Russian Ambassador to Turkey Assassinated in Ankara
Gunman targeted the ambassador at a gallery opening.
A gunman shot Andrei Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, in Ankara on Monday at a gallery opening. Reuters has tweeted that Karlov passed away:
BREAKING: Russian ambassador to Turkey dies of gunshot wound – Russian media
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 19, 2016
Hurriyet Daily News reported:
Hürriyet Ankara representatvice Deniz Zeyrek said the attacker first shot into the air and later shot the envoy in the back.
He shot the envoy for the second time after the scene was evacuated. It has also been reported that the attacker entered the scene by showing a police identity and wearing a suit.
The attacker reportedly shouted “Don’t forget Aleppo! Don’t forget Syria! As long as our brothers are not safe, you will not enjoy safety” according to a footage released on Dutch website nos.nl.
“Whoever has a share in this oppression will pay for it one-by-one,” he added.
“Only death will take me away from here.”
He also recited “God is great” before talking in Turkish.
https://twitter.com/WarfareWW/status/810896068330323972
New (graphic) pic shows suspected gunman in Russian ambassador shooting in Turkey https://t.co/6ZUNuaf5rQ pic.twitter.com/CG8vUJLcaw
— David Mack (@davidmackau) December 19, 2016
PHOTO 18+: Turkish police officer who killed Russian ambassador shot by fellow officers – @michaelh992 pic.twitter.com/8MARhqskpo
— Conflict News (@Conflicts) December 19, 2016
Hurriyet continued:
Karlov was shot by a gun while making a speech at a photography exhibition in the Turkish capital, the embassy said, adding that it believed that it was a radical Islamist attack.
The attack comes one day beforeTurkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu heads to Moscow for talks on Syria with his Russian and Iranian counterparts, Sergei Lavrov and Javad Zarif, respectively.
Çavuşoğlu was on the plane to Moscow during the time of the attack.
Private broadcaster CNN Türk said Karlov was in a critical state.
Meanwhile, private broadcaster NTV said three other persons were also injured in the attack. The channel also reported that the attacker was shot dead later in a police operation at the scene.
The three wounded people were taken to Güven Hospital in central Ankara, reporters said but did not confirm whether the envoy was among them.
Fox News reported that officials identified the assassin as 22-year-old Mevlut Mert Alintas and he worked “as a Turkish special forces police officer” for over two years.
Turkish citizens have recently protested against the “Russian and Iranian involvement in the siege of Aleppo.” The Guardian reported:
Up to 800 people joined the demonstration, with some chanting “Aleppo is the world’s shame” outside the Iranian embassy before protesting at the Russian embassy.
Protesters held flags of the Syrian opposition as well as placards saying: “Massacre in Aleppo, theatre at the UN”, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.
A day earlier, more than 1,000 people had gathered outside the Iranian consulate in Istanbul to demonstrate over what they said was a “massacre in Aleppo”.
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Comments
Now they’re impersonating cops. How do you deal with that?
Hold a #BlackLivesMatter rally.
Correction: Now its reported he WAS a police officer. That will probably make the Russians a tad bit annoyed.
Vlad is not going to be happy about this and when Vlad is not happy….well, he doesn’t draw red lines.
Obviously, the ambassador was murdered because someone in Russia made a cheesy youtub video critical of Mohammed.
RIP
Act of war…. Turkey is part of NATO. The bad news… Obama is still in power.
According to https://definitions.uslegal.com/a/act-of-war/, “An act of war is an action by one country against another with an intention to provoke a war or an action that occurs during a declared war or armed conflict between military forces of any origin.” Is there evidence that this assassination meets the “by one COUNTRY against each other” criterion?
Hum…. didn’t we “declare” war on “terrorism” after 9/11 and conquer Afghanistan? Syrian rebels reportedly are behind this and Russia is at war with them.
Americans’ declaration of “war” after 9-11 is irrelevant to whether the murder of the Ambassador by a specific Turkish citizen constitutes an act of war on the part of Turkey, the nation.
President Trump needs to correct that error.
Russia doesn’t have to invade Europe these days, they just can wait until winter and threaten to turn off the European gas supply. The USA should pull any nuclear weapons out of Turkey and draft another replacement for NATO without Turkey, or just get rid of NATO altogether.
For all those conspiracy types…… Obama and Turkey’s Prez are the bestest of buds. The ball is in Putin’s court… I don’t know whether to go for the popcorn or the iodine pills.
You can bet Putin won’t respond the same way Obama did when his ambassador was murdered.
I somehow think that Putin will not blame the Ambassador’s death on an spontaneous protest, nor on a bad Russian video about the life of the muslim prophet Mohammed.
“Why, yes, Islam is a religion of peace. Why do you ask?”
And if you say anything to the contrary, they will hurt you.
Russian news reports Putin has attributed the attack to a Youtube video.
Rogue gallery employee. Motive unknown.
Workplace violence.
Remember Kaiser Wilhelm’s prediction about “Some damn foolish thing in the Balkans”. http://www.worldwar1.com/tlsara.htm
I notice the shooter is holding up the one finger Muslim salute.
Not in the second picture.
In the audio of the shooting, he yelled ‘Allahu Akbar’ (“Allah is greater [than your god]”) at least twice.
Well, should Russia and Turkey get into a shooting war……
I’m cheering on the ammo manufacturers.
Been watching MSN.com for the past 3 hours or so, off & on, just to see if this would fit their definition of ‘newsworthy’ – so far, not yet. The terrorist truck attack in Berlin made it, but only on panel 8 or so, well after the latest 0% credit card offers.
And they wonder…
They’re finally there. With the headline: “Policeman kills Russian ambassador.”
And they wonder…
Constantinople> Istanbul> Putinville
Or, Constantinople> Istanbul> Glass-Glow (not to be confused with the Scottish city of a similar name.
White terrorism or white on white crime is more appropriate.