From shootings to knife attacks: Why school safety is under scrutiny in Turkey

A fatal knife attack at a middle school in Istanbul has once again put school safety in Turkey under scrutiny, just weeks after millions of students returned to classrooms under heightened security measures.

Eight students were injured on October 6 after a 15-year-old high school student entered Şeyh Şamil Imam Hatip Middle School in Istanbul's Başakşehir district and attacked students with a knife, according to Turkish authorities.

One of the seriously injured students later died, Education Minister Yusuf Tekin said. The injured children were aged between 10 and 13.

The Education Ministry sent a delegation to Istanbul and assigned two inspectors to investigate the incident, while psychosocial support teams were deployed to assist students, teachers and parents. Classes at the school were suspended for two days.

The attack is the latest in a series of violent incidents involving schools in Turkey this year, raising questions over how safe students are and whether recently introduced measures are enough.

What other school attacks have happened this year?

Just two weeks earlier, on September 22, a ninth-grade student opened fire outside a high school in Manisa province, injuring 11 students.

The 15-year-old suspect later told investigators that peer bullying and a personal dispute were behind the attack, according to Turkish media. Authorities were also investigating how he gained access to the shotgun used in the shooting.

The Manisa attack came only months after two shootings on consecutive days in April that triggered nationwide concern.

On April 14, a teenager opened fire at his former high school in Şanlıurfa, injuring 16 people before taking his own life when confronted by police.

A day later, another shooting took place at a school in the southern province of Kahramanmaraş, where students and a teacher were killed. The attacker, a 14-year-old student, also died at the scene.

The back-to-back attacks shocked the country, where mass shootings at schools have historically been rare, and pushed authorities to review security across the education system.

Following the April shootings, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said school safety had become one of the government's highest priorities and announced plans for additional measures, including tighter rules around firearm ownership.

Security was also increased around schools, with police patrols, identity checks and stricter controls on who could enter school premises.

When the new academic year began in September, authorities introduced a wider security model. Around 31,000 school grounds supervisors were allocated across the country, while schools were assessed according to their security risk.

Police officers were assigned to schools considered higher risk, while lower-risk schools were given police liaison officers to coordinate with administrators.

Authorities also announced regular patrols around schools, inspections of school buses and checks on abandoned buildings near school grounds. Thousands of handheld metal detectors were also obtained for priority schools.

Is the issue only about security at the school gate?

The debate in Turkey has increasingly moved beyond metal detectors and police patrols. In July, a parliamentary commission investigating school incidents, digital risks and child safety heard directly from students, parents and teachers.

Peer bullying emerged as one of the concerns raised during the discussions. Students told the commission that complaints about bullying needed to be taken more seriously, while parents argued that protecting children required more than physical security and should also address psychological, social and digital risks.

The government has similarly looked at children's exposure to violent content online, while Erdoğan said after the April attacks that authorities would examine digital platforms and strengthen measures related to children's online safety.

The Istanbul knife attack happened less than a month after the start of an academic year in which school security had already been strengthened.

It also differed from the shootings earlier in the year. The latest incident involved a knife and took place inside a middle school, despite increased attention on access and security.

Authorities have not yet publicly established a motive, and judicial and administrative investigations are continuing.

The latest incident is therefore likely to keep the wider debate alive over whether preventing school violence requires not only tighter entrances and a stronger police presence, but earlier intervention when children face bullying, psychological distress or other risks.

After a year marked by several serious incidents, the challenge for Turkey is increasingly becoming not only how to respond when violence reaches the classroom, but how to prevent it from reaching the school gates in the first place.

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