Russian Ambassador To Turkey Shot Dead In Ankara Gallery

MEP: The Russian ambassador to Turkey was shot dead in front of a crowd at a posh art gallery on Monday in the capital Ankara as the angry gunmen screamed “don’t forget Aleppo”.

Andrey Karlov, 62, was killed while delivering a speech at an exhibition hall. The man who assassinated the Russian diplomat was identified as a 22-year-old Turkish riot police officer.

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”.

Meanwhile, Turkish and Russian Presidents have agreed that the assassination of Moscow’s envoy to Ankara was an act of provocation by those seeking to ruin relations between both countries.

“We know that this is a provocation aimed at destroying the process of normalization in relations between Turkey and Russia,” said Erdogan during a televised broadcast after a phone conversation with Putin.

After the initial shot, the attacker approached Karlov as he lay on the ground and shot him at least one more time at close range, according to an AP photographer at the scene.

He also smashed several of the framed photos on exhibition, but later let the stunned guests out of the venue, according to local media.

At a special meeting at the Kremlin, President Putin ordered increased security at all Russian missions and said “the bandits” who committed the act would feel retribution.

“We must know who directed the killer’s hand.”

Reports in Turkey suggested 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 shoot-out that lasted 15 minutes. Three other people were wounded in the attack.

“This murder is clearly a provocation aimed at undermining the improvement and normalization of Russian-Turkish relations, as well as undermining the peace process in Syria promoted by Russia, Turkey, Iran and other countries interested in settling the conflict in Syria,” Putin said in a statement.

The “only response” to the attack that Moscow “should offer” is “stepping up the fight against terrorism,” the president added.

“The killers will feel it,” Putin said.

Earlier this summer, Ankara and Moscow agreed on normalizing their relations after they soured following the last year shooting down of a Russian jet by Turkey over Syria.