IZMIR // The Turkish policeman who assassinated Russia's ambassador was unlikely to have acted alone, a senior Turkish government official said on Tuesday, as investigators from both countries began the hunt for clues as to who might have planned the murder.
After arriving in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Tuesday morning, Russian investigators headed straight to the art gallery where ambassador Andrei Karlov was shot dead on Monday evening by off-duty police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas. The 22-year-old gunman, a member Ankara's riot police squad, shouted slogans about the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo as he killed the envoy.
The Turkish authorities have not publicly released any information on the investigation or on a possible motive for the policeman, but the government official described the killing as "fully professional, not a one-man action" and said it was well-planned.
The assassination has sent shock waves through Ankara during a period when the two countries were rebuilding severely damaged relations.
Both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the murder of 62-year-old Andrei Karlov, Russia's envoy of three years' standing, as a provocation designed to sabotage the mending of ties between Ankara and Moscow.
The Turkish minister of foreign affairs, Mevlut Cavusoglu, and his Russian counterpart were photographed side by side in Moscow on Tuesday, laying flowers in memory of Mr Karlov. Later in the afternoon, Karlov's body was taken to Anakra airport to be flown home. A ceremony was held at Ankara airport amid tight security with Karlov's wife, Marina, in the front row, holding two red carnations. She wept as her husband's flag-draped coffin was carried by a Turkish honour guard.
Deputy prime minister Tugrul Turkes said Karlov had, "become the eternal symbol of Turkish-Russian friendship."
Those gestures and the similarity in Mr Putin's and Mr Erdogan's remarks perhaps indicate that the countries remain resolved on patching up ties.
"The Turkish people are as sad as Russian people," Mr Cavusoglu said in a tweet, in which he referred to Mr Lavrov as a friend.
Relations between the two countries soured after Turkish pilots shot down a Russian near the border shared by Turkey and Syria in November of last year and it is less than a week since thousands of Turkish demonstrators assembled in front of the Russian consulate in Istanbul to protest against Russia's support of the Syrian government. But far from damaging Russo-Turkish relations, the shooting of Mr Karlov is more likely to strengthen them. said Turkey expert Nate Schenkkan from Freedom House.
"The reason is that it strengthens Russia's hand even more, by affirming its argument from the start of the war that it is helping Assad defeat terrorists," said Mr Schenkkan. "The AKP and Erdogan have already been moving away from their full-throated support for the Islamist opposition in Syria, and this gives them another push to do so," he added.
Local media reported that Mr Altintas used his police identification to enter the Cagdas Sanatlar Merkezi (Modern Arts Center) and shot the Russian ambassador as he was in the midst of a speech. Before firing on Mr Karlov, Altintas, who was subsequently killed by police, yelled "Don't forget Aleppo! Don't forget Syria!".
The attack was caught on video which showed Altintas brandishing a gun in his right hand and waving with his left hand as Karlov lay on the ground.
The gallery is located in the centre of Ankara, close to both the Turkish parliament and the US Embassy. Local media reported that Altintas was staying at a nearby hotel before the shooting.
Early on Tuesday morning, shots were fired near the US Embassy, prompting it and the US consulates in Istanbul and Adana to close for the day. The shooter was reportedly taken into custody but the intended target was not clear.
The headlines of pro-government newspapers on Tuesday claimed that Altintas was a follower of Fethullah Gulen, the US-based Turkish cleric that the government says was behind the failed coup on July 15 that left more than 260 dead.
After the coup, a massive purge saw thousands of police officers removed from their posts on suspicion of being Gulenists.
Investigative journalist Ahmet Sik on Monday tweeted that Altintas was not under investigation for links to the Gulenists, neither before nor after the coup.
Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday that the street in Ankara on which the Russian Embassy is located will be renamed after Mr Karlov.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
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