Mustafa Yücel Özbilgin (June 20, 1942 – May 17, 2006) was a Turkish supreme court

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

, who was shot dead in the

Turkish Council of State The Council of State ( tr, Danıştay) is the highest administrative court in the Republic of Turkey and is located in Ankara. Its role and tasks are prescribed by the Constitution of Turkey within the articles on the supreme courts. According to ...

courtroom in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

on May 17, 2006, by

Alparslan Arslan Alparslan Arslan (born 1977 in Kiğı) is a Turkish criminal convicted for murdering Council of State (Turkey), Council of State member Mustafa Yücel Özbilgin, and wounding four others. He also took part in the bombing of the newspaper ''Cumhuriy ...

.Judge dies in Turkey court attack
, BBC News, 17 May 2006. Retrieved 18 May 2006.

Death

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

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

ic headscarf outside work. 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. 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

. Police captured the gunman as he tried to escape. According to witnesses, the lawyer shouted, "

Allahu Akbar Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", an ...

(God is the greatest). His anger will be upon you!" His death has led to demonstrations in Turkey of support for

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on Secularity, secular, Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the Separation of church and state, separation of relig ...

. The

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Ahmet Necdet Sezer Ahmet Necdet Sezer (; born 13 September 1941) is a Turkish statesman and judge who served as the tenth president of Turkey from 2000 to 2007. Previously he was president of the Constitutional Court of Turkey from 1998 to 2002. The Grand Nationa ...

was applauded as he attended the funeral and warned that "no-one will be able to overthrow the ecularregime". The Turkish press has widely condemned the attacks. Also, the former secularist prime minister

Bülent Ecevit Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (; 28 May 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist, who served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in ...

attended his funeral in spite of his bad health condition. 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 Islamic fundamentalism has been defined as a puritanical, revivalist, and reform movement of Muslims who aim to return to the founding scriptures of Islam. Islamic fundamentalists are of the view that Muslim-majority countries should return t ...

.Islam in Turkey: Odd one out
, BBC News, 26 September 2003. Retrieved 18 May 2006.

Sources

''ANA SAYFA'' (includes photo)

References

External links

In pictures: Turkey court shooting
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozbilgin, Mustafa Yucel 1942 births 2006 deaths People from Akçaabat Turkish judges Turkish civil servants Assassinated Turkish civil servants People murdered in Turkey Deaths by firearm in Turkey Governors of Adıyaman Turkish Council of State shooting Male murder victims

Death

See also

Sources

References

External links