The deadline ended Wednesday for claiming the body of Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, the police officer who shot dead Russian Ambassador Andrey Karlov in a shocking assassination in December.
Altıntaş was killed in a shootout with his colleagues after he was cornered in the Ankara art gallery where he gunned down Karlov on Dec. 19. Altıntaş's family did not claim his body, which will now be buried in a cemetery for unidentified and unclaimed corpses. The riot police officer, who is believed to have been linked with the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) known for its widespread infiltration of law enforcement, was killed when he kept firing despite repeated calls by police to surrender.
His parents and sister were questioned following the murder and claimed they had no idea why Altıntaş, a quiet man in his 20s, would commit such a crime. Speaking to Habertürk daily last month, a relative of the family, who rejected interviews, said Altıntaş's parents were ashamed of him because of the murder and would not claim the body of "a traitor."
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