Russia lays to rest envoy assassinated in Turkey

Dozens of colleagues and relatives attended the ceremony on Thursday for Karlov, the ambassador to Turkey whose death was labelled by Moscow as an “act of terror”, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the perpetrator was a member of Fethullah Gulen’s group behind the aborted July coup.

 

The assailant, who was off-duty and managed to circumvent the metal detectors by flashing his police credentials, shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) and “Don’t forget Aleppo” after targeting Karlov and was himself killed in a subsequent shootout with Turkish guards.

 

Altintas had no prior criminal record but Turkish authorities have moved to link the murder with Gulen, a former Erdogan ally now living in self-imposed exile in the United States, whom Ankara previously blamed for orchestrating the July coup.