Image: Turkish Minute

Turkish Police Detain 162 Over Online Praise For Deadly School Shootings

16 April, 2026.Crime.10 sources

Key Takeaways

Turkish police detained 162 people over online posts praising two school shootings.
Authorities blocked 1,104 social media accounts linked to the posts.
Two deadly school shootings this week sparked a nationwide crackdown on online content.

Mass Arrests

Turkish police detained 162 people accused of posting controversial online content about two deadly school shootings.

“Turkish police said on Thursday they had ordered dozens of arrests for people accused of posting controversial content on social media after two deadly school shootings this week”

Asharq Al-Awsat

Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said the suspects were found to have engaged in posts praising crime and criminals and negatively affecting public order.

Asharq Al-Awsat

Access to 1,104 social media accounts was blocked.

The arrests came after a 14-year-old attacker killed nine people in Kahramanmaras.

An ex-student wounded 16 in Siverek before killing himself.

The Kahramanmaras suspect had planned the attack in advance.

He had referenced US mass killer Elliot Rodger in a WhatsApp profile photo.

Victims and Funerals

The shootings left at least 17 people dead, including eight children and a teacher.

Hundreds gathered near Kahramanmaras's main mosque for funerals.

BBC

One victim was identified as 10-year-old Zeynep.

The aunt of another victim, 10-year-old Shura, learned of her death on the news.

Teachers' unions called for a two-day strike.

President Erdogan expressed sadness.

Gun Access and Security

The Kahramanmaras attacker arrived at school armed with five guns and seven magazines.

“Language RSS Newsletters Follow us Sign in _User_ Your account Sign out Sign in _User_ Your account Sign out Home China World Politics Business Sci-Tech Health Opinions Video Live Radio TV Choose your language Choose your language Albanian Shqip Arabic العربية Belarusian Беларуская Bengali বাংলা Bulgarian Български Cambodian ខ្មែរ Croatian Hrvatski Czech Český English English Esperanto Esperanto Filipino Filipino French Français German Deutsch Greek Ελληνικά Hausa Hausa Hebrew עברית Hungarian Magyar Hindi हिन्दी Indonesian Bahasa Indonesia Italian Italiano Japanese 日本語 Korean 한국어 Lao ລາວ Malay Bahasa Melayu Mongolian Монгол Myanmar မြန်မာဘာသာ Nepali नेपाली Persian فارسی Polish Polski Portuguese Português Pashto پښتو Romanian Română Russian Русский Serbian Српски Sinhalese සිංහල Spanish Español Swahili Kiswahili Tamil தமிழ் Thai ไทย Turkish Türkçe Ukrainian Українська Urdu اردو Vietnamese Tiếng Việt Home China World World World Asia-Pacific Middle East Europe Americas Africa Politics Business Sci-Tech Health Culture Nature Travel Sports Live Opinions Documentary Global Stringer Creative Lab Art & Design Radio Video Chat Group Follow CGTN on: Albanian Shqip Arabic العربية Belarusian Беларуская Bengali বাংলা Bulgarian Български Cambodian ខ្មែរ Croatian Hrvatski Czech Český English English Esperanto Esperanto Filipino Filipino French Français German Deutsch Greek Ελληνικά Hausa Hausa Hebrew עברית Hungarian Magyar Hindi हिन्दी Indonesian Bahasa Indonesia Italian Italiano Japanese 日本語 Korean 한국어 Lao ລາວ Malay Bahasa Melayu Mongolian Монгол Myanmar မြန်မာဘာသာ Nepali नेपाली Persian فارسی Polish Polski Portuguese Português Pashto پښتو Romanian Română Russian Русский Serbian Српски Sinhalese සිංහල Spanish Español Swahili Kiswahili Tamil தமிழ் Thai ไทย Turkish Türkçe Ukrainian Українська Urdu اردو Vietnamese Tiếng Việt World Asia-Pacific Middle East Europe Americas Africa World Asia-Pacific Middle East Europe Americas Africa Our Privacy Statement & Cookie Policy By continuing to browse our site you agree to our use of cookies, revised Privacy Policy and Terms of Use”