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Turkey issues arrest warrant for Gulen for being involved in Russian ambassador’s murder

Russia’s Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov was gunned down in 2016
Fethullah Gulen AP Photo/Chris Post
Fethullah Gulen
© AP Photo/Chris Post

ANKARA, April 2. /TASS/. A Turkish court has issued an arrest warrant for eight members of the Gulenist Terror Organization (FETO), including its leader Fethullah Gulen, for being involved in the assassination of Russian Ambassador to Ankara Andrei Karlov, the Haberturk TV channel said on Monday.

According to the TV channel, it was Gulen who ordered Karlov to be killed.

Karlov’s assassination

Russia’s Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov was gunned down on December 19, 2016, while delivering a speech at a photo exhibition. The attacker, an off-duty police officer named Mevlut Mert Altintas, was immediately killed by security forces.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry officially declared the ambassador’s murder a terrorist attack, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case labeling Karlov’s assassination an act of international terrorism.

Andrey Karlov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia.

On December 19, Turkey’s Daily Sabah reported citing the official statement of prosecutors that the killer had links to Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim preacher wanted by Ankara. Turkey holds Gulen, who has resided in the United States since 1999, and his FETO Organizationresponsible for masterminding the July 15, 2016 coup attempt against President Erdogan’s government.