Assassination of Andrei Karlov
| Assassination of Andrei Karlov | |
|---|---|
 Ankara
Ankara (Turkey)
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| Location | Çağdaş Sanatlar Merkezi, Ankara, Turkey |
| Date | 19 December 2016 20:15 |
| Target | Andrei Karlov |
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Attack type
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| Weapons | Canik55 TP9 Compact 9mm pistol |
| Deaths | 2 (Karlov and the perpetrator) |
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Non-fatal injuries
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3 |
| Perpetrator | Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş |
| Motive | Discontent of Russian involvement in the Syrian Civil War |
 "Washington Post: Russian ambassador to Turkey assassinated in Ankara by off-duty police officer".
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| Mevlüt Altıntaş | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş 24 June 1994 Söke, Turkey |
| Died | 19 December 2016 (aged 22) Ankara, Turkey |
| Cause of death | Gunshot |
| Occupation | Riot policeman |
| Killings | |
| Location(s) | Ankara |
| Target(s) | Andrei Karlov |
| Killed | 1 |
| Injured | 3 |
| Weapons | Handgun |
Andrei Karlov, the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, was assassinated by Mevlüt Mert Altıntaşan, 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.
The assassination took place after a long period of highly polarized and incited political atmosphere in Turkey, and after several days of protests by Islamist 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.
The assassin shouted "Allāhu akbar" in Arabic, then "Do not forget Aleppo, do not forget Syria" in Turkish. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared that the shooting was designed to disrupt the warming 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 Islamic extremism or anti-Russian sentiment to be the cause of the attack. President-elect of the United States Donald Trump accused the assassin of being "a radical Islamic terrorist", and the Russian State Duma said that "The culprits in this monstrous provocation, both the executors and those who guided the terrorist's hand by instigating Russophobia, ethnic, religious and confessional hatred, extremism and fanaticism, must face their deserved punishment".
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Wikipedia