Erdogan Vows New Measures After Deadly Türkiye School Shootings

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that his government would introduce sweeping measures, including restrictions on gun ownership, after two school shootings last week that shocked Türkiye. Eight students aged 10 and 11 and a teacher were killed Wednesday when a 14-year-old student opened fire at a school in the southern province of Kahramanmaras. Authorities said the attacker, who died at the scene, had brought five firearms and was the son of a former police inspector, who has since been arrested. A separate attack on Tuesday in southeastern Sanliurfa province involved a former student who opened fire at his old high school before taking his own life when confronted by police. “We will implement additional legal regulations regarding the limitation of gun ownership,” Erdogan said after a weekly cabinet meeting. Penalties would be increased for firearm owners who fail to properly secure their weapons, particularly in cases where children gain access to them, he added. Mass shootings are rare in Türkiye, and the incidents have sparked public concern. “When we look at similar attacks around the world, especially those carried out in the United States, we see that one of the perpetrators’ aims is to terrorize society,” Erdogan said. “Such attacks target not only the shedding of innocent blood but also, like terrorist organizations, provoking public outrage and creating anxiety, unease, fear, and distress within society”. School safety would be among the government’s top priorities, he added. He also said the authorities would expand surveillance online, including by making use of artificial intelligence. The relevant institutions would address what he described as “violence and moral decay” on television screens, he added, calling for greater emphasis on productions that promote family values. “Portraying perpetrators in productions themed around crime and violence as strong, influential, exempt from punishment, or even respectable undermines our youth’s connection to reality,” he said.