Metin Yüksel

Metin Yüksel (also: Yuksel) (July 17, 1958 – February 23, 1979), was an Islamist political and social activist from Turkey. One of the main leaders of Turkey's political Islam movement during the 1970s, he also led the Akıncılar Organization, an Islamist political organization.

Early life

Yüksel was born on July 17, 1958 in the eastern Anatolian city of Bitlis. Little is known about his early life outside of his family's religious devotion, a characteristic that Yüksel would carry with him throughout his short life. His father, Sadreddin Yüksel, was a well-known religious scholar, famous amongst Turkey's religious. His brother, Edip Yüksel, is an intellectual who has become known for advocating a moderate and rational form of Islam (for which he was rejected by Metin and labeled an apostate by their father).

Activism

Growing up during the turbulent 1960s and 1970s, a period of near-anarchy and daily bloodshed amongst Turkey's political factions, Yüksel began his activism at an early age. Inspired by the ideas of his father and others, Yüksel quickly became active in the burgeoning political Islam movements that emerged in the early 1950s, following the onset of the multi-party period in 1945.

Asides from his political work, Yüksel also founded and led Akıncılar, a social welfare organization most prominent in the eastern Turkey, but existing throughout the country.

Assassination

Although Turkish Islamists of the day were careful to steer clear of the political violence between nationalist and Marxist factions in Turkey, many of them died nevertheless.

On February 23, 1979, while leaving Friday prayers, Yüksel was shot dead outside Istanbul's Fatih Mosque by ultra-nationalist gunmen. He was 20 years old.

Legacy

Following his assassination, Yüksel became a martyr among Turkey's Islamist factions. His assassination led supporters to declare February as Şehit ("Martyr") month.

Every year on the anniversary of his death, supporters make pilgrimage to the spot where he was assassinated, in the yard of Fatih Mosque. It is common for them to hoist banners remembering him and paint red the spot where he fell.

Quotes

See also

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