Turkey files criminal complaint against Sweden-based FETÖ suspect in 2016 assassination of Russian ambassador

Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) has filed a criminal complaint against Abdullah Bozkurt, a Sweden-based suspect with ties to the Gülenist Terrorist Group (FETÖ), for his alleged role in the 2016 assassination of Russian Ambassador Andrey Karlov in Ankara, according to security sources.

The complaint was submitted to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. Bozkurt, who resides in Stockholm, remains a wanted fugitive. Ankara has repeatedly requested his extradition, but Swedish courts have ruled that the charges do not meet the threshold for extradition under local law.

Russian Ambassador Andrey Karlov was shot dead in December 2016 by off-duty police officer Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş at an art exhibition in Ankara. According to findings cited in the complaint and previous trial files, Bozkurt is accused of influencing and directing Altıntaş through FETÖ-linked networks. Investigators say the gunman was radicalized in an organizational “cell house” in Ankara and was instructed not to surrender after carrying out the assassination.

FETÖ orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, in which 252 people were killed and 2,734 wounded. Authorities allege Bozkurt used a foreign-based media platform to publish what they described as “false, distorted and manipulative” content targeting Türkiye and MIT, framing it as part of a broader psychological operation. The complaint calls for the prosecution not only of Bozkurt but also of others involved in producing and disseminating such material, as well as the removal of related content.

Security sources say the assassination was part of a broader plot orchestrated by FETÖ operatives over a two-year period, aimed at undermining Turkish-Russian relations and potentially triggering a wider geopolitical crisis. FETÖ ringleader Fetullah Gülen died in October 2024 in the U.S. Türkiye seeks extradition of 257 senior FETÖ members from EU countries, including 77 from Germany.