Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has fired the deputy education minister after two gun attacks on schools in April that left nine people dead, according to a presidential decree published in the government’s gazette.
Eight students aged 10 and 11, as well as a teacher were killed when a 14-year-old teenager opened fire at a school in Kahramanmaras. According to authorities, the 14-year-old was in possession of five firearms and was the son of a former police commander who was arrested.
In another attack in Sanliurfa province, a former student opened fire at his old high school and then killed himself. Based on the presidential decree, Deputy Minister of Education Nazif Yilmaz was relieved of his duties and replaced by Jihad Demirli.
The two attacks shocked the public and Erdogan announced that his government would introduce restrictions on gun ownership.
