Turkish police have ordered the arrest of scores of people accused of either praising or spreading fake news about the country's recent school shootings online. At least nine people died in a school shooting in the southern province of Kahramanmaras on Wednesday, and on Tuesday, a former student opened fire at a high school in the southeastern district of Siverek, injuring 16.

Issued on: 16/04/2026 - 09:40Modified: 16/04/2026 - 13:06

Turkish authorities have detained more than 160 people on charges ranging from spreading misleading information to praising two deadly school shootings this week online, the justice minister said Thursday.

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said 95 people had been taken into custody and 35 more suspects were being sought. Access to 1,104 social media accounts had been blocked, he added in a post on X.

Gurlek said investigators had identified accounts that targeted schools and suggested potential attacks. Sixty-seven users linked to such posts directed at 54 schools have been detained, he said.

On Tuesday, a student opened fire at his former high school in the Siverek district in the southeast, wounding 16 people including students before killing himself.

The incidents in a row this week triggered protests.

Dozens of members of the main teachers’ unions gathered Wednesday evening outside the education ministry in Ankara and called for a two-day strike across Turkey.

They carried a banner that read: “We will not surrender our schools to violence.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed sadness over Wednesday’s “tragic attack” but promised the incident would be shed light “in all its aspects”.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

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