A teacher was shot dead this morning in the playground of a high school in the province of Osmaniye, in southern Turkey, less than a week after 11 students were injured in another shooting at a school in the country. The victim, hit by shots fired from an unlicensed gun, later died from his injuries.
The incident took place at around 11.30 this morning at the Farabi Anadolu High School, located in Çardak, on the outskirts of the city of Osmaniye. According to the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet, an individual identified by the initials A.E.B., who is said to suffer from schizophrenia, went to the school playground to meet his uncle Mehmet Bilgili, a teacher of Turkish language and literature, with whom he was involved in a family dispute.
A family argument triggered the shooting
The argument between the two escalated until finally A.E.B. drew a gun and fired at Bilgili using an unlicensed pistol he was carrying. The teacher fell to the ground seriously injured and covered in blood, whilst several witnesses at the school alerted the emergency services; medical teams and numerous gendarmerie units arrived at the scene.
The suspect was quickly arrested. He was subsequently placed in an armoured vehicle and taken to the local gendarmerie barracks. The teacher, who had been seriously injured, was taken by ambulance to hospital after receiving first aid from the medical teams; however, despite the doctors’ efforts, they were unable to save his life. His body was subsequently taken to the mortuary for an autopsy.
“The attacker suffered from schizophrenia”
Students at the school were in class when the armed attack took place, and were frightened by the sound of the gunshots, according to local media reports. As news of the incident spread, several alarmed parents rushed to the school to collect their children.
The governor of Osmaniye, Mehmet Fatih Serdengeçti, also travelled to the school to receive first-hand information from the school’s authorities. In subsequent statements to the press, he said: “Unfortunately, our teacher who was attacked has lost his life. We have only just received the news. I wish to emphasise specifically that this heinous attack has absolutely no connection whatsoever with education or with our school.”
“Our teacher, Mehmet Bilgili, who worked at our school as a teacher of Turkish language and literature, was attacked by his nephew. There is information to suggest that the suspect had been receiving psychiatric treatment for many years. We also have information that our teacher had previously raised his nephew and treated him as if he were his own son. However, it is believed that a dispute arose between them… We believe our teacher was attacked in the schoolyard due to a family dispute,” added the governor, who also explained that “we know the attacker shows symptoms of schizophrenia”.
Concerns over security at school premises
The fact that the attack took place whilst the pupils were in class caused great alarm amongst families. Parents rushed to the school after hearing what had happened to collect their children, amidst moments of great tension.
According to reports, when the teacher was killed in the playground, there were security guards stationed at the school entrance to ensure the safety of the premises: a measure introduced by the authorities across Turkey following the school shootings in April. This incident has raised numerous questions about the extent to which the security checks carried out on people entering educational establishments are truly effective, given that the killer was able to enter carrying a weapon without anyone noticing.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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