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Shooting at Council of State commemorated on first anniversary
The Council of State commemorated the victims of a shooting against its members Thursday on the first anniversary of the attack that left one senior judge dead and four others wounded. Chief Justice Sumru Çörtoğlu has in the past said he blames the government and the religious media for making the judiciary a target.
One year ago a lawyer went on a shooting spree at the Council of State’s Second Bureau, mortally wounding Justice Mustafa Yücel Özbilgin with a shot to the head and injuring four others. The gunman is said to have shouted “God is great” in Arabic before opening fire. The judges, all from the same court chamber, had been severely criticized by the conservative religious media for a decision barring the promotion of an elementary school teacher who wore an Islamic-style headscarf outside of work.
Among those who attended the ceremony were Council of State Chief Justice Çörtoğlu, Constitutional Court Chief Justice Tülay Tuğcu, Head of the Court of Accounts Mehmet Damar, Supreme Court of Appeals Chief Prosecutor Nuri Ok, Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals Osman Şirin, members of the Council of State and family of the late Justice Özbilgin.
“It is impossible for us and for the great Turkish nation to forget Özbilgin, our valuable friend who served the Turkish judiciary as an experienced senior judge committed to law with a superior sense of responsibility,” Çörtoğlu said.
The chief justice said the real target of the attack was the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish nation. “The attack has most painfully reminded us of the fact that we should always be on our guard against the mentality that has not made its peace with the republic, that has not absorbed the secular state and that targets the principle agencies and institutions of our country.”
She said Turkey has never given into elements desiring to end its presence as a democratic, secular and social law of state. The State Council had lost Özbilgin as a martyr to its principle belief in the supremacy of law, Çörtoğlu told the audience.
Justice Minister Kasırga released a written statement on the anniversary. “We commemorate our judicial martyr and bow with respect before his memory on the anniversary of this loathsome incident that caused great pain to our judiciary and our nation,” his message read. The statement also stressed that any attack against the judiciary or a judge was an attack against the Republic of Turkey and the people of Turkey.
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