimates vary greatly):

## Antiquity

| Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Responsible Party | Victims | Notes |
| Fall of Miletus | 494 BC | Miletus | Most Milesian men | Persian Empire | Greeks | |
| Battle of Aegospotami | 405 BC | Aegospotami | 3,000 | Sparta | Athenian sailors | 3,000 Athenian sailors executed |
| Fall of Sestos | 353 BC | Sestos | All males of Sestos | Athens | Greeks | |
| Asiatic Vespers | 88 BC | Asia (Roman province) | 80,000–150,000 | Mithridates VI of Pontus | Romans and Italians | |

## Middle Ages

| Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Responsible Party | Victims | Notes |
| Nika Revolt | January 532 | Constantinople | 30,000 | Byzantine Empire | Rioters | About thirty thousand rioters were reportedly killed. |
| Sack of Amorium | August 838 | Amorium | 30,000–70,000 | Abbasid Caliphate | Byzantines |
| Battle of Levounion | 29 April 1091 | Enez | tens of thousands | Byzantine Empire & Cumans | Pechenegs | The Pechenegs consisting of 80,000 warriors and their families invaded the Byzantine Empire. Near Enez they were ambushed by a combined Byzantine and Cuman army, fighting soon turned into wholesale slaughter. Warriors and civilians were killed and the Pecheneg people were nearly wiped out. |
| Siege of Antioch | 3 June 1098 | Antioch | Muslim and Christian population | Crusaders | Muslim and Christian population | |
| Massacre of the Latins | May 1182 | Constantinople | Uncertain – tens of thousands | Byzantine mob | Roman Catholics | The bulk of the Latin community, estimated at over 60,000 at the time, was wiped out or forced to flee; some 4,000 survivors were sold as slaves to the Turks. The massacre further worsened relations and increased enmity between the Western and Eastern Christian churches, and a sequence of hostilities between the two followed. |
| Siege of Constantinople (1204) | 8–13 April 1204 | Constantinople | 2,000 | Crusaders | Byzantines | The city was sacked and looted. |
| Fall of Constantinople | 1453 | Constantinople | 4,000 | Ottomans | Byzantines | 4,000 persons of both sexes and all ages were massacred during these days. Moreover, the dwellings and the churches were plundered. Some 30,000 were enslaved. |
| Siege of Trebizond | 1461 | Trabzon | | Ottomans | Trebizonds | |

## Ottoman Empire
### Before 1914

| Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Responsible Party | Victims | Notes |
| Massacres during the Greek War of Independence | 1821–1829 | Ottoman Empire | Unknown | Ottoman government and Greek rebels | Greeks, Turks, Albanians and Jews | Massacres were committed by both sides during the conflict. |
| Massacres of Badr Khan | 1840 | Hakkari | 4,000 | Kurdish Emirs of Bhutan, Badr Khan and Nurullah | Assyrians | Many who were not killed were sold into slavery. 1826 Janissaries massacred by government (link to Auspicious Incident). |
| Hamidian massacres | 1894–1896 | Eastern Ottoman Empire | 80,000–300,000 | Ottoman Empire Hamidiye, Turkish, Kurdish tribes | Armenians | |
| Massacres of Diyarbakır (1895) | 1895 | Diyarbakır Vilayet | 25,000 | Young Turks and Kurdish irregulars | Armenians and Assyrians | |
| Adana massacre | April 1909 | Adana Vilayet | 20,000 | local Turkish nationalist activist, conservative reactionary to Young Turk government | Armenians | |
| Ethnic cleansing of Turks in Edirne during First Balkan War | October 1912-June 1913 | Edirne Vilayet | 5,000 (excluding Edeköy Massacre) | Bulgarian army | Turks | |
| Havsa Massacre | 1912 | Havsa in Edirne Vilayet | 10 | Bulgarian army | Turks | Turkish quarter was almost entirely burnt. |
| Edeköy Massacre | November 1912 | Edeköy (nowadays Kadıdondurma) in Edirne Vilayet | Thousands | Bulgarian army | Turks | Many incidents of torture and robbery. |
| Destruction of Thracian Bulgarians | 1913 | Thrace; Bulgarköy, Edirne | 60,000 | Young Turk government, Ottoman army | Bulgarians | |

### World War I (1914–1918)

| Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Responsible Party | Victims | Notes |
| Greek genocide | 1917–1922 | Ottoman Empire | 300,000–900,000 | Young Turk government | Greeks | Reports detail massacres, deportations, individual killings, rapes, burning of entire Greek villages, destruction of Greek Orthodox churches and monasteries, drafts for "Labor Brigades", looting, terrorism and other atrocities. |
| Assyrian genocide | 1914–1918 | Ottoman Empire and Persia | 250,000-275,000 | Young Turk government and Kurdish tribes | Assyrians | Denied by the Turkish government. |
| Armenian genocide | 1915–1917 | Ottoman Empire | 600,000-1,500,000 | Young Turk government and Kurdish tribes | Armenians | The Armenians of the eastern regions of the empire were massacred. The Turkish government currently denies the genocide. It is the second most publicised case of genocide after the Holocaust. |
| Massacres in Eastern Anatolia | 1914-1918 | Eastern Anatolia | 128,000-600,000 | Russian Army and possibly Armenian irregulars | Muslim population (Turks and Kurds) | According to J. Rummel, 128,000-600,000 Muslim Turks and Kurds were killed (death toll includes death by famine and diseases) by Russian troops and possibly Armenian irregulars during World War I. |
| Massacres in the Çoruh River valley | 1916 | Çoruh River valley | 45,000 | Cossack regiments | Muslim population (Turks and Kurds) | During WWI, Russian "General Liakhov, for instance 'accused the Muslims of treachery, and sent his Cossacks from Batum with orders to kill every native at sight, and burn every village and every mosque. And very efficiently had they performed their task, for as we passed up the Chorokh valley to Artvin not a single habitable dwelling or a single living creature did we see.'" |

### Post-World War I (1919–1923)

| Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Responsible Party | Victims | Notes |
| Massacre in Marash | 1920 | Marash, Aleppo Vilayet | 5,000–12,000 | Turks | Armenians | |
| Kahyaoğlu Farm Massacre [tr] | June 11, 1920 | Yeşiloba, Adana Vilayet | 64+ to ~200 | Armenians | Turks | Report which was given to Mustafa Kemal Pasha included 43 men, 21 women and tens of children. Other estimates are up to 200. |
| Karadeniz massacre | January 28–29, 1921 | waters of the Black Sea | 15 | Kemalists/Committee of Union and Progress (disputed) | Communist Party of Turkey | Mustafa Suphi the founder of the Communist Party of Turkey and his 14 comrades were assassinated while they were being sent to Erzurum for trial |

## Republic of Turkey (1923–present)

| Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Responsible Party | Victims | Notes |
| Diyarbakir massacre | 1925 | Diyarbakir Province, Elazığ Province | 15,200 (206 villages destroyed) | Turkish security forces | Kurds | Part of Deportations of Kurds between 1916 and 1934. |
| Zilan massacre | July 1930 | Van Province | 5,000–15,000 | Turkish security forces | Kurds | 5,000 women, children, and elderly people were reportedly killed |
| 1934 Thrace pogroms | 21 June-4 July 1934 | Thrace | 1 | Local people | Jews | Over 15,000 Jews had to flee from region |
| Dersim rebellion | Summer 1937-Spring 1938 | Tunceli Province | 13,806–70,000 | Turkish security forces | Alevi Kurds/Zazas | The killings have been condemned by some as an ethnocide or genocide |
| Zini Rift Massacre | 6 August 1938 | Erzincan Province | 95 | Turkish security forces | Kurds | |
| Muğlalı incident | July 1943 | Van Province | 32 | Turkish security forces | Kurds | 33 Kurdish villagers were extrajudicially executed by General Mustafa Muğlalı for allegedly smuggling livestock, one of them escaped. |
| Karahan village massacre | October 1944 | Van Province | 6 | Turkish security forces | Kurds | 6 Kurdish villagers were extrajudicially executed by General Mustafa Muğlalı. This was the second massacre of Muğlalı, with the possibility of more uncovered massacres having been committed. |
| Istanbul pogrom | 6–7 September 1955 | Istanbul | 13–30 | Turkish government | primarily Greeks, as well as Armenians, Jews | The killings are identified as genocidal by Alfred-Maurice de Zayas. Many of the non-Muslim minorities, mostly Greek Christians, forced to leave Turkey. Several churches are demolished by explosives. |
| Taksim Square massacre | May 1, 1977 | Taksim Square in Istanbul | 34-42 | Some unidentified armed people | Leftist demonstrators, civilians |
| Beyazıt massacre | March 16, 1978 | Istanbul | 7 | Grey Wolves, Turkish deep state (alleged) | Leftist university students | Cemil Sönmez, Baki Ekiz, Hatice Özen, Abdullah Şimşek, Murat Kurt, Hamdi Akıl and Turan Ören were killed and 41 others were injured by a bomb that was followed by gunfire March 16, 1978. |
| Ümraniye massacre | March 17, 1978 | Ümraniye in Istanbul | 5 | Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist–Leninist | Grey Wolves affiliated workers | Grey Wolves claim that the victims were badly tortured. Reaction to the aforementioned Beyazıt massacre. |
| Malatya massacre | April 17, 1978 | Malatya Province | 8 | Grey Wolves, Salafists | Alevi Turks | Grey Wolves and salafists attacked Alevi regions of city after assassination of Hamit Fendoğlu [tr] leaving 8 dead, including 3 children and 100 wounded. 1000 shops were looted and destroyed. |
| Balgat massacre | August 10, 1978 | Çankaya, Ankara | 5 | Grey Wolves | Civilians (claimed that they were leftist) | |
| Bahçelievler massacre | October 9, 1978 | Bahçelievler, Ankara | 7 | Grey Wolves | Workers' Party of Turkey member students | |
| Maraş massacre | December 19–26, 1978 | Kahramanmaraş Province | 109 | Grey Wolves | Alevi Kurds | |
| Piyangotepe massacre | May 16, 1979 | Keçiören in Ankara | 7 | Grey Wolves | Civilians | |
| Adana high school massacre | September 19, 1979 | Adana Construction Vocational High School | 6 | Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist–Leninist | Grey Wolves affiliated teachers | Müslüm Teke, Yılmaz Kızılay, Davut Korkmaz, Ahmet Güleç, Özcan Doruk and Mustafa Karaca were killed by 2 Leftist men. Reaction to the aforementioned Maraş massacre where the Grey Wolves killed more than a hundred civilians. |
| Çorum massacre | May–July, 1980 | Çorum Province | 57 | Grey Wolves | Alevi Turks | |
| Ortabağ massacre | January 23, 1987 | Uludere in Şırnak Province | 8 | PKK | Civilians | |
| Pınarcık massacre | June 20, 1987 | Pınarcık in Mardin Province | 30 | JİTEM/PKK (disputed) | Civilians | |
| Çevrimli massacre | June 11, 1990 | Güçlükonak in Şırnak Province | 27 | PKK | Civilians | In the massacre, 27 people were killed, 12 were children and 7 were women. 4 village guards died in clashes with PKK members, 1 PKK member was killed. |
| Çetinkaya Store massacre | December 25, 1991 | Bakırköy in Istanbul | 11 | PKK | Civilians | The PKK attacks a store in the Bakırköy district with Molotov cocktails, resulting in 11 deaths, including 7 women and 1 child. |
| Cevizdalı massacre | October 21, 1992 | Cevizdalı in Bitlis Province | 30 | PKK | Civilians | Cevizdali village of Bitlis was raided during the nighttime, PKK militias killed 30 people, including 8 children, and wounded 20 others. Militias then burned whole the village by the news they received that soldiers are on the way to the village. |
| Sivas massacre (aka Madımak massacre) | July 2, 1993 | Sivas | 35 (+2 perpetrators) | Salafists, Grey Wolves | Alevi and leftist intellectuals | |
| Başbağlar massacre | July 5, 1993 | Başbağlar, near Erzincan | 33 | JİTEM/PKK (disputed) | Civilians | |
| Digor massacre [tr] | August 14, 1993 | Digor, Kars | 17 | Turkish security forces | Kurdish Civilians | Opened fire on Kurdish villagers by the Special Operation Department. 17 villagers including 7 children were killed and 63 were injured. |
| Vartinis massacre | October 3, 1993 | Vartinis, Muş province | 9 | Turkish Armed Forces | Civilians | |
| Lice massacre | October 20–23, 1993 | Lice in Diyarbakır Province | 30+ | Turkish Armed Forces | Kurdish Civilians | Turkish security forces attacked the town of Lice, destroying 401 houses, 242 shops and massacring more than thirty civilians, and leaving 100 wounded. |
| Yavi Massacre | October 25, 1993 | Yavi, Çat, Erzurum Province | 38 | PKK | Civilians | |
| Ormancık massacre | January 21, 1994 | Ormancık, Savur, Mardin Province | 19 | PKK | Village guards and affiliated civilians | The massacre may have been a chemical attack. |
| Kuşkonar and Koçağılı massacre | March 23, 1994 | Kuşkonar and Koçağılı villages, Şırnak | 38 | Turkish Air Force | Kurdish Civilians | The government bombed and killed residents of villages who refused to join the government forces. The government spread pictures of dead children in newspapers and blamed the PKK. Turkey was condemned for carrying out the massacre of Kurdish civilians in the ECHR. |
| Gazi Quarter massacre | March 15, 1995 | Istanbul and Ankara | 23 | JİTEM, Turkish deep state (alleged) | Alevis | More than 400 injured |
| Güçlükonak massacre [tr] | February 15, 1996 | Güçlükonak in Şırnak province | 11 | JİTEM | Civilians | 11 residents are shot and burned to death in a minibus by JITEM |
| Blue Market massacre | March 13, 1999 | Istanbul | 13 | PKK | Civilians | |
| Operation Back to Life | December 19, 2000 | Turkey | 32 | Turkish security forces | Leftist prisoners | Deaths include 30 prisoners and 2 soldiers |
| Diyarbakır events of March 2006 [tr] | March 28–31, 2006 | Diyarbakır | 14 | Turkish security forces | Protesters | 14 Kurdish civilians including 6 children, 4 of them under the age of 10 were killed by the security forces in protests |
| Zirve Publishing House massacre | April 18, 2007 | Malatya | 3 | Islamists | German Christians | |
| Mardin engagement ceremony massacre | May 4, 2009 | Bilge, Mardin | 44 | Village Guards | Civilians | Reuters said it was "one of the worst attacks involving civilians in Turkey's modern history", declaring that the scale of the attack had shocked the nation. |
| Roboski airstrike | December 28, 2011 | Uludere in Şırnak Province | 34 | Turkish Air Force | Kurdish Civilians | Warplanes killed who had been involved in smuggling gasoline and cigarettes in the area, villagers during an operation meant to target Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels. The government gave no information about the facts. |
| Suruç bombing | July 20, 2015 | Suruç in Şanlıurfa Province | 34 | ISIL | Socialist Party of the Oppressed member university students | |
| 2015 Ankara bombings | October 10, 2015 | Ankara | 109 | ISIL | Protesters, civilians | |
| Cizre basement massacre | February 7, 2016 | Cizre, Şırnak | +178 | Turkish Armed Forces | Kurdish Civilians | 178 civilians, dozens of them children, some of them as young as 9 were burnt alive in three basements. Turkish government reacted to the massacre by calling it "baseless terror propaganda", and covering it up by flattening the ruins and filling the basements up with rubble. |
| February 2016 Ankara bombing | February 17, 2016 | Ankara | 30 | TAK | Civilian employees of Turkish Armed Forces and soldiers | |
| March 2016 Ankara bombing | March 13, 2016 | Ankara | 38 | TAK | Civilians | |
| 2016 Atatürk Airport attack | June 28, 2016 | Atatürk Airport, Istanbul | 45 | ISIL | Civilians | |
| 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt | July 15–16, 2016 | Turkey (Mainly Istanbul, Ankara, Malatya, Kars and Marmaris) | 270–350 | Peace at Home Council | Civilians and soldiers | Turkey witnessed the bloodiest coup attempt in its political history on July 15, 2016, when a section of the Turkish military launched a coordinated operation in several major cities to topple the government |
| 2017 Istanbul nightclub attack | January 1, 2017 | Istanbul | 39 | ISIS | Civilians | A gunman opened fire in the Reina Nightclub during New Year celebrations |
| 2021 Konya massacre | July 30, 2021 | Meram district, Konya Province | 7 | Mehmet Altun | Kurds |
|- | 2024 anti-refugee riots in Turkey | 30 June 2024 – 2 July 2024 | Various Turkish cities, predominantly Kayseri
| 1 | | Syrians |} |-

## Gallery

* Aftermath of the massacres at Erzurum (1895)
* An Armenian town left pillaged and destroyed, during the Adana massacre
* Photo taken after the Smyrna fire. The text inside indicates that the photo had been taken by representatives of the Red Cross in Smyrna
* Armenian woman kneeling beside dead child in field "within sight of help and safety at Aleppo"