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Türkiye's Ministry of National Education removed the provincial education director of Kahramanmaras on Sunday, taking the first concrete administrative step in the wake of a school shooting that killed nine people four days ago.
The ministry announced that Erhan Baydur, director of the Kahramanmaras Provincial Directorate of National Education, had been removed from his post to ensure the integrity of an ongoing administrative investigation. Senior inspectors from the ministry's Inspection Board have been conducting a multi-faceted inquiry into the attack since it occurred.
"The investigation and examination being conducted by the chief inspectors of our Ministry's Inspection Board to research all dimensions of the incident continues on multiple fronts," the ministry said in a statement, adding that developments in the process would be shared with the public.
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On April 15, a 14-year-old eighth-grade student, identified as Isa Aras Mersinli, entered Ayser Calik Middle School in the Onikisubat district of Kahramanmaras carrying concealed firearms in his backpack. He entered two separate classrooms and opened fire, killing eight students and mathematics teacher Ayla Kara, and wounding 13 others before dying at the scene.
Investigators determined that the attacker used licensed firearms belonging to his father, Ugur Mersinli, a first-class police superintendent and chief police inspector. The father was taken into custody and told investigators his son had psychological problems and was receiving treatment.
"I did not understand what he was doing on his computer," the father said in his statement, adding that he did not know how his son had opened the locked chest where the weapons were stored.
The ministry said the matter was being handled "with diligence and sensitivity in all its aspects," signaling that accountability may extend beyond Baydur.
Administrative proceedings of this nature, in which officials are suspended or reassigned pending the outcome of an inquiry, are a standard mechanism in Türkiye's public sector when institutional failures are suspected in the wake of a major incident.
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