ISTANBUL — Russia’s ambassador to Turkey was assassinated at an Ankara art exhibit on Monday evening by a lone Turkish gunman shouting “God is great!” and “don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria!” in what Russia called a terrorist attack.
The
gunman, who was described by Ankara’s mayor as a policeman, also
wounded at least three others in the assault, which was captured on
Turkish video. Turkish officials said he was killed by other officers in
a shootout.
The
assassination instantly vaulted relations between Turkey and Russia to a
new level of crisis over the protracted Syria conflict on Turkey’s
southern doorstep. It came after days of protests by Turks angry over
Russia’s support for Syria’s government in the conflict and the Russian
role in the killings and destruction in Aleppo, the northern Syrian
city.
The envoy, Andrey G. Karlov,
was shot from behind and immediately fell to the floor while speaking
at an exhibition, according to multiple accounts from the scene, the
Contemporary Arts Center in the Cankaya area of Ankara.
The
gunman, wearing a dark suit and tie, was seen in video footage of the
assault shouting in Arabic: “God is great! Those who pledged allegiance
to Muhammad for jihad. God is great!”
Then
he switched to Turkish and shouted: “Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget
Syria! Step back! Step back! Only death can take me from here.”
Turkish
officials said that the gunman was killed after a shootout with Turkish
Special Forces police. The assailant’s identity was not immediately
known.
Russia’s
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, told the Rossiya 24 news
channel that Mr. Karlov had died of his wounds in what she described as
a terrorist attack.
Russia
news agencies said the ambassador’s wife fainted and was hospitalized
after learning of her husband’s death. They also said Russian tourists
in Turkey had been advised against leaving their hotel rooms or visiting
public places as a precaution.
CNN Turk published images showing several people lying on the floor of the gallery.
Russia’s
Tass news agency initially quoted witnesses of the attack as saying
that there had been an “assassination attempt” against Mr. Karlov, and
that he had been shot from behind while finishing his opening remarks at
the opening of the exhibition, called “Russia Through Turks’ Eyes.”
While
the Russian and Turkish governments back different sides in the Syria
conflict, they had been collaborating in recent days in efforts to
evacuate civilians from Aleppo.
Mr.
Karlov, who started his career as a diplomat in 1976, worked
extensively in North Korea over two decades, before moving to the region
in 2007, according to a biography on the Russian Embassy’s website. He became ambassador in July 2013.
The
attack was a rare instance of an assassination of any Russian envoy.
Historians said it might have been the first since Pyotr Voykov, a
Soviet ambassador to Poland, was shot to death in Warsaw in 1927.
For
many Russians, the assassination is likely to recall the 19th-century
killing in Tehran of Aleksandr Griboyedov, a poet and diplomat who died
after a mob stormed the Russian Embassy. That episode is remembered as
the most severe insult to Russia’s diplomatic corps in the country’s
history.
More
recently, the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, now allied with Russia
in Syria, kidnapped four Soviet diplomats in 1985, killing one and
releasing three a month later.
Correction: December 19, 2016
An earlier version of this article misidentified the government that has collaborated with Russia even though it backs a different side in the Syrian conflict. It is Turkey, not Syria.
An earlier version of this article misidentified the government that has collaborated with Russia even though it backs a different side in the Syrian conflict. It is Turkey, not Syria.
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