Mustafa Yücel Özbilgin

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

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 funereal in spite of his bad health condition.^[5]. After the funereal, 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

• Turkish Council of State shooting
• Ergenekon (organization)
• List of assassinated people from Turkey

Sources

• ANA SAYFA (includes photo)

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.

External links

• In pictures: Turkey court shooting

Persondata
Name	Ozbilgin, Mustafa Yucel
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	20 June 1942
Place of birth
Date of death	17 May 2006
Place of death