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Mustafa Yücel Özbilgin

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Mustafa Yücel Özbilgin (June 20, 1942 in Akçaabat – May 17, 2006) was a Turkish supreme court magistrate, who was shot dead in the Turkish Council of State courtroom in Ankara, Turkey on May 17, 2006 by Alparslan Arslan.[1]

Death

Main article: Turkish Council of State shooting

The alleged reasoning for the murder of Mustafa Yücel Özbilgin and wounding of four of his fellow judges was that they had previously voted against a Turkish school teacher being allowed to wear a traditional Islamic headscarf outside work.[2] One of the judges who was shot, voted in favour of allowing the teacher to wear a headscarf outside of work, while the other judges who were wounded, voted against.[1]

According to local news reports, the judges were in the midst of a daily meeting in the capital, when the gunman, who was later identified as a lawyer, burst into the room and fired his weapon. Mustafa Yücel Özbilgin suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead later that day in a hospital in Ankara. Police captured the gunman as he tried to escape. According to witnesses, the lawyer shouted, "Allahu Akbar (God is the greatest). His anger will be upon you!"[1]

His death has led to demonstrations in Turkey of support for secularism. The President Ahmet Necdet Sezer was applauded as he attended the funeral and warned that "no-one will be able to overthrow the [secular] regime".[3] The Turkish press has widely condemned the attacks.[4] Also, the former secularist prime minister Bülent Ecevit attended his funeral in spite of his bad health condition.[5] After the funeral, Ecevit had a cerebral hemorrhage and went into a coma.

The shooting represents a rise in tensions between the fundamentalist secular apparatus of state and supporters of religious rights, as well as Islamic fundamentalism.[6]

See also

Sources

References

  1. ^ a b c "Judge dies in Turkey court attack", BBC News, 17 May 2006. Retrieved 18 May 2006.
  2. ^ "Court backs Turkish headscarf ban", BBC News, 10 November 2005. Retrieved 18 May 2006.
  3. ^ "Turks protest over judge shooting", BBC News, 18 May 2006. Retrieved 18 May 2006.
  4. ^ "Judge shootings appal Turk press", BBC News, 18 May 2006. Retrieved 18 May 2006.
  5. ^ "[1]", Hurriyet
  6. ^ "Islam in Turkey: Odd one out", BBC News, 26 September 2003. Retrieved 18 May 2006.
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