The Turkish Council of State shooting occurred on 17 May 2006. Alparslan Arslan entered the

Council of State A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...

building 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 ...

and shot five judges, killing judge Mustafa Yücel Özbilgin. Arslan was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

in 2008.

Incident

On 17 May 2006, gunman Alparslan Arslan made his way into the Council of State building in Ankara and subsequently shot five judges. According to the deputy head of the Council of State, Arslan shouted "I am the soldier of

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

". One of the wounded judges, Mustafa Birden, had been criticized for ruling against teachers wearing Muslim head scarves. Judge Mustafa Yücel Özbilgin suffered a gunshot wound to the head and after six hours of surgery was pronounced dead later that day in a hospital in Ankara. Two janitors at the Court later said they had seen Arslan at the Court the day before and considered his behaviour suspicious enough to report it to the

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

. The gun was supplied by İbrahim Şahin.

Aftermath

Özbilgin's mass funeral saw protestors calling

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a "murderer" and demanding the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

resignation Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...

. Erdoğan's government had criticised the court's rulings on headscarves and other issues. Erdoğan described the funeral as "a move aimed at fanning unrest in the country", while the Chief of the

General Staff of the Republic of Turkey , image = , image_size = 160px , caption = Emblem of the General Staff , dates = 3 May 1920 – present , country = , allegiance ...

, General Hilmi Özkök, said that the protests should "not remain the reaction of just one day, a one-off event. ... It must gain permanence, as something continuous. It must be pursued by everyone." Erdoğan also said that "We should all make efforts to strengthen

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...

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 ...

... and the rule of law." Arslan later apologised to two of the judges he had wounded, saying that one had voted against the headscarf ban while the other had not been involved in the decision.

Investigation

Arslan's father, İdris, made contradictory remarks on the matter. Initially he said his son was not religious and must have been coerced. One month later he defended his son's actions in the name of upholding the nation's values.

Ergenekon Ergenekon (sometimes spelled ''Ergeneqon'', mn, Эргүнэ хун, Ergüne khun) is a founding myth of Turkic and Mongolic peoples.

prosecutors revealed that after the

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

, Arslan's mother and father had received 32,000

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s and $30,000, respectively. An investigation by the

Air Force Office of Special Investigations The Department of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) is a U.S. federal law enforcement agency that reports directly to the Secretary of the Air Force. OSI is also a U.S. Air Force field operating agency under the administrative ...

on stolen weaponry in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

revealed that the gun was of the same type used in shooting priest

Andrea Santoro Andrea Santoro (7 September 1945, in Priverno, Italy – 5 February 2006, in Trabzon, Turkey) was a Roman Catholic priest in Turkey, murdered in the Santa Maria Church in Trabzon where he served as a member of the Catholic Church's Fidei donu ...

(whose attacker had shouted the same words). In April 2010,

TÜBİTAK The Scientific and Technological Research Institution of Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu, TÜBİTAK) is a national agency of Turkey whose stated goal is to develop "science, technology and innovation" (STI) policies ...

said it was unable to retrieve

security camera A closed-circuit television camera can produce images or recordings for surveillance or other private purposes. Cameras can be either video cameras, or digital stills cameras. Walter Bruch was the inventor of the CCTV camera. The main purpose o ...

footage of the incident, with footage missing from the day of the incident and the day before. The security company is owned by

OYAK Ordu Yardımlaşma Kurumu (OYAK) (''lit. Military Mutual Aid Institution''), is a Turkish charity and pension fund with around 363,000 members and owner of Renault (Oyak). The OYAK Holding Investment Subsidiary Group is one of the largest industr ...

Trial

There were

allegation In law, an allegation is a claim of an unproven fact by a party in a pleading, charge, or defense. Until they can be proved, allegations remain merely assertions.

s that the attack was orchestrated by retired gendarmerie general

Veli Küçük Veli Küçük (born 9 May 1944, Türkmen, Gölpazarı, Bilecik, TurkeyToday's Zaman, 16 June 2009Ultranationalist Ergenekon suspect is of Armenian origin, magazine reveals/ref>) is a retired Turkish brigadier-general. He is thought to be the fou ...

, who was detained in the

Ergenekon investigation Ergenekon () was the name given to an alleged clandestine, secular ultra-nationalist organization in Turkey with possible ties to members of the country's military and security forces. The would-be group, named after Ergenekon, a mythical pla ...

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agre ...

charges. Osman Yıldırım, one of those eventually convicted for the attack, said the decision to go ahead with the attack had been made at a meeting at an

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

apartment at which he and Arslan had met with Küçük. In 2008 the case was consolidated with that of the 2008 bombing of the newspaper ''

Cumhuriyet ''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: " Republic") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Pr ...

'', also allegedly connected to Ergenekon.

Verdict

On 13 February 2008, Alparslan Arslan and Osman Yıldırım were sentenced to life imprisonment without

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

. The detailed ruling by Ankara's 11th High Criminal Court stated that no connection to Ergenekon was found. The conclusion took into consideration a 550-page file submitted by the Istanbul public prosecutor's office.

References

{{coord missing, Turkey Council of State shooting 2006 mass shootings in Europe 2006 murders in Asia 2000s in Ankara 2006 mass shootings in Asia Council of State shooting 2000s trials Ergenekon (allegation) Council of State shooting May 2006 crimes May 2006 events in Turkey Murder in Ankara Murder trials Terrorist incidents in Ankara Council of State shooting