​Assasination of ambassador is a picture worth thousand words

TURKEY - In Brief 19 Dec 2016 by Atilla Yesilada

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A rapid response team police officer, Mr. Mevlut Altintas, shot Russian ambassador in Turkey on Monday night during an art exhibit, shouting Quranic verses, and claiming to avenge the atrocities committed in Aleppo. He was subsequently shot dead by the police arriving at the scene. This morning, the pro-AKP press was unanimous in portraying the assailant as a member of the ubiquitous Gulen Organization, while Erdogan promised Putin a full and thorough joint investigation. Both leaders wowed that the bilateral relationship will not be impaired by this act of “provocation”. I agree with this view in general, but the assassination is extremely unnerving, because it has potentially multiple ripple effects, which my readers ought to consider. If the culprit is really a Gulenist, this means the Pastor’s network is still intact, despite a draconian purge, suggesting he could perpetrate even bigger acts of political sabotage in the future. If the assailant is a lone wolf earnestly avenging the atrocities in Aleppo, he is likely to be followed by others attacking Russian and Iranian targets in the country, judging by the growing crowds protesting in front of consular buildings. State-to-state relations might not suffer but Russian and Iranian tourists are unlikely to feel at home in Turkey. I somehow suspect there are more nefarious factors at work here. The murder comes at the eve of a summit in Moscow between Russia, Turkey and Iran where the three states will discuss a cease-fire in Syria. I’ve written in our Weekly Report that Kremlin is now more worried about Shia expansionism in Syria than Turkey’s involvement in the country. I will now add that this means Moscow trying t...