The on-camera murder of Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov by 22-year-old Turkish police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas raised some disturbing questions about corruption and security in Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared on Wednesday that Mevlut Mert Altintas, the 22-year-old police officer turned jihadi who murdered Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov before a crowd of reporters on Monday, was almost certainly a follower of exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen.
In a telephone conversation Monday, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavuşoğlu reportedly told his American counterpart John Kerry that the policeman who killed Russian Ambassador to Ankara Andrey Karlov that day was tied to the U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, and that Russia agreed with Turkey’s conclusion.
Contents: Man who shot Russia’s ambassador in Turkey was in security forces; Turkey and Russia blame Fethullah Gulen and the US for the assassination; Both Turkey and Russia stand to gain by blaming US for assassination
Turkish police have told reporters that Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, the police officer responsible for the assassination of Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov, had in his possession materials linking him to both al-Qaeda and the U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Contents: Russia’s ambassador to Turkey shot dead in Ankara; Large truck kills 12 driving into a crowded Berlin market
