The 2017 Golden League Judo Competition scheduled to take place in Turkey has been named after former Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov, who was assassinated in Ankara on Dec. 19, 2016.
Meanwhile, in an interesting development, it was reported that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin may meet at the sideline of the competition.
The decision of naming the tournament after the slain ambassador was reached at a meeting between the head of Turkish Judo Federation Sezer Huysuz and head of European Judo Union Sergey Soloveychik.
The two were reportedly making efforts to bring together Putin, a former black-belt judoka and Erdoğan, a former footballer.
The competition will be held in December 2017 in southern Turkey's Antalya province, a favorite holiday spot for Russian tourists.
Karlov was killed on Dec. 19, 2016 in an attack perpetrated by Mert Altıntaş, a suspected member of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), during the opening of an art exhibition in the Turkish capital.
Altıntaş was later killed in a shootout with police.
The incident rocked Turkey as it was trying to restore ties with Russia, following a crisis over the downing of a Russian jet for violating Turkish airspace. Moscow and Ankara later assured it would not mar bilateral relations.
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