While this attack was clearly motivated by anger at Russia’s role in Syria and the ongoing violence in Aleppo, it is unlikely that the Turkish government itself was involved.

Prof. Malik Mufti teaches courses on international relations as well as the politics of the Middle East. He received a Ph.D. and an M. A. from Harvard University, an M.A. from Yale University and a B.A. from Middlebury College. He is the author of "Sovereign Creations: Pan-Arabism and Political Order in Syria and Iraq", and "Daring and Caution in Turkish Strategic Culture: Republic at Sea". He has also written shorter pieces on the domestic politics, international relations, and political thought of the Near East, including his latest journal articles "The AK Party's Islamic Realist Political Vision: Theory and Practice" ; "Democratizing Potential of the 'Arab Spring': Some Early Observations"; and "Neo-Ottomanists and Neoconservatives; A Strange Alignment in the 1990s"