Description: Two school shootings in just as many days unfolded in Turkey’s southern regions of Kahramanmaras and Siverek. The first shooting left more than sixteen people injured and was conducted by a former student of the Ahmet Koyoncu Vocational and Technical Anatolian School, located in Siverek. Several Turkish media outlets have reported that the shooter preemptively announced the attack through social media posts which have presently been taken down by the police. The second shooting was conducted by a 14 – year old student at the Ayser Calik Secondary School in Kahramanmaras and left nine people dead with dozens critically injured. The motives behind the school shootings were unclear as investigations were immediately launched. The attacks follow last week’s shooting of the Israeli consulate which was successfully intercepted by the police force. Motives behind the shootings have so far not been identified by the police and the source of the weapons that ended up in the possession of both shooters is being speculated with.
Impact: The deadly incident raises concerns over the state of Turkey’s internal security policies, gun proliferation in the country and the effectiveness of the country’s social services, considering that both shooters were students deemed deeply problematic by both police and media sources. School shootings are extremely rare in Turkey, which makes the attacks highly symptomatic and likely points towards negligence from Turkey’s security apparatus to monitor social media threats and limit access to weapons. With the motives still unidentified behind both shootings, the problem reiterates towards personal issues and raises concerns over the effectiveness of Turkey’s social services and programs that are aimed at supporting students in their educational process. Considering the presently limited information available, the shootings are currently not expected to cause any internal security or political crisis, however, the potential for civil unrest would likely rise depending on the direction of both investigations.