ANKARA/MOSCOW: The Russian ambassador to Ankara died Monday after being shot in a gun attack in the Turkish capital, the Russian foreign ministry in Moscow said Monday, describing the incident as a “terrorist act”.
Dramatic television footage showed a man in a dark suit and tie waving a gun and gesturing in the air at the Ankara exhibition hall.
Local media reported that the attacker chanted slogans in Arabic as he gunned down the Russian envoy.
The state-run Anadolu news agency said the gunman had been “neutralised” in a police operation, without giving further details.
The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had been informed of the attack.
Meanwhile, officials in Turkey claimed that they had found strong evidence against Fethullah Gülen of being involved in the attack.
Pictures published by the Hurriyet daily showed at least two men in suits lying flat on the ground as another man brandished a gun.
Turkish Interior Minister identified the attacker as Mevlut Mert Altintas, 22, who had worked in the Ankara anti-riot police for the last two and a half years. His mother, father and sister were reportedly detained for questioning in their home in western Turkey.
The shooting took place at the Cagdas Sanatlar Merkezi, a major art exhibition hall in the Cankaya district of Ankara where most foreign embassies are located including Russia´s mission.
“It happened during the opening of an exhibition,” Hurriyet correspondent Hasim Kilic, who was at the scene, told AFP.
“When the ambassador was delivering a speech, a tall man wearing a suit, fired into the air first and then took aim at the ambassador,” said Kilic.
“He said something about Aleppo and ´revenge´. He ordered the civilians to leave the room. When people were fleeing, he fired again,” he added.
Protesters in Turkey have held Moscow responsible for human rights violations in Aleppo.
Turkey and Russia saw relations plunge to their worst levels since the Cold War last year when a Turkish jet shot down a Russian warplane over Syria.
They stand on opposite sides of the Syria conflict with Ankara backing rebels trying to topple Moscow-ally President Bashar al-Assad.
But the rhetoric has warmed considerably since a reconciliation deal was signed earlier this year and a Russian and Turkish-brokered deal has helped the evacuation of citizens from Aleppo in the last days.
The attack comes a day before Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran, Assad´s other key ally, were to hold unprecedented tripartite talks on the Syria conflict in Moscow.
A Turkish official on Monday denied Ankara had forged any secret “bargain” with Moscow over the future of Syria, despite the improving cooperation that led to the deal for evacuations from Aleppo.
US President-elect Donald Trump on Monday condemned the assassination of Russia´s ambassador to Turkey, calling the gunman a “radical Islamic terrorist.”
“Today we offer our condolences to the family and loved ones of Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov, who was assassinated by a radical Islamic terrorist,” Trump said in a statement.
“The murder of an ambassador is a violation of all rules of civilized order and must be universally condemned.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May told parliament she was concerned about the reports of the assassination in the capital Ankara.
“I was just looking at what I believe…is some breaking news, that the Russian ambassador to Turkey has been shot,†May said in the middle of a question and answer session.
“I think is a matter of concern,” she said.
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