2012 Istanbul Suicide Bombing
A view from the front of the police station after the attack
Location	Sultangazi, Istanbul, Turkey
Coordinates	41°06′31″N 28°53′39″E / 41.10866°N 28.89410°E / 41.10866; 28.89410
Date	September 11, 2012 ~11:00 ( UTC+03:00)
Target	75. Year Police Station
Attack type	Suicide bombing
Weapon	Fragmented plastic explosive
Deaths	2 (Including 1 attacker)
Injured	7
Victim	Bülent Özkan
Perpetrators	Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front
Assailant	İbrahim Çuhadar

On September 11, 2012, a suicide attack was carried out at the 75. Year Police Headquarters in Istanbul's Sultangazi district. A person trying to enter the building detonated his explosives at the entrance of the building after being unable to enter due to the police blocking him. The attacker died at the scene, and an injured police officer died while he was taken to the hospital. After the investigation, it was determined that İbrahim Çuhadar, a member of the " Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front" (DHKP-C), carried out the attack, in which a total of 7 or 8 people were injured, including four police officers and three or four civilians. While DHKP-C claimed responsibility for the attack with its statement, the killing of organization member Hasan Selim Gönen in a conflict with police officers from 75. Year Police Headquarters on July 21 was cited as the reason for the attack.

Background

On July 20, 2012, shots were opened at the police from a taxi that did not obey the stop warning of the police teams operating at the entrance of the Gazi Neighbourhood of Istanbul's Sultangazi district. During the conflict that occurred when the police responded, those in the taxi put a gun to the driver's head and asked the taxi to move away from the area. The taxi went about 100 meters and stopped, hitting the pavement. Of the two people in the vehicle, the male was caught at the scene, while the female, who tried to escape, was caught injured in Gaziosmanpaşa. These people were identified as Hasan Selim Gönen and Sultan Işıklı, members of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C). Gönen died the next day in the hospital where he was taken. The General Directorate of Security sent a letter to all provincial police departments stating that DHKP-C was preparing for action against police stations for revenge following Gönen's death.

Attack

İbrahim Çuhadar, who came to the 75. Year Police Station in Gazi Neighbourhood at around 11.00 ( UTC+03.00) on September 11, 2012, passed the guard booth at the garden gate of the police station and after climbing the stairs, at the entrance of the police station, approximately 50 meters away. He turned towards the body scanner at the entrance gate. Bülent Özkan, the police officer on duty at this point, realized that Çuhadar was a suicide bomber and opened two shots with his gun. The grenade thrown by the attacker, who could not enter the building, bounced off the bulletproof glass and fell outside the building and did not explode. Afterwards, Çuhadar detonated the explosives he was carrying.

Aftermath

The attacker died at the time of the explosion, and police officer Özkan died on the road while being seriously injured and taken to the hospital. 7 or 8 people were injured, including four police officers and, according to different sources, three or four civilians; He was treated at Bağcılar State Hospital, Okmeydanı Training and Research Hospital and Bezmiâlem Vakıf University Faculty of Medicine Hospital. The explosion caused a hole in the entrance of the building and the windows of the armored vehicles outside the building were broken.

Investigation and Those responsible

In the investigation carried out after the incident, it was determined that the attacker was İbrahim Çuhadar, born in Alaca in 1973 and a member of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front. Çuhadar was arrested in 1999 on the grounds that he was a member of DHKP-C and was released after remaining in prison until 2003. He was detained four times until 2007 and was arrested that year and spent 8 months in Sincan F Type Prison. He was detained once again in 2008 and lost his trace to the police units after 2010. Çuhadar was among the 9 wanted people with "very high priority" created by the Istanbul Police Department before the attack.

According to the statement of the police officials, the attack instruction came from the leader of the organization in Greece, Hüseyin Fevzi Tekin.[12] During the investigations, it was determined that the pressure and fragmentation plastic explosive wrapped around Çuhadar's body was based on nitroglycerin, to which some chemicals were added to increase its effect. Çuhadar's body, taken from the Forensic Medicine Institute on 14 September, was buried in the Gazi Cemetery in Sultangazi on 16 September.

Following the attack, DHKP-C claimed responsibility for the attack with a statement made on a website affiliated with DHKP-C. In the statement, which also included Çuhadar's photo, "Hasan Selim Gönen was murdered by the police of this police station. Gazi police station is not a randomly selected police station." expressions were used. At midnight on the same day, photos of Çuhadar, dated 30 August 2012, showing him wrapping the explosives he used in the attack around his body and holding a gun in his hand, were published.

Reactions

Making a written statement after the attack, President Abdullah Gül condemned the attack, which he stated was carried out by organizations he defined as "terror groups pursuing outdated ideologies". Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wished recovery to the injured and patience to the relatives of the police officer who died in the attack. Sabri Başköy, the governor of Çorum, the province where Çuhadar's population is registered, stated that although Çuhadar was born in Alaca, he left the village with his family and moved to Ankara 30-35 years ago and that he has had no connection with Çorum since then. Dutluca Headman Celal Çuhadır also condemned the attack, saying that the attacker was registered in their village's population register and that neither he nor the villagers knew him. Speaking at the funeral of Özkan, who died in the attack, Istanbul Governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu said of the "terrorist organisations": "The path they took is not a path and they can only be saved by surrendering themselves to the independent Turkish justice. Otherwise, the punishment that the security forces of this nation will impose on them will always reach them." ." He ended his speech by expressing his condolences to Özkan's family and relatives. At the same funeral ceremony, Istanbul Police Chief Hüseyin Çapkın said, "Bülent was martyred. Martyrdom is the most sacred of deaths. We are 40 thousand officers and head officers to ensure the peace and security of Istanbul. We are all Bülent." he said.

After the attack, the name of the police station was changed to "Martyr Bülent Özkan Police Station" by the decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The park built by Sultangazi Municipality in Malkoçoğlu District was opened on 22 May 2015 under the name "Martyr Police Bülent Özkan Park".

See also

• Terrorism in Turkey
• List of suicide attacks in Turkey