A police officer at a hospital in İzmir shot and killed a hospital security guard, who is also the district president of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) youth wing, on Tuesday after he accused the policeman of membership in FETÖ, an acronym for the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization coined by government circles to refer to Gülen movement members, who are inspired by the views of US-based Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.
According to eyewitnesses, police officer E.K started to argue with security guard Yalçın Çakar at Aliağa State Hospital on Tuesday over Çakar’s accusation against E.K, who fired six shots at Çakar after the quarrel turned into a fight.
Çakar, who sustained serious injuries from the gunfire, was given first aid at the same hospital and subsequently died at Çiğlie State Hospital, where he was taken for further treatment. E.K. surrendered to his colleagues at the hospital and handed over the gun with which he shot Çakar.
Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed over 240 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch, the AKP government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Despite Gülen and the movement having denied the accusation and calling for an international investigation, President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government launched a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody. Thousands of anonymous tips were received by the government accusing police officers, bureaucrats and civilians of membership in the movement.
More than 100,000 people had been purged from state jobs as of Sept. 13 after the AKP government declared a state of emergency in Turkey on July 20. Nearly 43,000 have been detained and 23,500 arrested, including journalists, judges, prosecutors, police and military officers, academics, governors and even a comedian.