Turkish Council of State shooting

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The Turkish Council of State shooting occurred on 17 May 2006. Alparslan Arslan entered the Council of State building in Ankara and shot five judges, killing judge Mustafa Yücel Özbilgin. Arslan was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2008.

Incident

On 17 May 2006, gunman Alparslan Arslan made his way into the Council of State building in Ankara and subsequently shot five judges. According to the deputy head of the Council of State, Arslan shouted "I am the soldier of God".^[1] One of the wounded judges, Mustafa Birden, had been criticized for ruling against teachers wearing Muslim head scarves. Judge Mustafa Yücel Özbilgin suffered a gunshot wound to the head and after six hours of surgery was pronounced dead later that day in a hospital in Ankara.^[1]

Two janitors at the Court later said they had seen Arslan at the Court the day before and considered his behaviour suspicious enough to report it to the police.^[2]

The gun was supplied by İbrahim Şahin.^[3]

Aftermath

Özbilgin's mass funeral saw

Arslan later apologised to two of the judges he had wounded, saying that one had voted against the headscarf ban while the other had not been involved in the decision.[5]

Investigation

Arslan's father, İdris, made contradictory remarks on the matter. Initially he said his son was not religious and must have been coerced. One month later he defended his son's actions in the name of upholding the nation's values. Ergenekon prosecutors revealed that after the assassination, Arslan's mother and father had received 32,000 euros and $30,000, respectively.^[6]

An investigation by the

On 13 February 2008, Alparslan Arslan and Osman Yıldırım were sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. The detailed ruling by Ankara's 11th High Criminal Court stated that no connection to Ergenekon was found. The conclusion took into consideration a 550-page file submitted by the Istanbul public prosecutor's office.^[13]

References