| Assassination of Andrei Karlov | |
|---|---|
| Part ofRussian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War | |
  Ankara Ankara (Turkey) | |
| Location | Çağdaş Sanatlar Merkezi,Ankara, Turkey |
| Coordinates | 39°54′31″N32°51′27″E / 39.9086°N 32.8576°E /39.9086; 32.8576 |
| Date | 19 December 2016; 8 years ago (2016-12-19) 20:15 |
| Target | Andrei Karlov |
Attack type | |
| Weapons | Canik 55 TP9 Compact 9mmpistol[1] |
| Deaths | 2 (Karlov and the perpetrator) |
| Injured | 3 |
| Perpetrator | Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş |
| Motive | Discontent atRussian involvement in the Syrian Civil War |
| Accused | Gülen movement(according to Turkish officials)[2][3] |
Andrei Karlov, theRussian Ambassador to Turkey, wasassassinated by Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, an off-dutyTurkish police officer,[4] at an art exhibition inAnkara, Turkey, on the evening of 19 December 2016. The assassination took place after several days of protests in Turkey overRussian involvement in the Syrian Civil War and thebattle over Aleppo.[5][6][7]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 "Washington Post:Russian ambassador to Turkey assassinated in Ankara by off-duty police officer".The Washington Post. |
The assassination took place after an extended period of a highly polarized political atmosphere in Turkey,[8][9] and several days of protests by Turks against Russian involvement in the Syrian Civil War and in particular the battle over Aleppo.[10] Russian and Turkish officials held talks on brokering a ceasefire in Syria during theevacuation of Aleppo.[11] Russia, Turkey andIran planned to meet to negotiate a settlement over theSyrian Civil War.[12][13]
Karlov, the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, had been invited to deliver a speech at the opening of an exhibition of Turkish photography of the Russian countryside. The exhibition, "Russia through Turks' eyes", was being held at the municipality owned Çağdaş Sanat Merkezi centre for modern arts in Ankara'sÇankaya District.[14]
Mevlüt Altıntaş entered the hall using his police identification, leading gallery security and attendees to believe he was one of Karlov's personal bodyguards.[15] Karlov had begun his speech when Altıntaş suddenly fired several shots at the Russian ambassador from the back, fatally wounding him and injuring several other people.[5][14]
After shooting Karlov, Altıntaş circled the room, smashing pictures that were on display and shouting inArabic andTurkish: "Allahu Akbar (God is great). We are the descendants of those who supported the Prophet Muhammad, for jihad. Do not forget Aleppo, do not forget Syria" and "We die in Aleppo, you die here".[7][16][17][18] Shortly after, Altıntaş was fatally shot by Turkish security forces.[19] Karlov was taken to the hospital, but died from his injuries.[5]
Turkish PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdoğan declared that the shooting was designed to disrupt the warming ofRussia–Turkey relations.[20]The New York Times suggested a possible motive was revenge for theRussian Air Force's targeting of rebel-held areas inAleppo.[21]
Although seemingly an act of revenge against Russian military involvement in Aleppo as part of the ongoingSyrian civil war, some have suspectedanti-Russian sentiment to be the cause of the attack. In a statement,President-elect of the United StatesDonald Trump accused the assassin of being "a radical Islamic terrorist".[22]
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting,CNBC speculated that the killer may have been involved with Sunni anti-Assad groups, such asDaesh.[23] Turkish authorities reportedly investigated Altıntaş' links to theGülen movement; in a speech, Erdoğan said that the perpetrator was a member of "FETÖ".[15][24] In contrast, Russian officials have accused the shooter of aiming to damageRussia–Turkey relations[25][26] which had been normalizing since the2016 Turkish coup attempt.[27][28][29][30] Gülen described the killing as a "heinous act of terror" that pointed to a deterioration of security in Turkey.[31]
The attack was praised by Islamic State- andal-Qaeda-affiliated accounts onsocial media.[32][dead link] The words spoken by the assassin are similar to the unofficial anthem ofJabhat Fatah al-Sham.[33]
President Tayyip Erdogan tried to attribute the assassination to the Gülen movement, but offered no evidence to support the claim.[34] While Turkish and Russian officials alike condemned the killing, calling it an attempt to sabotage Turkish–Russian relations,[35] Russian officials were hesitant to attribute the killing to the Gülen movement before further investigation.[36][37][38]
Born in Moscow in 1954, Andrei Gennadyevich Karlov was educated at theMoscow State Institute of International Relations and the Diplomatic Academy. He began his career with the government at theMinistry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR in 1976. Karlov spoke fluentKorean and held various diplomatic positions at the Russian embassy toNorth Korea, including asRussian ambassador to North Korea from June 2001 to December 2006. He had beenRussian ambassador to Turkey since July 2013.[39]
Andrei Karlov is the fourth Russian diplomat to have died in the line of duty, afterAlexander Griboyedov (assassinated as Imperial Russian ambassador toQajar Persia in 1829),Vatslav Vorovsky (assassinated as Soviet representative to theLausanne Conference in 1923), andPyotr Voykov (assassinated as Soviet ambassador to Poland in 1927, also Russian consul of Bitola April 1903, and Russian consul of Mitrovica, August 1903, both were assassinated by Turkish soldiers, that makes six).[40]
The assassin was identified asMevlüt Mert Altıntaş (Turkish:[mevˈlytˈmæɾtaɫˈtɯntaʃ]; 24 June 1994 – 19 December 2016), an off-duty Turkishriot police officer.[4]
After failing the university placement exam twice,[41] he graduated fromİzmir Police School in 2014.[42] His sister was quoted as saying that "he started toperform prayer five times a day in police school".[43] He served on an elite Ankara riot police unit for two and a half years, and had been part of the security detail for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on eight occasions since July 2016.[4]
A Turkish newspaper reported that Altıntaş had been suspended in early October 2016 for suspected involvement in the2016 Turkish coup attempt, but returned to duty in mid-November.[44]
Altıntaş had visitedQatar several times. Following the assassination, his activities in Qatar have been under investigation.[45]
Altıntaş' body was rejected by his family; his parents stated that "We are ashamed of him because of the murder and we will not claim the body of a traitor." His body was buried in a cemetery for unclaimed corpses.[46]
The day after the killing, Turkish authorities arrested a number of Altıntaş' family members in his homeprovince of Aydin, as well as his flatmate in Ankara, holding the family members for one day.[47]Russian Foreign MinisterSergey Lavrov also confirmed that a Russian investigative team was scheduled to arrive in Turkey on 20 December to assist with the investigation.[14]
On 29 January 2017, Turkish prosecutors said the entirety of Altıntaş'email had been deleted from hisGmail platform two-and-a-half hours after the assassination, by which point Altıntaş had been shot dead by police.[48] In March 2017Google told the Turkish prosecutors requesting the emails that all of Altıntaş' emails had been irrecoverably deleted.[49]
Associated Press photographerBurhan Ozbilici was at the exhibition when the assassination occurred, and he reflexively took photos of the gunman, which were described as "iconic" and "[the] most powerful and shocking documentary photos of this year".[50] The photo would later win theWorld Press Photo of the Year award.[51][52] The 2017 bookDeath Makes the News by Jessica M. Fishman, which focuses on the media's representation of the dead, uses a censored version of the photo as its cover.[53]
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Many governments andheads of state condemned the attack and offered condolences to the family of Karlov and other victims of the shooting, as well as to the Russian people.[5][54][55]
WhileISIS has not claimed responsibility for the assassination, it has been celebrated by its supporters.[56] The IslamistJaish al-Fatah coalition, which includes theJabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly Al-Nusra Front), claimed responsibility for the assassination, according to theEgyptian newspaperAl-Youm Al-Sabea.[57]
AQatari journalist, Elham Badar, said the shooting was a "human" response to "Russian barbarism" in Aleppo and elsewhere in the conflict.[58]New York Daily News columnistGersh Kuntzman attracted criticism when he compared Karlov's murder to the assassination of Nazi German diplomatErnst vom Rath by Jewish studentHerschel Grynszpan, saying "justice has been served."[59]
A woman on the board ofAl Jazeera said that she believes the murder of Andrey Karlov was justified because of the bloodshed to which Russia has contributed in theSyrian civil war.[60]
In Turkey, PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdoğan said in a video message that "Turkey-Russia relations are vital for the region and those who aimed to harm ties were not going to achieve their goals", after having spoken to Russian presidentVladimir Putin, adding that they "both agreed the assassination of Russia's ambassador to Ankara by a gunman was an act of provocation by those looking to harm relations of our countries."[61] The TurkishForeign Ministry pledged to spare no effort to not let "this attack cast a shadow on the Turkish-Russian friendship."[62]Turkish Foreign MinisterMevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced that the street in which the Russian embassy is located would be named after the ambassador.[47]
Turkey temporarily banned access toFacebook,Twitter, andWhatsApp after the attack.[63] A week later, it also banned broadcasting images of the attack while an investigation was underway.[64]
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswomanMaria Zakharova said: "Terrorism will not pass. We will fight it decisively."[20] President Vladimir Putin stated he believes "a crime has been committed and it was without doubt a provocation aimed at spoiling the normalization of Russo-Turkish relations and spoiling the Syrian peace process which is being actively pushed by Russia, Turkey, Iran and others". He also ordered heightening of security measures at Russian embassies worldwide, and stated that "we need to know who guided the hand of the murderer".[20][65]
Russian special protective unitZaslon [ru] (Russian:«Заслон») was criticized for lack of proper protection of Karlov following his assassination.[66]
That may hint at his motive: The Russian Air Force was a key part of the Syrian government's successful assault on rebel-held parts of Aleppo, which included widespread attacks on civilians.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Terrorist incidents inTurkey in 2016 | |
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