Russia-Turkey relations under attack

20.12.2016

The incident

The shooting of the Russian Ambassador Andrey Karlov was carried out last night at an opening of an exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art in Ankara. A former police officer armed with a gun shot Karlov in his back, and then began shouting some Islamic slogans. Later the attacker was killed by law enforcement in the same premises.

Andrey Karlov died of injures in the hospital.

Reaction of Russia and other countries

Yesterday, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued an official statement, which said:

“We strongly condemn this inhuman crime, having the aim to undermine collective efforts to reach an early political settlement in Syria and the process of normalization of Russian-Turkish relations, which has already begun. We expect close cooperation from the Turkish authorities with representatives of the Russian investigative authorities in conducting the thorough investigation of all the circumstances of this barbaric crime, identifying and punishing the organizers, as well as the adoption of the most effective measures to ensure the security of Russian citizens, diplomatic missions and their personnel. From our part, in collaboration with the Turkish law enforcement bodies, we are going to do everything that those responsible will be punished.”

Also the Russian President said: “An inter-ministerial working group was ordered to form, which should immediately fly to Ankara to take part, together with Turkish partners in the investigation of this crime”.

Representatives of other countries, including NATO Secretary General, send their condolences to the Russian side with the words of condemnation of this terrorist attack.

A difficult situation

The involvement of the killer to Fethullah Gülen’s organization was established. His name was Mevlut Mert Aydintas, he had been dismissed from the police after an attempted coup in Turkey on July 15th in 2016.

However, in addition to Gülen’s organization there is information about Aydintas’s contacts with the Syrian opposition, which until recently officially supported Ankara. Moreover, taking into consideration the age of this terrorist (22 years), the third part (such as the CIA) could be suggested to have used him.

The biggest stakeholders in the deterioration of relations between Turkey and Russia are ISIS terrorists and the Obama administration.

After this major incident, Russia has a good reason to exert pressure on Turkey on security issues, including the provision of a variety of data, as well as a more clear line in the counter-terrorist operation in Syria.

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Russia-Turkey relations under attack

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