Büyükkasap's body was found hanged at a residential complex for faculty members located in the education faculty social facility. University security personnel broke into his apartment when Büyükkasap did not leave the house hours after the time he usually did. Security immediately called 112 paramedics. Büyükkasap had been long dead when they arrived.
Although it was not immediately clear why Büyükkasap might have killed himself, speculation included a corruption scandal at the Erzincan University building affairs department, in which 10 people have been detained. Three individuals were arrested on charges of rigging a university tender. Family and friends say Professor Büyükkasap felt responsible for the incident. Sources close to Büyükkasap say the professor was a very proud man.
Some university personnel attacked members of the press with stones yesterday, saying, “It is all your fault.” Erzincan Governor Abdülkadir Demir and Police Chief Süleyman Oğuz arrived at the scene yesterday shortly after the unfortunate news was reported. The university president was married with two children. Sources say Büyükkasap lived alone as his wife lived in Erzurum with the couple’s son who goes to school in that city.
Büyükkasap was born in 1962 in the Tosya district of Kastamonu. He graduated from the physics and mathematics department in the education faculty at Atatürk University in 1983. He completed his graduate studies in nuclear physics in 1988 and doctoral studies in atom and molecular physics. He was given tenure in 1991 as an assistant professor, and in 1994, he became an associate professor. In 1997, he contributed to academic studies at Leeds University in England. In 1999, he became professor. He worked as dean of the Ağrı education faculty between 2001 and 2005, and in 2005, he was appointed dean of the Erzincan education faculty. In 2007, he was appointed president of Erzincan University. Büyükkasap has published a total of 168 studies -- 74 in international publications -- in nuclear physics, atomic and molecular physics and education and training in physics. He is survived by his wife and two children.
