Yesterday, a Turkish police officer identified as Mevlut Mert Altintas assassinated Andrei Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, during his speech in an art gallery in Ankara.
The assassin was first heard chanting in Arabic after the gunfire:
“We are those who have given pledge of allegiance to Muhammad that we will carry on Jihad.”
And then he went on saying: “Don’t forget Aleppo. Don’t forget Syria.”
It is important to see that the incident came right after the defeat of the Jihadi groups in Syria.
In a meeting with local public directors President Erdogan last week said that President Putin requested him to force Al Nusra to leave Aleppo. “I gave the order to get it done. My team is working on that,” he added.
These remarks of Erdogan has a significant message. It means that Erdogan has the ability of convincing Al-Nusra.
In an interview with CNN Turk yesterday, Hurriyet columnist Abdulkadir Selvi stated that the Arabic slogan of the assassin is also known as the first part of the anthem of Al Nusra.
Many believe that this is an important indication of how the radical infiltration has found ground in the Turkish police forces after thousands of police officers were purged for their alleged link to Gulen movement.
“Almost 20.000 experienced police officers were purged and over 8000 were imprisoned after the staged coup on July 15, 2016. The purges and imprisonments have diminished Turkey’s counterterrorism and security capacities and efforts to its lowest in history. Newly assigned counterterrorism and intelligence officers are inexperienced and untrained. Also, priorities of operations have been shifted! There was not a single planned counterterrorism operation against ISIS and Al Qaeda in all over Turkey in the last two years. Not even one operation.” Wrote Dr. Ahmet Yayla in his tweets yesterday, a former police officer from Turkey and Deputy Director of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism (ICSVE).
“The key was to capture the killer in alive! So we could learn what his motivation was. Why did the police kill him is the question?” he added.
“Pointing index finger is the custom of ISIS, Al Qaeda terrorist organizations. Killer clearly pointed his index finger. He also mentioned of Jihad and the words ‘belde and emin’ which means secure places, a common reference to Jihadi terminology and yelling ‘You killed innocent people, Ya Allah, bismillah!” a slogan commonly used by Al Qaeda and ISIS terrorists.’ Dr. Yayla added.
‘There were several demonstrations in front of the Russian and Iranian embassies organized by AKP youth in Turkey during the last week. No one from the government discouraged those who were gathering and protesting. Instead, they were actively supported in the social media.’ Dr. Yayla wrote.
This particular incident also indicates that AKP youth was in the process of radicalization during the interaction with Jihadi groups in Turkey and Syria. This is a new development that should alarm not only E.U countries but also the U.S. The transitivity between these radical groups and the AKP youth organizations should not be underestimated.
Another important indication that radical groups would want to seek for a revenge in Turkey was the tweets of Abdülkadir Şen from Alparslan University in Turkey calling on ‘for massacre of Alevis’ following the seizure of Aleppo by Syrian army.
‘…If the resistance in Syria gets unsuccessful, there will be a war in Anatolia with the sectarian savages of Shah İsmail. Everyone should do their calculations keeping this in mind.’
‘…Everyone should go to Russian consulate; I’m there, too. Let’s never forget about Iran: this massacre (in Syria) has been done with the partnership of Shia/Jaafari (sects) and the crusaders.’
So far, Russia and Turkey have said that this is a move meant to weaken ties between the two countries. However, the truth is out there. So simple. Russia and Turkey were on opposite sides of the Syrian civil war and for sure there are some consequences.