Man with knife causes alarm in Istanbul’s Fatih mosque

ISTANBUL

Selami Okuyucu(C) caused tension at Istanbul's Fatih Mosque Friday prayer on Sept. 13. DHA photo

A man pulled out a knife, cursed at people and shouted that he was a soldier during the Friday sermon in Istanbul’s Fatih mosque on Sept. 13.

The Istanbul Governor’s Office said in a statement that the person who caused the tension at the Fatih Mosque Friday prayer was Selami Okuyucu.

Okuyucu stood up from the front row where he was seated during the prayer with a knife in his hand and was detained by the plain-clothes police that were called to the scene by the mosque’s imam, daily Radikal reported.

The police saved Okuyucu from being lynched by the community, who had come to perform the Friday prayer together.

Okuyucu was identified as a private who was being treated for psychological illness and was given three months of leave from the military, according to a statement released by the Istanbul Governor’s Office on Sept. 13 soon after the incident.