A Turkish man has shot to death the Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, whilst he was attending the opening of an art exhibition in the city of Ankara.
The perpetrator, believed to be an off duty police officer, walked up to the ambassador, yelled ‘Allahu Akbar’, and then shot at him at least eight times.
“Don’t forget Aleppo. Don’t forget Syria. Unless our towns are secure, you won’t enjoy security. Only death can take me from here. Everyone who is involved in this suffering will pay a price.” he reportedly shouted after killing the ambassador.
Aleppo is the besieged Syrian town that has become a microcosm of the horror in the Middle East, with world powers jostling for position in the city alongside terrorists, Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and his opposition. The city has been rendered near unlivable.
Russia and Turkey, who are working together in Syria, have characterised the shooting as an attempt to bring conflict between them.
“The crime that was committed is without doubt a provocation aimed at disrupting the normalisation of Russian-Turkish relations and disrupting the peace process in Syria that is being actively advanced by Russia, Turkey and Iran,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
“There can be only one answer to this – stepping up the fight against terrorism, and the bandits will feel this.”
The gunman was killed after his act in a shootout with Turkish special forces.