Turkish intel was ‘tracking’ slain Chechen leader who opposed jihad in Syria, wife claims

Ali Dağlar ANKARA

The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria’s honorary consul in Ankara was killed last year while under the surveillance of Turkish intelligence, his wife has claimed in a new petition.

Medet Önlü was killed by armed assailants at the honorary consulate in Ankara on May 22, 2013. The 53-year-old, who learned Chechen during his youth years and opposed Russian military operations in Chechnya, had been working as an activist to stop Chechens from going to fight in Syria as jihadists.

Leyla Eser Önlü, the wife of the victim, last week filed a petition to the Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office, which is leading the ongoing investigation, arguing that her husband was assassinated as a result of his activism.

“We’ve always lived a life under the surveillance of Turkish intelligence,” Önlü said in the petition. “A shameful picture for the Turkish state, police and intelligence departments has emerged after my husband was killed at his office in central Ankara. The assailants have not been found for the past year, despite the fact that his life was being focused on [by the Turkish intelligence agency].”

Erdal Doğan, the attorney representing the Önlü family, has called on prosecutors to “deepen the investigation.” Doğan claims that the police have not found enough information relating to the time between the arrival of Russian suspect Rizvan Ezbulatov to Turkey in April 2013 and his return to Russia two days after the murder.