Russian ambassador murdered
POLICE OFFICER SHOOTS RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR AT PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT OPENING
Russia’s ambassador to Turkey was shot dead Monday by an assassin who told him: “We die in Aleppo, you die here.” The gunman — an off-duty policeman — opened fire at an art gallery in Ankara as Andrey Karlov was making a speech, then stood triumphantly over his body shouting “revenge for Syria and Aleppo.”
Photographs taken by an Associated Press photographer who kept his finger on the shutter while others dived for cover captured the aftermath of a murder which Russia described as a “terrorist act.”
The incident followed days of protests in Turkey against Russia’s support for Syrian President Bashar Assad and came on the eve of talks in Moscow about the future of Syria involving Russia, Iran and Turkey. The talks are still planned to go ahead.
At 7 p.m. local time Monday, Karlov, the guest of honour, took to the lectern to make a speech at the launch of an exhibition of photography about Russia, attended by around 100 guests.
He was five minutes into it when a smartly dressed Mevlut Mert Altintas, a 22-year-old riot squad police officer, took up position behind him and opened fire, shooting him several times in the back.
He shouted “Allahu akbar” — God is great — as he pulled the trigger.
Karlov, 62, was knocked flat on his back by the bullets, his glasses flying off and skittering across the floor.
A television camera that was still running after its operator had fled, recorded Altintas switching between Arabic and Turkish as he ranted: “Don’t forget about Syria, don’t forget about Aleppo. All those who participate in this tyranny will be held accountable.
“In the name of God, you killed innocent people. We will not permit you to do these things.
“We are the descendants of those who supported the Prophet Muhammad, for jihad. We made an oath to die in martyrdom it is revenge for Syria and Aleppo. Until they are safe, you will not taste safety.”
He was also reported as saying, “Stand back! Stand back! Only death will take me out of here.”
Witnesses said he shot Karlov one or two times more as he lay dying on the floor.
It was unclear whether Altintas, who has been based in Ankara for two years, was inspired by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or the rebels who have been crushed in Aleppo after four years of war. Reports in Turkey suggested that he recited a message in Arabic similar to a phrase associated with the rebel group al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda.
He was shot dead by police in a shootout that lasted 15 minutes. Three other people were wounded.
Karlov was taken to hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
The Turkish foreign ministry insisted that it would not allow the murder to “cast a shadow” over Turkey’s improving relations with Russia.
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, spoke on the phone to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, after the shooting and Moscow said it was “a tragic day in the history of our country and Russian diplomacy.”
Both leaders made televised statements condemning the killing as an attempt to destroy a recent thaw between the two countries and undermine the Syrian peace process.
Putin called the killing a “provocation” designed to undermine the Syrian peace process and demanded that investigators find out “who gave the orders.”
Russia and Turkey, which back opposing sides in the Syrian civil war, had entered a diplomatic crisis when the Turkish air force shot down a Russian jet in November of 2015. But in recent months Putin and Erdogan have held talks about a general ceasefire in Syria.
Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said: “We qualify what happened as a terrorist act. The murderers will be punished.”
U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson described the killing as “cowardly” and a “despicable murder.”
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said: “The United States condemns the assassination. We stand ready to offer assistance to Russia and Turkey as they investigate this despicable attack.”
Hasim Kilic, a correspondent with Hurriyet newspaper who was at the event, said: “It all happened very quickly. As the ambassador took to the lectern to speak, the attacker shouted a few things about Aleppo.
“People wanted to get out. The attacker fired in the air a few times. Then, aiming straight for the ambassador, he fired four or five shots. As far as I know, the ambassador doesn’t go out and about with security protection. So he didn’t have any security officers by his side.”
Melih Gokcek, the Ankara mayor, said the “heinous” attack aimed to disrupt newly re-established relations between Turkey and Russia.
Gokcek speculated on his Twitter account that the policeman may have been a follower of Fethullah Gulen, the exiled Islamic cleric blamed for the July 15 coup aimed at toppling Erdogan.
An adviser to Gulen condemned the killing as a “heinous act of terror” and described as “laughable” the claim that the cleric was involved.
An investigation was underway late Monday to establish how Altintas was able to enter the art gallery when he was not scheduled to be on duty there. The art exhibition was sponsored by the Russian embassy, making it an obvious security problem.
Putin said he and Erdogan had agreed that a team of Russian investigators would fly to Turkey to investigate the killing.
Erdogan said Turkey-Russia relations were vital for the Syrian region and those who aimed to harm ties were not going to achieve their goals.
Turkey stepped up security at the embassy of Iran, which is also fighting alongside Russian and Syrian government troops in Syria.
Elena Suponina, an analyst at the Russian Institute of Strategic Studies, which advises the Kremlin, said the ambassador’s shooting probably won’t lead to another standoff. “This will only bring Russia and Turkey closer together,” she said. “These events have showed that we have a common enemy — terrorism — and only by joining forces can we deal with this enemy.”
Still, the killing again raises security concerns for Russian tourists in Turkey, Alexei Pushkov, a member of the defence and security committee of the Russian parliament’s upper house, said in televised comments. Tourism is a key source of foreign currency, and is already in decline after a series of attacks by Islamist and Kurdish groups, as well as a failed attempt at a military coup in July.
WE QUALIFY WHAT HAPPENED AS A TERRORIST ACT. THE MURDERERS WILL BE PUNISHED.