ISMAIL AK (not AX): Possible lead in Virginia Tech case?

April 17, 2007 | Charles Henrickson

[Charles Henrickson]

ISMAIL AK

Dr. ISMAIL AK is a Professor of Psychiatry at a university in Turkey. His research interests include the following:

Personal Disorders, Agresivve behavior and self-mutilation, ECT, Substance-related disorders, Sexual Disorders, Forensic Psychiatry, Sleep Disorders

From the Turkish Association of Psychopharmacology website:

President-elect:
Professor Ismail AK, M.D. Head, Department of Psychiatry, KTU School of Medicine, Trabzon, Turkey
Ismail AK is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Head, Department of Psychiatry, KTU School of Medicine, Trabzon, Turkey
He is an experienced on clinical psychopharmacology of schizophrenia and bipolar disorders.

Dr. Ismail Ak is one of the authors of an article about patients with mental disorders, psychotic features, etc.:

As regards pharmacotherapies, 354 (50.2%) were given antidepressants. . . . Among antidepressants, Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were 72.8%. . . .

This is an abstract of an article co-written by Dr. ISMAIL AK:

Even though all psychiatric disorders do not have the same potential with regard to committing a crime, the number of individuals having psychiatric disorders is gradually going up depending on the increase of crimes and violent behaviors committed in a society. . . . The relation between existence of psychiatric disorder and crime behavior has been significantly emphasized in several earlier studies. In conclusion, it is notable that the rates of committing crime for the individuals with psychiatric disorders are on the rise.

Dr. Ismail Ak is apparently one of the world's leading experts on the psychiatry of antisocial and suicidal behavior, psychotic and bipolar disorders, psychopharmacological therapy, etc.

The young man had been noticed to be disturbed and had been referred to counseling. Dr. Ismail Ak is an expert and author in the particular field most directly related to the guy's disorder.

So it's possible that the writing on the guy's arm said

ISMAIL AK

and the K was written in a way that people *thought* it said

ISMAIL AX

That seems more likely to me than a connection to Moby Dick or to Islamic terrorism or to Cooper’s story.

This is an angle the investigators need to pursue with the school's counseling service, the killer's computer, and Dr. Ismail Ak himself.

[Charles Henrickson]

I've been asked (by kevmo) to post this as its own thread. I offer this just as one more hypothesis worth exploring. This afternoon, on another thread, nonsporting mentioned that he came across a psychiatrist by the name of Dr. Ismail AK, and then I took it from there and did more research. That there would be a psychiatric expert specializing in the very set of issues involving Cho--suicidal tendencies, depression, antisocial behavior, medication, violent crime--and that this psychiatric expert's name is ISMAIL AK, which could easily be written or misread as ISMAIL AX . . . this was too much of a coincidence to just brush off.

[Charles Henrickson]

Ping.

[Charles Henrickson]

Dr. Ismail Ak lives in Turkey. But Cho could have come across the name by doing Internet or library research, e-mail correspondence, etc., on the types of issues that evidently affected him.

[JennysCool]

Very, very interesting! Thanks for the post!

[Kevmo]

Thanks, both of you. Good digging.

[jdm]

You changed your hysterical tagline for this?

:O)

[decal]

I would put it to you that this needs to get out to the usual pundits...

[Charles Henrickson]

You changed your hysterical tagline for this?

Well, you liked it, and I liked it, but another poster didn't. I'm guessing he thought it inappropriate to have a humorous tagline in a thread at all related to the Va. Tech shootings. I didn't think the tagline conveyed that I thought the shootings themselves were funny, but I changed it anyway.

But since now you refer to it, I'll put it back in here for at least this post.

[jdm]

LOL, Thanks.

Oh, and also...

His research interests include the following: Personal Disorders, Agresivve behavior and self-mutilation, ECT, Substance-related disorders, Sexual Disorders, Forensic Psychiatry, Sleep Disorders

I think I would have a sleep disorder after studying all those other things too!

[Bosco]

I sent it to some local news media I know personally.

[Old Sarge]

I can appreciate the humor.

[Charles Henrickson]

I just e-mailed Drudge.

[jdm]

I wonder if the doctor has an email address we can write him at? If I find one, I’ll let you know.

[jdm]

Excellent, Thank you all.

[jdm]

Cue in "Ismail AK" at amazon.com and you'll see this:

Index Islamicus 2002: A Biography Of Books, Articles And Reviews On Islam And The Muslim World Which Were published In The Year 2002; With Additions From 1993-2001 (Hardcover)

Very expensive book.

[TBP]

Interesting. But what would be his connection to Cho?

[LikeLight]

That’s what we’re supposed to figure out.

[Kevmo]

My guess is the guy had been engaging in some classic cry-for-help behavior, like burning his dorm and buying guns and writing weird screenplays. Maybe writing the name of the psychiatrist whom he thought would be able to help would be a way to disentangle himself. If it turns into a hostage situation, that’s the guy he wants to talk to.

[jdm]

I did a bit of deep searching into that $1,000 book at amazon.com and there are instances of “AKA Ismail” or “Ismail AKA” (as in “also known as”).

Is it possible that (part of) the writing on his arm had sweat off during the massacre, causing the first “A” to disappear, blending into or being absorbed by his skin?

[PJ-Comix]

It wouldn’t surprise me if they find an e-mail from Ismail Ak to Cho describing his precise mental condition: “Just plain NUTS!!!”