Andrei Karlov, the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, was assassinated by Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, an off-duty Turkish police officer, at an art exhibition in Ankara, Turkey on the evening of 19 December 2016. The assassination took place after several days of protests in Turkey over Russian involvement in the Syrian Civil War and the battle over Aleppo.
Background
The assassination took place after a long period of a highly polarized political atmosphere in Turkey, and after several days of protests by Turks against Russian involvement in the Syrian Civil War and in particular the battle over Aleppo. Russian and Turkish officials held talks on brokering a ceasefire in Syria during the evacuation of Aleppo. Russia, Turkey and Iran planned to meet to negotiate a settlement over the Syrian Civil War.
Assassination
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 Cagdas Sanat Merkezi centre for modern arts in Ankara's Çankaya district.
Mevlüt Altıntaş entered the hall using his police identification, leading gallery security and attendees to believe he was one of Karlov's personal bodyguards. 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.
After shooting Karlov, Altıntaş circled the room, smashing pictures that were on display and shouting in Arabic and Turkish: "Allahu Akbar (God is the greatest). 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". Shortly after, Altıntaş was fatally shot by Turkish security forces. Karlov was taken to the hospital, but died from his injuries.
Motivation
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared that the shooting was designed to disrupt the warming of Russia–Turkey relations. The New York Times suggested a possible motive was revenge for the Russian Air Force's targeting of rebel-held areas in Aleppo.
Although seemingly an act of revenge against Russian military involvement in Aleppo as part of the ongoing Syrian civil war, some have suspected anti-Russian sentiment to be the cause of the attack. In a statement, President-elect of the United States Donald Trump accused the assassin of being "a radical Islamic terrorist".
Allegations of involvement by the jihadist movements of Islamic State (IS) and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly known as Al-Nusra Front/al-Qaeda in Syria) have been made. Turkish authorities reportedly investigated Altıntaş' links to the Gülen movement; in a speech, Erdoğan said that the perpetrator was a member of "FETÖ". The attack was praised by IS and al-Qaeda affiliated accounts on social media. The words spoken by the assassin are similar to the unofficial anthem of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham.
President Tayyip Erdogan tried to attribute the assassination to the Gülen movement, but offered no evidence to support the claim. While Turkish and Russian officials alike condemned the killing, calling it an attempt to sabotage Turkish-Russian relations, Russian officials were hesitant to attribute the killing to the Gülen movement prior to further investigation.
People involved
Victim
Born in Moscow in 1954, Andrei Gennadyevich Karlov was educated at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and the Diplomatic Academy. He began his career with the government at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR in 1976. Karlov spoke fluent Korean and held various diplomatic positions at the Russian embassy to North Korea, including as Russian ambassador to North Korea from June 2001 to December 2006. He had been Russian ambassador to Turkey since July 2013.
Andrei Karlov is the fourth Russian diplomat to have died in the line of duty, after Alexander Griboyedov (killed as Imperial Russian ambassador to Qajar Persia in 1829), Vatslav Vorovsky (killed as Soviet representative to the Lausanne Conference in 1923), and Pyotr Voykov (killed as Soviet ambassador to Poland in 1927).
Perpetrator
The assassin was identified as Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş (; 24 June 1994 – 19 December 2016), an off-duty Turkish riot police officer.