Troubled Alevi Police Officer Commits Suicide

Only two days before 2013, police officer Erol Uygun who was serving at an armed police station in Istanbul, shot himself to death at his aunt's apartment.

"My nephew was receiving pressure from his colleagues related to his Alevi belief. His co-workers were heavily involved with Gulen movement. He didn't receive psychological support from their supervisors. They just let him keep his gun," Yüksel Uygun, uncle, told Cihan Oruçoğlu from Cumhuriyet newspaper.

Police officer Uygun, 23, was buried in a cemetery in Istanbul after his ceremony in cemevi--Alevi prayer space which is yet to be officially recognized by the Turkish state.

"My nephew was receiving pressures from his co-workers who are members of Gulen movement. Lately tensions amid police officers rose due to unionization issues. There were two groups and my nephew did not belong to either," Uncle Uygun said during the ceremony.

He also claimed that an armed police officer has recently been assaulted by another co-worker, which was protested by 55 armed police officers. "My nephew didn't attend these protests. The pressures on him got worse after this. They were accusing him to be traitor just because he was Alevi."

Uncle Uygun said he last met his nephew troubled with work. "It was Friday [December 28] and he told me that he was almost ostracized. We were trying to change his assignment location. But it was too late. He shot himself dead two days later. He was young and loved his job." (EKN)