section_path: Cause/Investigation
section_name: Investigation
paragraph_text: Investigation
  
  A team of six prosecutors and five experts was ordered to investigate the fire. Fourteen people, including the hotel's owner, the hotel's architect, the hotel's kitchen staff, Deputy Mayor Sedat Gülener, and Deputy Fire Department Director Kenan Coşkun were detained for questioning. Initial reports said the fire likely began in the hotel's restaurant. Seven people were also detained in Istanbul and Nevşehir for illegally sharing personal details of the fire victims online in order to contact relatives of the deceased and make insulting statements.
  
  Bolu mayor Özcan said that the municipality did not know whether the hotel had a fire escape or a fire sprinkler system, because Kartalkaya was outside the city limits. Union representative Perçin agreed that fire safety systems were absent, shown by the way the fire had propagated.
  
  Journalist Ismail Saymaz sent a tweet based on a 16 December 2024 document which said that the Bolu municipal fire brigade inspected the hotel on request and found seven deficiencies. The building's second emergency exit door and fire doors were unsuitable, and the building's alarm was broken. Saymaz said that the floor count exceeded the zoning plan and that during certification, there was an unlicensed floor reachable by stairs but not by elevator. Minister Ersoy said that the Bolu municipality should have reported the hotel's eight defects.
  
  On 28 January, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey unanimously approved the establishment of an investigative commission into the fire composed of 22 members and with a duration of three months. The commission was formed in March 2025, with Erzurum member of parliament Selami Altınok as chairman.