On 15 April 2026, a school shooting occurred at the Ayser Çalık Secondary School in the Onikişubat district of Kahramanmaraş Province, Turkey. İsa Aras Mersinli, a 13-year-old student enrolled at the school, shot and killed 12 people and injured 13 more. Mersinli died from hypovolemic shock after sustaining a fatal knife injury while attempting to flee the scene.
The shooting occurred the day after a school shooting in the Siverek district of Şanlıurfa Province. It is the deadliest school shooting in the history of Turkey.
School shootings are uncommon in Turkey. The nation has gun laws that require licensing, registration, psychiatric evaluations, criminal background checks, and severe penalties for illegal possession. Although some say these laws are strict, others say that the number of individual gun owners has increased dangerously. Prior to the Onikişubat shooting, the most notable school shooting was the 2018 Eskişehir University shooting. Following the Siverek attack, many teachers' unions in Turkey announced a nationwide one-day work stoppage for 15 April to protest the lack of security for educators and students.
Minutes before the shooting, Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin addressed the press ahead of the AK Party's Grand National Assembly (TBMM) group meeting. Regarding the Siverek shooting, he stated that, based on assessments conducted with the Ministry of the Interior, schools have been classified by risk category and that such safety issues remain a priority on his agenda.
The day prior, a 19-year-old man opened fire at a vocational high school in Siverek, Şanlıurfa Province, injuring 16 people before committing suicide. On the same day as the Onikişubat shooting, a teenager opened fire at a student outside a high school in Şahinbey, Gaziantep Province. Five shots were fired but nobody was injured. A high school student in Tarsus, Mersin Province, was also taken into custody after being caught with a handgun at school. A 14-year-old boy was severely injured in a stabbing at a park in Keçiören, Ankara Province. On 17 April 2026, a parent of a student at the Dumlupınar Secondary School in Şanlıurfa attempted to attack a teacher with a knife. Police officers at the school subdued the attacker, and no one was injured in the incident.
According to preliminary reports from the Kahramanmaraş Governor's Office and local law enforcement, the shooting began at approximately 13:30 TRT. The shooter reportedly concealed five 9mm pistols and seven magazines in a backpack before entering the school. The shooting started after the perpetrator entered a classroom and opened fire on the occupants. Following this, they moved to a second classroom where they continued the attack. At least one of the attacked classrooms was a mathematics class. As the shooting occurred, students reportedly jumped out of the school windows in order to escape.
Necmettin Bekçi, a parent of two students at the school, eventually entered the building to attempt to stop the attack. He claimed that two members of staff at the school were already attempting to hold the perpetrator down in a stairwell when he arrived. Bekçi explained that, after the perpetrator broke free, he slashed the leg of the perpetrator with a knife in order to incapacitate them, inadvertently severing their femoral artery. An autopsy report showed that hypovolemic shock resulted in Mersinli's death.
Shortly after the first reports, emergency medical teams were immediately sent to help the injured and take them to nearby hospitals. Schools in Kahramanmaraş were closed for two days following the incident. Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi, National Education Minister Tekin, and Minister of Health Kemal Memişoğlu declared his intention to travel to Kahramanmaraş to manage the response efforts and assist families. The Ministry of Justice announced a broadcast ban on covering the shooting for "the sake of the integrity of the investigation". Seven prosecutors, four chief civil inspectors and four chief police inspectors have been assigned to the ongoing investigation.
One teacher and eleven students were killed, including one who later died after being treated for 18 days at a hospital. 13 were injured at the school, and seven more were injured while trying to escape, including five critically. Eleven people were discharged from hospital after receiving treatment.
Ayla Kara, 56, a mathematics teacher, was hailed as a hero by shielding her students with her body when the shooting began. She was struck by bullets and died at the scene.
One of the victims of the shooting was 11-year-old Yusuf Tarık Gül, who later died from his injuries. His father was a police officer who was sacked during the post-2016 Turkish coup attempt purges in Turkey and spent six years in prison. Only six months after they were reunited following his father’s release from prison, Yusuf was killed. No government officials from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) attended Yusuf’s funeral, reportedly due to his father’s background. This prompted criticism from human rights groups and MPs Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu and Turan Çömez. On May 4th, another female student, Alya Agaoglu, died in the hospital from her injuries.
All of the following were killed in the shooting (excluding the perpetrator):
Ayla Kara, female, 55 (teacher)
Şuranur Sevgi Kazıcı, female, 11 (student)
Belinay Nur Boyraz, female, 11 (student)
Kerem Erdem Güngör, male, 11 (student)
Furkan Sancak Balal, male, 11 (student)
Yusuf Tarık Gül, male, 11 (student)