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August 11, 2006
Turkey: Trial Of Islamist Lawyer, Suspected Killer Of Judge, Begins
We reported that on May 17 a gunman shouting "Allahu Ackbar" (Allah is Great) stormed a senior administrative court, the Council of State, and shot five judges. The incident took place in Ankara, the capital of Turkey.
Judge Mustafa Yucel Ozbilgin died at Hacettepe University hospital.The assailant was a lawyer, identified by Turkish TV as Aslan Alpaslan. He was arrested immediately after the shooting, still in possession of a handgun. The Second Chamber of the Council of State was in session on the eighth floor when Alpaslan stormed in and unloaded two clips from the Austrian-made Glock automatic pistol. Apparently, this gun can pass through metal detectors without triggering an alarm.
The judges had previously made a controversial ruling concerning the Muslim headscarf, or hijab. Mustafa Birden is known as a judge who has supported Turkey's secularism by upholding bans against women wearing the hijab, or Muslim headscarf, in universities and public institutions.
Mustafa Birden was shot in the stomach, while Mustafa Yucel Ozbilgin was fatally wounded in the neck.
Birden made headlines earlier this year when he ruled that women teachers should not be allowed to wear the hijab on their way to work, at their schools. He has also received death threats, and photographs of him and other judges from the Second Chamber have been published in an Islamist newspaper. The newspaper Vakit carried above the photograph the headline: "Those are the ones who ban the headscarf even on the streets".
News from AKI states that today, the trial of Aslan Alpaslan will begin. He is also charged with six other people.
Aspalan has already stated in testimony that he committed the shooting because of the hijab ruling.
Following the assassination of Mustafa Yucel Ozbilgin, there were mass demonstrations in Turkey.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 11, 2006 8:58 AM
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