Turkey voices sorrow for killed Serbian, six detained

ANKARA

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Turkey has offered its condolences to Serbian people over the killing of a Serbian basketball fan in Istanbul on Nov. 21, as police have detained more people and reportedly identified the primary suspect.

Turkey’s ties with Serbia will remain strong despite the incident, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç said.

Bilgiç conveyed Turkey’s condolences to the Serbian fan’s family using the Serbian language. “We hope these events do not occur again,” Bilgiç told reporters on Nov. 27, also calling on fans to “show common sense and be calm.”

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Sports Minister Çağatay Kılıç have called their Serbian counterparts and offered condolences, he added.

Marko Ivkovic, 25, was stabbed in the chest outside the Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul on Nov. 21 ahead of a Euroleague basketball game between Serbia’s Red Star and Turkey’s Galatasaray.

The suspect is a Turkish Galatasaray fan, daily Hürriyet reported. The suspect was allegedly implicated in the murder based on a testimony received from five people detained on Nov. 26.

However, the suspect reportedly denied the claims in his initial testimony.

Seven people have been detained so far, while police are also working on retrieving footage from cameras at the murder scene.

One of the detained people was photographed in a Galatasaray outfit and was given a medical test before offering their testimony.