Turkey on Thursday cracked down on social media posts praising two school shootings in as many days that have left the country reeling, ordering dozens of detentions ahead of funerals for the victims, who were mostly children, Agence France-Presse reported.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said 95 people had been taken into custody and 35 more suspects were being sought. Access to 1,104 social media accounts had been blocked, he added in a post on X.
Gürlek said investigators had identified accounts that targeted schools and suggested potential attacks. Sixty-seven users linked to such posts directed at 54 schools have been detained, he said.
The attacks, one on Tuesday that wounded 16 people and another on Wednesday that killed nine and injured 13, have shaken the country.
Eight of the dead were children aged 10 and 11, and their teacher, 55.
The suspects in both cases were also killed, authorities have said.
Tuesday’s attack, in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, saw an ex-student open fire in his former high school. Authorities said he took his own life when cornered by police.
Wednesday’s attack was believed to have been carried out by a 14-year-old student who arrived at the school in the southern province of Kahramanmaraş with five guns and opened fire.
Authorities have said the student, the son of a former police officer, planned the attack in advance, which documents found on his computer from April 11 indicating that he “intended to carry out a major operation in the near future.”
They said he died at the scene, though it was not immediately clear how. His father was detained, police said, while local media reported that his mother, a teacher, had also been taken into custody.
The funerals will take place Thursday in the city of Kahramanmaraş.
‘Isolated’ act
Police said the 14-year-old suspect had referenced a mass shooter in the United States, where such attacks are common, in a photo on his WhatsApp profile.
“Initial findings from the investigation revealed that the perpetrator used an image on his WhatsApp profile referencing Elliot Rodger, who carried out an attack in the United States in 2014,” the police said in a statement.
Rodger, 22, killed six people on the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara, before taking his own life.
According to initial findings, no link to terrorism has been established in Wednesday’s shooting, both the police and the prosecutors said.
“This appears to be an isolated act,” the police added.
Schools will remain closed in Kahramanmaraş on Thursday and Friday.
‘We will not surrender’
Police also said they had detained dozens for posting in praise of the shootings.
“Detention orders were issued for 83 individuals found to have engaged in posts and activities praising crime and criminals and negatively affecting public order, and legal action has been taken against them,” the police said in a statement.
In addition, access to 940 social media accounts has been blocked, and 93 Telegram groups have been shut down, it added.
Mass shootings are rare in Turkey, and the attacks triggered calls for protests.
Dozens of members of the main teachers’ unions gathered Wednesday outside the education ministry in Ankara and called for a two-day strike across the country.
They carried banner reading “We will not surrender our schools to violence”.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed sorrow over Wednesday’s “tragic attack” and said the incident would be thoroughly investigated.
