A research assistant shot dead four academics and wounded three people at their university near the Turkish capital of Ankara on Thursday, the local Anadolu news agency reported.
The gunman believed the faculty members were supporters of exiled Muslim cleric Fetullah Gulen, whom Turkey accuses of having orchestrated the failed coup attempt of July 2016, Osmangazi University’s Rector Hasan Gonen said, according to Reuters.
The university is located in the town of Eskisehir. The incident took place around 3 pm local time. The gunman was arrested after the police gave him a brief chase.
The four people who died were the assistant dean, the faculty secretary, a research assistant and an associate professor.
“This person had claimed that some members of the university were members of FETO, and he had made similar claims in court,” Gonen said. FETO is the Turkish name of the network run by Gulen, who lives in the United States. Gulen denies involvement in the coup attempt, even as Turkey continues to arrest hundreds of people on charges of having links with him.
Local authorities are investigating the shooting at the university.
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