Turkey has initiated a sweeping nationwide crackdown on social media content glorifying two back-to-back school shooting attacks that have shaken the nation, with authorities ordering dozens of arrests just hours before funeral services are held for the victims, most of whom are elementary school children. The two violent incidents unfolded over 48 hours this week, leaving a total of nine people dead and 29 others injured, triggering widespread grief and renewed calls for stronger safety protections for students across the country.
The first attack took place on Tuesday in the southeastern province of Sanliurfa, carried out by a former student at his old high school. The 16 people wounded in the incident, and the attacker died by suicide when law enforcement officers cornered him, according to official statements. The deadlier attack came the next day in the southern province of Kahramanmaras, where a 14-year-old student brought five firearms into his school and opened fire on classmates and staff. Eight of the nine people killed in the attack were 10- and 11-year-old children, and the ninth fatality was their 55-year-old teacher. Both shooting suspects are now dead, though officials have not yet confirmed the exact circumstances of the 14-year-old’s death at the scene.
Investigators confirmed that the 14-year-old suspect, the son of a former police officer, planned the attack well in advance. Digital documents recovered from his computer dated April 11 show he wrote that he “intended to carry out a major operation in the near future.” Law enforcement has detained his father, and local Turkish media reports confirm his mother, a working teacher at the school, has also been taken into custody for questioning. Initial investigation also revealed the teen referenced a notorious U.S. mass shooter on his social media profile: he used an image of Elliot Rodger, who killed six people at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2014 before dying by suicide, as his WhatsApp profile photo. Both police and prosecutors have confirmed no links to terrorist organizations have been found so far, and officials have labeled the incident an isolated act of violence. Funerals for the eight child victims and their teacher are scheduled to take place Thursday in Kahramanmaras, and all schools in the province will remain closed through Friday out of respect.
In response to widespread social media content praising the two attacks, Turkish law enforcement launched an immediate crackdown on posts and users glorifying the violence. As of Thursday, 83 people have been detained on charges including spreading harmful content that disrupts public order and praising violent criminal activity. Authorities have also blocked access to 940 social media accounts and shut down 93 Telegram groups that shared content sympathetic to the shooters. Mass school shootings are extremely rare in Turkey, and the twin attacks have sparked widespread public outrage and action. Dozens of representatives from Turkey’s main teachers’ union gathered outside the national education ministry in Ankara Wednesday to call for a nationwide two-day strike, carrying banners that read “We will not surrender our schools to violence.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan released an official statement expressing deep sorrow over what he called Wednesday’s “tragic attack,” and pledged that the investigation would uncover every detail of the incident “in all its aspects.”