The cop who assassinated the Kremlin’s envoy to Turkey had been involved in a sexual relationship with a Russian woman who may have been planted by Western intelligence services, according to a report.
Turkish police recruit Mevlut Mert Altintas, 22, shot Ambassador Andrey Karlov in the back as he delivered a speech at the opening of an art exhibit in Ankara on Dec. 19.
Before being gunned down by police, Altintas yelled: “Allahu akbar” — Arabic for “God is great!” — and “Don’t forget Aleppo! Don’t forget Syria!”
Altintas’ girlfriend — or another associate — may have brainwashed him into fatally shooting Karlov, The Sun of the UK reported, citing Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.
The woman — who left Ankara long before the assassination — was being grilled by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s security services, the paper reported.
“The woman has admitted they had a relationship,” reported Hurriyet, which produced no evidence for the claims.
The paper added that the mystery woman could be a Western intelligence plant — or a terrorist working for the Fetullah Terrorist Organization, which is seen as opposing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
She also could have ties to the Mafia, the paper added.
There have been suggestions that the couple’s “relationship” had been based on payments from the assassin to the woman, but the paper reported that Altintas could have been coaxed into becoming a killer.
“It is very important to understand who the woman is — from intelligence, FETO or mafia,” said the Turkish report, which has been disseminated by Russian media.
“The Russian woman could have been a staff (agent of) Western intelligence staff,” the paper reported. “Using her sexuality she might have established a relationship with a Turkish assassin who could have directed him toward suicide.”
Altintas’ sister, Seher Ozeroglu, reportedly said it was as if her younger brother “was guided by someone” when he killed the 62-year-old diplomat. She implies it was a shadowy man known only as “S” whom her brother met in Ankara.
Russian authorities are working with their Turkish counterparts on a major investigation into the assassination, which Altintas was able to carry out when he bypassed an X-ray machine by flashing his police ID to enter the gallery.
A senior Turkish security official has said investigators were focusing on whether Altintas had links to US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for a failed July coup.
Gulen has denied responsibility for the coup and the assassination.