On Monday (August 12), five were wounded when a perpetrator wearing an assault vest and displaying a Nazi symbol attacked customers sitting in a cafe in the central Anatolian city of Eskişehir in Turkey.
The ‘Black Sun’, a symbol associated with neo-Nazis, was displayed on the chest of the 18-year-old perpetrator, who was also wearing a helmet and carrying an axe.
In the attack, five were wounded, and two were later reported to be in critical condition in a nearby hospital.
The attack took place at a cafe located in a park in the Uluönder neighborhood of Eskişehir.
Perpetrator arrested
Following the attack, the perpetrator attempted to flee but was detained by authorities.
Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç made a statement regarding the incident saying:
“The suspect, who injured 5 people by attacking random people on the street with a sharp tool in Eskişehir, has been caught and detained. A judicial investigation by the Eskişehir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has been initiated. I wish a speedy recovery to our citizens injured in the attack.”
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya also issued a similar statement following the attack.
Manifesto appears online
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Shortly after Monday’s attack, an archived manifesto appeared online attributed to the perpetrator.
According to the manifesto, the perpetrator was born in 2006 in Eskişehir and is named Arda Küçükyetim. The document mentions Küçükyetim’s poor relationship with this immediate family.
A bout with depression in middle school was mentioned as the moment when Küçükyetim began to ‘hate people’.
The manifesto, titled “The Mass Cleaner Handbook”, describes the perpetrator’s hate for immigrants, Syrian refugees, and LGBT individuals.
Four perpetrators of similar acts are also mentioned as having been role models for Küçükyetim: Anders Behring Breivik, who carried out an attack in Norway in 2011 that killed 77 people, Brenton Tarrant, who perpetrated a mosque attack in New Zealand in 2019 that killed 51, Stephen Paddock, who carried out an attack in 2017 at a music festival in Las Vegas that killed 60, and Timothy McVeigh, who carried out the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Written/translated for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
