The Turkish government is reportedly casting blame on an American-based Imam for inspiring the assassin who shot and killed Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov there Monday, as Russia, Turkey and Syria meet to broker peace talks without U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
The Daily Caller reported that the Turkish foreign minister told Kerry that the Turkish and Russian governments believe that 22-year-old police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas, who assassinated Karlov as he spoke at an art exhibit in Ankara, was a follower of Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic cleric who has been self-exiled in Pennsylvania since 1999.
From The Daily Caller:
“Both Turkey and Russia know the Gülenist Terror Cult…was behind Russian envoy Andrey Karlov’s assassination,” Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Turkey’s foreign minister, told Kerry in a phone call on Tuesday.The report of the call comes from The Daily Sabah, a news outlet with close ties the regime of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Altintas shouted Islamist slogans in the immediate aftermath of the killing and said his actions were revenge for Syria and the recent carnage in Aleppo. Erdogan has long believed Gulen is a major player in attempts to undermine the Turkish government and mastermind of the failed military coup that took place there in July. Turkey recently issued 55 arrest warrants for individuals suspected of financing the imam, according to Voice of America.
Turkey classified Gulen's movement, which espouses philanthropy, interfaith dialogue and science-based education, as a terrorist network in May 2016. It says Gulen's followers spent four decades infiltrating the bureaucracy and security forces in a bid to eventually take control of the state.
Meanwhile, Moscow outlets are reporting that Russia, Iran and Syria have agreed to engage in peace talks to try to stop the fighting in Syria and expand the current Aleppo ceasefire to other parts of the region. Kerry is conspicuously absent from these talks, despite the fact that the State Department expressed an interest in any solutions to stem the fighting. From The Telegraph:
The US said that it was not worried about being left out of the discussion. A State Department spokesman said it welcomed any solutions that “lead to a reduction in bloodshed … whether or not we’re at the table”.
For his part, Gulen has condemned Monday's assassination, calling it "a heinous act of terror."
The State Department responded to the charge Wednesday, calling it "ridiculous."
According to The Washington Examiner, State Department spokesman John Kirby told Fox News, "It's really unhelpful at this stage of the investigation to make such claims, that in some way the United States is involved, or encouraged or enticed. It's totally ridiculous to claim that the United States was in any way involved in this."
