Alparslan Arslan

Alparslan Arslan (1977 – 17 February 2023) was a Turkish national convicted of murdering Council of State member, Mustafa Yücel Özbilgin, and wounding four others. He also took part in the bombing of the newspaper , along with Osman Yıldırım, İsmail Sağır, and Erhan Timuroğlu. All of these events, took place from 10 - 17 May 2006.

Biography Arslan was born in Kiğı, Bingöl, in 1977. He came from a conservative family. He graduated from Marmara University's law school, in 1998. Later on, he met fellow Ergenekon suspect Sedat Peker, and engaged in financial fraud.

Council of State attack

On 17 May 2006, Arslan killed Council of State member Mustafa Yücel Özbilgin. His stated motive was that the council disrespected the devout, citing alleged oppression of women who cover their hair; a wedge issue at the time. Allegations surfaced that this was a false flag attack by neonationalists, and Arslan was recruited for the job.

At his hearing, Arslan continued to make contradictory statements, and appeared mentally unstable, though he passed a health check.

The Ankara court requested evidence collected by the Ergenekon prosecutors, and they submitted a 550-page file. However, the file did not contain information that would have enabled the judge to establish a connection between the Council of State bombing and the other ones mentioned in the Ergenekon indictment. The court concluded that the attack had indeed been carried out by Islamists, as originally thought. After the verdict was given.

Death Arslan was found dead in his detention cell, in Istanbul, on 17 February 2023. According to the Demirören News Agency, he committed suicide, by hanging himself with a garbage bag. His family, on the contrary, claimed that he was murdered. He was buried in Yukarı Baklacı Cemetery in Beykoz, Istanbul.