TerrorismRussia’s ambassador to Turkey assassinated in Ankara
Andrey Karlov, Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, was killed earlier today by a gunman waiting for him at a photo exhibition in Ankara. The attack by a well-dressed attacker was caught on camera. A spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that Russia considered the shooting a terrorist attack. Just before he started shooting, the lean-shaven gunman shouted in Arabic, “Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria. Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria.” He then yelled: “Until these places are safe you will not taste any safety either.”
Andrey Karlov, Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, was killed earlier today by a gunman waiting for him at a photo exhibition in Ankara.
The attack by a well-dressed attacker was caught on camera.
A spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that Russia considered the shooting a terrorist attack.
Just before he started shooting, the lean-shaven gunman shouted in Arabic, “Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria. Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria.” He then yelled: “Until these places are safe you will not taste any safety either.”
Russia’s state news agency Tass quoted witnesses who said Karlov was shot in the back after he gave a speech at the Museum of Modern Art. He was rushed to a near-by hospital, but died of his wounds.
The New York Times reports that Karlov, 62, was a career diplomat. He joined the diplomatic service in 1976.
He served as Russia’s ambassador to North Korea from 2001 to 2006 and later worked as the chief of the Foreign Ministry’s consular department. He served as the ambassador to Turkey since 2013.
Turkey has been one of President Bashar al-Assad’s most vociferous critics, while Russia has been an Assad ally. The government of both countries, however, have collaborated on facilitating the evacuation of civilians from Aleppo.
Turkey’s role in Syria has been complicated by the fact that in addition to the Assad regime, it also regards the Syrian Kurds as enemies of Turkey. Turkey’s enmity toward both Assad and the Syrian Kurds has led to view ISIS, at least in part, as a tool to be used against both the Assad regime and the Kurds. This ambivalence toward ISIS has created tensions between Turkey and NATO. Turkey’s solution has been to increase its involvement in the fight against ISIS, but use that fight as a cover for gaining control over swaths of territory along the Turkey-Syria border, thus preventing the unifications of different Kurdish-controlled areas into a unified, autonomous Kurdish region in northern Syria.
Turkish has suffered a growing number of deadly attacks, including suicide attacks, by both ISIS followers and Kurdish pro-independence fighters.
