Russian team probing envoy's murder meets Ankara police

By Cankut Tasdan and Orhan Onur Gemici

ANKARA

An investigative team from Russia met anti-terrorism police in Ankara on Wednesday as part of a joint probe into Monday's assassination of Ambassador Andrey Karlov, according to a police source.

The Russian team comprises 18 officials, including a prosecutor and two defense attaches. They arrived in Ankara on Tuesday afternoon.

The two countries agreed to establish a joint commission to investigate the murder, a police source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

A total of 120 people in the Ankara Police Department, including anti-terrorist unit personnel and interpreters, have been assigned to work and cooperate with the Russian team.

An investigation team from Ankara Public Prosecutor’s office has examined footage of the incident and listened to eyewitness statements.

Investigators also inspected the suspect’s phone conversations and searched whether he had any connection with Russian embassy staff in Ankara. 

According to initial reports, the assassin had links to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which the Turkish government accuses of staging the deadly July 15 coup attempt.

Investigators found that the gunman, 22-year-old police officer Melvut Mert Altintas, was on a three-day vacation during the failed coup and passed the period in Ankara. Now they are investigating what he was doing in the Turkish capital at that time.

Altintas also took a day’s sick leave this Monday, producing a medical report. Before the assassination, Altintas spent two hours in a hotel where he had reserved a room previously. 

His name had been found in a witness list for a FETO probe in Istanbul and one of his uncles was the head of a coaching center which was later closed for links to the terror network. Some of Altintas’s colleagues had also been dismissed for being FETO members.

Prosecutors are also investigating why the attacker could not be taken alive. Initial findings suggest he continued firing at police officers, shouting: “You cannot capture me alive.” Officers shot Altintas in the legs but he continued to shoot while crawling on the ground.

According to information compiled from footage and witnesses, police neutralized the attacker around 40 minutes after he shot the Russian envoy. 

The joint team is expected to work for at least a week in the Turkish capital.