The undersecretary of administrative affairs at the Belarusian embassy in Ankara was wounded by gunshot late Wednesday.
According to reports, the official, Alexander Poganshev, was taking a walk with his 13-year-old child near the embassy in Oran neighborhood in Çankaya district when a man opened fire on him.
It was learned that there was a longstanding feud between the diplomat and the attacker, who was a retired colonel and his neighbor. The attacker later shot himself in the head and died.
Poganshev was immediately taken into surgery, and is now receiving treatment at the intensive care unit (ICU).
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Wednesday that an attack earlier in the day on a Belarusian diplomat was not politically motivated.
The wounding was an "ordinary crime," said Çavuşoğlu, adding that the neighbor shot Poganshev as a result of a personal dispute between them.
Çavuşoğlu added that he spoke to his Belarusian counterpart, Vladimir Makei, by phone and informed him that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was also closely following the situation.
An investigation into the incident has been launched by the authorities.
It was reported that the 54-year-old attacker previously had arguments with other neighbors and security guards in the building and had psychological problems.
In 2016, Russia's ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, was shot dead in Ankara by an off-duty Turkish police officer linked to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). Russia is Belarus' closest ally.
