Russian President Vladimir Putin has postponed his annual end-of-year press conference in order to attend the funeral of the assassinated Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, the Kremlin said. The plane carrying the body of Andrei Karlov, the murdered Russian ambassador to Turkey, arrived in Moscow. Russian and Turkish Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov and Mevlut Cavusoglu accompanied Karlov’s wife and mother down the steps of the plane.Karlov’s wife, Marina Karlova, wept as the honor guard carried her husband’s flag-draped coffin off the plane and placed it into a hearse.Karlov was shot dead in front of stunned onlookers on Monday at an exhibition in Ankara. The assassination came after days of protests in Turkey over Moscow’s support for Syrian President Bashar Assad and Russia’s role in the bombardment and destruction of rebel parts of Aleppo.The Russian Foreign Ministry has said that Moscow considered the killing of its ambassador to be a terrorist act.The funeral ceremony of the slain Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, will take place on Thursday.Meanwhile, officials in Turkey claimed that they had found strong evidence against Fethullah Gülen of being involved in the attack.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.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 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. President Vladimir Putin on Monday called the killing of Russia´s ambassador in Turkey a “provocation” aimed at sabotaging warming ties between Moscow and Ankara and efforts to resolve the conflict in Syria.Murder of Russian ambassador was a sad incident. Turkey needs to take the investigation of this incident to logical end. Despite such a high profile incident, the reaction of the leaderships of the two countries is laudable as Russia has decided to cooperate with Turkey to investigate the incident. Turkey is facing wave of terrorism and terror incidents are increasing after the failed attempt to change the government. Turkey is also involved in conflict in Syria. Turkish Government needs to review its policies to get rid of this menace.
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