A school shooting in southern Turkey on Wednesday left nine people dead, including an 11-year-old boy whose father was dismissed from the Turkish National Police over alleged links to the Gülen movement and was released from prison last year.
The attack took place at Ayser Çalık Middle School in Kahramanmaraş’s Onikişubat district and left 20 others injured, according to the TR724 news website.
The victims included a math teacher and eight students, among them Yusuf Tarık Gül, the son of Burak Gül, a former police officer dismissed by an emergency decree over alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement after a 2016 coup attempt. He was sentenced to more than six years in prison and was released last year, meaning Yusuf Tarık had only recently been reunited with his father after years of separation.
Burak Gül was among scores of police officers and other public officials dismissed in the sweeping purge that followed Turkey’s 2016 failed coup, which the government accused the Gülen movement of orchestrating. The movement denies involvement in the coup or any terrorist activity.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has targeted followers of the faith-based Gülen movement since corruption investigations in 2013 implicated members of his family and inner circle. He dismissed the probes as a Gülenist conspiracy and designated the movement a terrorist organization in May 2016.
The shooting suspect was identified as a 14-year-old eighth-grade student, İsa Aras Mersinli, the son of a senior police official.
Burak Gül later confronted Kahramanmaraş Governor Mükerrem Ünlüer at a hospital, voicing anger over his past imprisonment and his son’s death. “I was imprisoned for 1,758 days as a ‘terrorist,’ and now my son has been killed by the son of those you call ‘patriots,’” he shouted.
Bystanders prevented him from continuing, according to footage shared on social media.
The killing has drawn renewed scrutiny of school safety and the state’s duty to protect children’s right to life and provide a secure learning environment. Teachers unions and several civil society organizations took to the streets in İstanbul and Ankara, calling for stronger measures against school violence and the resignation of Education Minister Yusuf Tekin.
