Putin, Erdogan vow to step up terror war on envoy’s death

ISTANBUL — President Vladimir Putin vowed to step up the fight against terrorism after the assassination of Russia’s ambassador in Ankara, as he and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted the killing won’t undermine the restoration of ties strained by the war in Syria.

The murder of Andrey Karlov, the first Moscow envoy to be killed in his post in almost 90 years, was an “open provocation aimed at derailing the normalization of Russian-Turkish relations and the peace process in Syria,” Mr. Putin said in televised remarks late Monday after he’d spoken by phone with Mr. Erdogan. The response will be a stronger assault on terrorism and “the bandits will feel it,” he told a meeting of his security council.

Investigators from both countries will jointly probe the attack, which won’t be allowed to disrupt a collaboration that’s crucial for the region, Mr. Erdogan said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu placed flowers before a portrait of the slain diplomat as they began talks on Syria in Moscow on Tuesday.

The gunman who shot Mr. Karlov in the back at an art exhibit shouted “Allahu akbar” and “don’t forget Aleppo” after the attack — a reference to the Syrian city where mostly Islamist rebels have been defeated this month by Russian-backed government troops. The taking of the city, once Syria’s largest, represents one of Russia’s biggest victories since it joined the Syrian war last year in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

Turkey, which supported the insurgents there and elsewhere in Syria, has played a key role along with Russia in negotiating the continuing evacuation of opposition fighters and civilians from Aleppo. Tuesday’s three-way talks in Moscow, which also include Iran, Mr. Assad’s other main supporter, are intended to help forge a settlement as Mr. Assad increasingly gains the upper hand, leaving the US on the sidelines.

The main Borsa Istanbul 100 index fell as much as 0.36% on Tuesday before rebounding to gain 0.25% as at 1:09 p.m. After closing 0.8% lower on Monday, the lira gained 0.7% to 3.5092 per dollar at 1:10 p.m. in Istanbul, leading Tuesday’s gains in 24 emerging markets tracked by Bloomberg. Russia’s ruble was up 0.4% against the dollar at 61.6847 at 1:04 p.m. in Moscow

Messrs. Putin and Erdogan only recently restored relations that were plunged into crisis when Turkish jets shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November last year. Russia and Turkey signaled that they don’t want the killing of the envoy to become another flashpoint.

“We’re sincerely grateful to our Turkish colleagues for their immediate reaction to this barbaric crime and for their condolences,” Mr. Lavrov told Mr. Cavusoglu. While their talks, which will later include Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, will seek ways to resolve the Syrian conflict, “there can be no concessions to terrorists,” Mr. Lavrov said.

Turkey grieves with Russia over a killing intended to harm their relations and “we won’t let that happen,” Mr. Cavusoglu said. “We must uncover who’s behind this heinous terror attack” and Mr. Erdogan “has, without hesitation, accepted Putin’s offer” for a joint investigation, while the Ankara street where the Russian embassy is located will be renamed after Mr. Karlov, he said.

A team of 18 Russian investigators has flown to Turkey, Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said, according to RIA Novosti. Mr. Karlov’s body will be flown back to Russia on Tuesday, according to a statement from the office of Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

The attacker, who was killed by security forces, was a 22-year-old activeduty police officer and his possible connection with organized groups is being probed, Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said.

The fall of Aleppo marked a defeat for Turkey, which supported the Sunni Muslim groups fighting against Mr. Assad. Russia says the Syrian rebels are overwhelmingly made up of Islamic extremists, while Turkey has argued that they’re resisting a violent dictatorship.

While that’s still the Turkish line, in practice the country has switched its focus in Syria since the rapprochement between Messrs. Erdogan and Putin. Turkish troops have pushed deep into the neighboring country since August, but they’re mostly targeting Kurdish groups and Islamic State fighters and have steered clear of the battle for Aleppo.

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Turkey paid an economic price last time its relationship with Moscow turned sour, as Russia imposed sanctions that targeted the country’s exports and tourism market. Russians planning trips to Turkey must “think seriously before doing it because there are terrorist attacks there practically every day,” Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov said Tuesday, according to the Interfax news service.

About 10,000 Russian tourists are in Turkey and people haven’t been asking to return home early, Maya Lomidze, executive director of the Russian Association of Tour Operators, said on its Web site.

In the past 10 days, more than 50 people were killed in two bomb attacks in Istanbul and central Turkey that targeted security forces and were claimed by Kurdish militants. Turkey reported a shrinking economy in the third quarter for the first time in seven years, as the instability sapped business and consumer confidence.

The last ambassador from Moscow killed abroad was Soviet envoy Pyotr Voikov in Warsaw in 1927. Two more envoys were murdered before that, including the writer Alexander Griboyedov, who was ambassador to Iran when he was killed by an angry mob in 1829. Mr. Putin had been due to see a performance of one of Mr. Griboyedov’s plays in Moscow on Monday when the crisis in Ankara erupted.

The US, Turkey’s NATO ally, shares its allegiance to rebel groups in Syria, even though many of them have ties to al-Qaeda and other Islamist factions.