Three Chechens shot dead in Istanbul

Turkish media sources have reported that on September 16, three Chechen asylum seekers were assassinated in Istanbul, Turkey.

According to the information, on Friday, September 16, at around 03.10pm, unidentified men in a black car opened fire in front of a building at 32 Mevlana Street in the Seyit Nizam quarter of Zeytinburnu, Istanbul. Three Chechen men who were leaving their apartment died at the scene. The attackers ran from the crime scene where police found nine empty shell cases. The victims were identified as Berg-Khazh Musayev, Rustam Altemirov and Zaurbek Amriyev. It was learned that all the victims participated in the Russian-Chechen war against Russian invaders, and they left injured as refugees sometime earlier in Turkey with their families. They were living at this address for three months.

Some eyewitnesses claim that the victims had a phone conversation after Friday prayers and said "If you are man, you can come here". According to eyewitnesses, the victims were threatened by thugs from the pro-Russian regime in the Russian-occupied Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.

The Anti-Terrorism Branch Office, the Intelligence Branch Office, and the Public Security Branch Office, as well as the National Intelligence Agency (MIT) have started work pertaining to the assassinations. Istanbul police continue their investigation about the incident, and they believe that the assassination was committed professionally using silenced guns, because the eyewitnesses said that they didn't hear any gun shots. On the other hand, Turkish police think that the latest murders may be related to earlier Chechen assassinations in Istanbul.

Let's recall that assassinations against Chechen asylum seekers in Turkey have happened earlier. On September 18, 2008, Gazi Edisultanov, who fought against Russian invaders as a colonel was killed in Basaksehir, Istanbul. On December 9, 2008, Islam Dzhanibekov, a former Chechen fighter was killed in front of his wife and children in Umraniye, Istanbul. On February 27, 2009, Ali Osayev, the cousin of Dokku Umarov, was killed in front of his apartment in Zeytinburnu, Istanbul. The interesting and common point for these murders is all three assassinations were associated with Russian security services, however, Turkish police did not confirm this. All three murders remain unsolved.

Click to watch the first video records at the crime scene.

Source: Agencies