Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan briefed his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on an investigation into the assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, by a Turkish police officer on Monday, the Kremlin said on Friday.
According to a statement from the Kremlin, “The President of Turkey informed Vladimir Putin about how the investigation of the murder of the Russian ambassador to Turkey was going.”
“The close cooperation between Russian and Turkish law enforcement and special services was noted,” the statement said.
Following Karlov’s murder, Moscow sent a team of Russian investigators to Ankara to help investigate the incident.
The gunman who shot the Russian ambassador protested “oppression” in Aleppo. His motives and background are being investigated as he reportedly chanted slogans of the radical Al-Nusra Front fighting in Syria against the regime. Turkey has frequently been accused of turning a blind eye to the extremist group in order to topple Assad.
Despite suspicions of the Islamist leanings of the gunman, the pro-government media and Erdoğan supporters have been quick to put the blame on the Gülen movement. However, in his initial statement on Monday night, Erdoğan did not target any particular group despite his extensive purge against the movement, saying only that the attack was a provocation targeting Turkish-Russian relations.