Turkey Attacker Inspired by Accelerationism and Mass Killers, Manifesto Shows

COE also uncovered antisemitic comments the assailant posted on Steam in 2023. Using the screen name “Skrewdriver,” the assailant wrote “getting a job is Jewish I’d rather stay unemployed” and shared multiple copy pastas memes (blocks of digital text that can be copied and pasted across platforms) about “ZOG,” an acronym for “Zionist Occupied Government” that references the antisemitic belief that the government is controlled by Jews. 

The assailant claimed he was not associated with an extremist group and declared that he was a “lone wolf.” He also expressed admiration for other lone wolf far-right mass killers including the perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, who killed over 70 people, the shooter in the 2019 mosque attacks in New Zealand who gunned down 50 people, and the Jacksonville gunman who killed three at a store in 2023.  

The teen suspect likened himself to these killers, all of whom are regularly lauded by accelerationists, and expressed a desire to be listed among them following his attack.  He also hoped to inspire others to act on their hatred and encouraged readers to livestream their own violent actions to encourage future attackers.   

Influences 
The Eskişehir attacker expressed admiration for many mass killers throughout his manifesto, referring to terrorists such as the Oslo shooter, the Christchurch shooter, and the Oklahoma City bomber as “saints,” a term of reverence used by accelerationists. He also included photos of other American mass killers that he admired, including the Columbine shooters and Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber. 

Essentially using predecessor attacks as a blueprint, the Eskişehir attacker emulated elements of their actions and writings. Mimicking both the Christchurch and Jacksonville shooters, he included a “Question and Answer” section in his manifesto and scrawled white supremacist symbols on his weapon, including a swastika, SS bolts and KKK. He also livestreamed his rampage on social media — a tactic utilized by several prior mass attackers. 

Although he lived in Turkey, the Eskişehir attacker appears to have been heavily influenced by Western extremist propaganda. In his manifesto, he used English-language memes and slurs and included the logo for the now-defunct Atomwaffen Division, a US based neo-Nazi accelerationist group. The file of propaganda he shared along with his manifesto included Siege, a collection of essays written by American neo-Nazi James Mason, and Industrial Society and its Future, the manifesto of American domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski. 

The Eskişehir attacker also encouraged readers to make explosives and “blow up federal buildings” in a manner similar to the Oklahoma City bomber, though Turkey, being a unitary state, does not have equivalent “federal buildings.” He also held great disdain for communists, a common refrain among far-right extremists in the United States and wrote that he initially planned to attack a building belonging to the Turkish Communist Party despite it holding little power or significance in Turkish politics.  

At the same time, the dislike of radical leftist groups which have been villainized by Turkey’s Islamist-ultranationalist ruling bloc shows local influence. 

The Eskişehir attacker’s influences extended beyond American mass killers. Along with his manifesto, he shared copies of the Christchurch and Bratislava shooter’s manifestos, as well as all three publications released by the Terrorgram Collective, an international network of propagandists that create instructional manuals designed to inspire acts of violence and sabotage. In his screed, the suspect advised readers to save these documents, as they would be “useful” to those who seek to plan their own attack. 

The assailant also appears to have been influenced by online gamer culture, dedicating a section of his manifesto to an item list assigning points based on the attacker’s clothing, weapons, methods and number of casualties, seeking to gamify his attack and future ones carried out by others.  

Extremist Reactions 
While the Turkey mosque attacker sought to inspire others and join the ranks of the mass killers, he has largely been ridiculed by other extremists online. On 4chan and incels.is, a popular incels forum, users have criticized the assailant for failing to kill anyone. On Telegram, some white supremacist and accelerationist groups disavowed his actions altogether because they considered him to be non-white. 

The article is published courtesy of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).