During the Ottoman countercoup of 1909, a first cousin of Arslan's, Latakia's representative to the Congress Muḥammad Muṣṭafā Arslān, was shot and killed close to the Parliament. Emin Arslan had to take care of his remnants and arrange their transport to Beyrouth. The French newspaper Gil Blas published on 15 April 1909, that "the Emir Arslan, representative for Latakia" had been killed.