Abdullah Bozkurt/Stockholm

A decade after Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov was gunned down in Ankara in December 2016 by a radicalized police officer, the Islamist government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has continued to obscure the role of al-Qaeda-linked and other jihadist networks. Instead, it has systematically shifted blame onto uninvolved individuals, apparently hoping Moscow would eventually move past the the case amid evolving regional dynamics that require closer engagement between Russia and Turkey.

The indictment filed on November 22, 2018 — two years after the murder — by public prosecutor Adem Akıncı, a jurist handpicked by the government to contain the fallout, failed to present the true story. Rather than uncovering the full scope of the conspiracy, it reflected a clear effort by authorities to whitewash their role, deflect responsibility and pin the blame on individuals with no connection to the crime, in what appeared to be an attempt to sell a fabricated narrative to Russian officials.

Moscow, however, never lent credibility to what it viewed as a flawed investigation, a distorted indictment and a sham trial. Russian authorities eventually stopped sending observers to the hearings and, through their own inquiry, identified those they believe to be the real perpetrators behind the assassination. Rather than escalating tensions, Russia appears to have put the case on hold for now, preserving it as leverage for a time when political conditions are more...

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