21st Century Wire says…
An incredible and dramatic scene unfolded today in Turkey’s capital city.
An AP photographer was in the audience during the attack on Russia's ambassador to Turkey – the latest here: https://t.co/QNlIA8e2Eu pic.twitter.com/EBPa5izHsi
— AP Images (@AP_Images) December 19, 2016
The Russian Ambassador Andrey Karlov was shot in the back by an assassin dressed in a suit.
Mr. Karlov was 62 years old and had been serving as the Russian Ambassador to Turkey since 2013.
Rather strangely, after killing the Russian Ambassador, the assassin was then allowed to give a minutes-long extended speech.
“Allah hu Akbar! Don’t forget about Aleppo! Don’t forget about Syria!”
“People are dying there, so you’ll die here!” followed by something like, “You won’t be safe!”
After he finished his diatribe, he was then shot and killed by Turkish security services.
According to a statement by the mayor of Ankara, Melih Gokcek the assassin was a ‘former’ Turkish policeman, who graduated from the police academy in 2014, and reports suggest that he was fired or relieved of duty, following Erdogan’s “post-coup” massive purge of civil employees this past summer. This is a point of contention which will only raise further questions as to the apparent security breach.
Images depicting several people lying on the floor of the gallery were published by CNN Turk.
Apparently, the art exhibition, held at the Contemporary Arts Center in the Cankaya area of the capital, was meant to help promote Russian-Turkish friendship, with the theme of “Russia through Turkish eyes.”
Putting aside the Jihadist overtones, all circumstantial evidence strongly suggests that this attack was a targeted political incident, not necessarily a religious one – and hugely symbolic, specifically designed to damage or hinder bilateral negotiations between Turkey, Russia, Syria and Iran.
It is perhaps no coincidence that tomorrow Tuesday, the foreign defense ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey were scheduled to meet in Moscow – to discuss the future of Syria, and more specifically, that of Aleppo.
Also, just hours before the incident, a unanimous UN Security Council resolution was passed regarding Aleppo. In one of the few unanimous decisions on Syria, the UNSC adopted Resolution 2328 (2016), demanding both immediate and “unhindered access” for UN observation of monitoring of the ongoing civilian evacuations from recently liberated East Aleppo.
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