Turkey: Gunman Kills Uncle at Southern School, Heightening Safety Fears
ISTANBUL — On Monday, a man fatally shot his uncle at a school in southern Turkey, officials confirmed, marking another violent incident in the country and raising concerns about school safety and the spread of firearms.
The 41-year-old gunman shot his uncle, Mehmet Bilgili, a Turkish language and literature teacher, in the yard of Farabi Anatolian High School in Cardak, on the outskirts of Osmaniye, Provincial Governor Mehmet Fatih Serdengecti said.
The suspect shot Bilgili with an unlicensed handgun after an argument, Cumhuriyat newspaper and other outlets reported, before he was detained.
Bilgili was taken to hospital but died shortly thereafter.
Serdengecti said the man had been receiving long‑term psychiatric care and had a falls-out with his uncle.
Adem Yucel, head of the Osmaniye branch of the teachers’ union Egitim‑Is, questioned how an armed individual could penetrate the school grounds.
“We want schools where our children go to school without fear, our teachers perform their duties safely and parents send their kids to school with peace of mind,” he said.
The shooting followed a 15‑year‑old student who wounded eleven classmates when he opened fire with a shotgun at a school in Turgutlu, western Manisa province the previous week.
Turkey was shaken by two school shootings within days in April, prompting enhanced security measures at educational institutions at the start of the academic year.
The earlier incident left sixteen people, mainly students, wounded after a former pupil opened fire at a high school in southeastern Sanliurfa; the assailant subsequently turned his weapon against himself.
The following day, a 14‑year‑old student barred off two classrooms at his own school in nearby Kahramanmaras province, killing eight students and a teacher while injuring thirteen others; the attacker was neutralized by police.
In the wake of the April shootings, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged to make school safety a top priority and to tighten gun‑ownership regulations.
According to the Hope Foundation, which advocates for stricter gun controls, more than 26 000 people have been killed in armed incidents, including those using weapons other than rifles, since 2014. Last year recorded 2 784 violent crimes involving firearms.
