Turkish surgeon in fair condition after gun attack

KARS – Doğan News Agency

Bingür Sönmez was transferred to Istanbul on Aug. 25. AA Photo

Famous heart surgeon Bingür Sönmez has suffered an armed attack but does not face a risk of death and will not lose his hand functions despite suffering an armed attack, his doctors have said.

Prof. Dr. Harun Arbatlı announced that Sönmez, one of Turkey’s best known heart surgeons, had not suffered serious damage to his veins and would be able to resume performing operation very soon.
Cardiac expert Deniz Şener added that one bullet hit him in the leg while another had badly damaged his hand.

“There is not a single problem with his hand functions and there is no temporary damage in his foot,” Şener said. “He will return to normal very soon.”

Sönmez was injured in a gun attack on Aug. 24 after assailants opened fire in the eastern province of Kars’s Sarıkamış district, his hometown.

Sözmez, who is the head of the Sarıkamış Cooperation Group, was attending a ceremony in the district on Aug. 24. The assailants, reportedly two people, first shouted his name and then shot him in the leg and arm when he turned toward them.

The attacker who shot the surgeon was İlhan Özbilen, the former mayor of Sarıkamış, who reportedly has a conflict with Sönmez over the ceremonies for the commemoration of the Sarıkamış martyrs, who died during World War I. The second person in the attack was Özbilen’s nephew, reports said.