Mevlut Mert Altintas kills Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov

[TonyGosling]

Russian ambassador to Turkey assassinated by police officer 'in revenge for Aleppo'
The gunman reportedly said 'We die in Aleppo, you die here' as he fatally shot Ambassador Andrei Karlov
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/russian-ambassador-turkey-seri ously-injured-9485836

BYCHRIS KITCHING
13:08, 20 DEC 2016UPDATED13:07, 20 DEC 2016
NEWS

Russia's ambassador to Turkey has been assassinated by an off-duty police officer in front of terrified witnesses allegedly in retaliation for the crisis in Aleppo.

The gunman - smartly dressed in a black suit and tie - reportedly shouted "Allahu Akbar" and said in Turkish "We die in Aleppo, you die here" after shooting Ambassador Andrei Karlov in the back.

The attacker was fatally shot by police after killing Mr Karlov and wounding three others in what Russia's Foreign Ministry has called "an act of terrorism".

Mr Karlov, 62, was delivering a speech at an art gallery in the capital of Ankara when he was shot from behind in an attack caught on camera, and then shot at least once more at close range as he lay on the floor.


The attacker opens fire at Mr Karlov speaks to a crowd

The shooter has been identified by Turkish media as Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş
The gunman - identified by Turkish officials as Mevlut Mert Altıntas - was a police officer who used police identification to enter Ankara's Centre for Contemporary Arts.

The 22-year-old had been a member of Ankara's elite anti-riot police for two-and-a-half years.

After killing the ambassador he reportedly shouted: "Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria! As long as our brothers are not safe, you will not enjoy safety.

"Whoever has a share in this oppression will pay for it one-by-one.

"Only death will take me away from here."

Prosecutors said authorities raided an address linked to the shooter and his family, and Turkish media said the gunman's father, mother and sister had been detained for questioning.

A senior security official told Reuters there are "very strong signs" that the gunman belonged to the network of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who was accused of orchestrating a failed coup in July.

The unnamed official said the current investigation was focused on the gunman's links to the network.

One of Gulen's advisors strongly denied the allegations.


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Video thumbnail, Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov shot dead in Turkey
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RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR ANDREI KARLOV SHOT DEAD IN TURKEY

The gunman's body on the floor after being shot dead by police

Turkish media said Mr Karlov did not have security detail with him (Photo: Anadolu)

Heavily-armed police officers respond to the shooting (Photo: REUTERS)
In a televised address Russian President Vladimir Putin, the most powerful ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said the assassination was a "provocation" aimed at undermining the "peace process" in Syria.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a staunch opponent of Assad, also spoke on TV and said the attack was an attempt to disrupt Turkey-Russia relations.

Both revealed they have agreed to strengthen ties and launch a joint investigation into the assassination to determine if the gunman was following orders.

Turkey and Russia have backed opposite sides in the Syrian war. Russia's air strikes were instrumental in helping Syrian forces end rebel resistance in war-torn Aleppo this month.

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ahmet şık @sahmetsahmet
Rus Büyükelçisi Karlov'u öldüren suikastçi aktif görevde olan çevik kuvvet polisi Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş.
6:10 PM - 19 Dec 2016
2,454 2,454 Retweets 1,493 1,493 likes
The assassination and aftermath were captured on camera, with horrific footage showing Mr Karlov speaking at a podium before falling to the floor as gunshots were heard.

Photos showed the attacker standing behind Mr Karlov with his hands clasped before pulling out a handgun in his right hand and opening fire.

The gunman extended his right arm and pointed the gun at Mr Karlov, and then gestured with his left index finger pointed into the air after shooting the ambassador multiple times.


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Police fatally shot the gunman (Photo: REUTERS)
Russian President Vladimir Putin next to Russian Ambassador to Turkey
Russian President Vladimir Putin with Ambassador Andrei Karlov on October 10, 2016 (Photo: REUTERS)
Witnesses were heard screaming in terror as they ran out of the art gallery, and the gunman was heard shouting slogans as he pointed his finger in the air and pointed his gun towards the fleeing crowd.

He also smashed framed photographs hanging on the art gallery's walls.

Photos and video published online by Turkish media showed Mr Karlov and a second person on the floor after being shot at the opening of a photography exhibition called "Russia in the Eyes of Turks".

The event was sponsored by the Russian Embassy in Ankara.

Russian Ambassador to Turkey shot

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Three others were wounded as the shooting continued and people fled for their lives.

A witness told Reuters: "He took out his gun and shot the ambassador from behind.

"We saw him lying on the floor and then we ran out."

Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency said the gunman was killed in a 15 minute shootout with police after he made his way to the second floor of the art gallery.

The Kremlin said Putin was holding an emergency meeting in the wake of the assassination.


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The gunman was killed in a shootout with police (Photo: Anadolu)

Turkish police secure the area near the art gallery (Photo: REUTERS)
He spoke to Erdogan by telephone within hours of the attack.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: "We regard this as a terrorist act.

"Terrorism will not win and we will fight against it decisively."

The shooting occurred a day before Russia was set to host a foreign ministers' meeting on the crisis in Syria with Turkey and Iran.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavusoglu was travelling to Moscow at the time of the shooting, and the trilateral meeting is still scheduled to go ahead as planned.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry said it will not allow the shooting to "cast a shadow" over Turkey-Russia relations, expressing sadness and condemning the "lowly terrorist attack".

Security guard the area outside where the Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov was shot inside an art gallery
Police on scene outside the art gallery (Photo: Getty Images Europe)

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu arrives at the art gallery (Photo: REUTERS)
Mr Karlov, who was married and had a son, had been Russia's ambassador to Turkey since 2013 and previously served as ambassador to North Korea from 2001 to 2006.

He is the first foreign diplomat to be murdered in Turkey since 1971, when Israeli consul-general in Istanbul, Efraim Elrom, was kidnapped and shot dead by militants.

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Boris Johnson ✔ @BorisJohnson
Shocked to hear of despicable murder of #Russia's Ambassador to #Turkey. My thoughts are with his family. I condemn this cowardly attack.
5:44 PM - 19 Dec 2016
1,406 1,406 Retweets 2,191 2,191 likes
Shortly after Mr Karlov's death was announced governments around the world condemned the attack.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Twitter: "Shocked to hear of despicable murder of Russia's Ambassador to Turkey.

"My thoughts are with his family. I condemn this cowardly attack."

In a statement, the White House said: “The United States strongly condemns the assassination of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, in Ankara today, which reportedly also left others wounded.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of Ambassador Karlov and the other victims, and we offer our condolences to the Russian people and Government.

“The heinous attack on a member of the diplomatic corps is unacceptable, and we stand united with Russia and Turkey in our determination to confront terrorism in all of its forms.”

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Travel - State Dept ✔ @TravelGov
Reports of shooting near US Embassy Ankara, #Turkey- US citizens advised to avoid Embassy area until further notice.
6:01 PM - 19 Dec 2016
1,302 1,302 Retweets 463 463 likes
The US State Department issued a warning to American tourists in or travelling to Ankara, tweeting: "Reports of shooting near US Embassy Ankara - US citizens advised to avoid Embassy area until further notice."

The travel warning referenced the shooting at the art gallery, which is near the US Embassy, not a second incident, the @TravelGov Twitter account later clarified.

In a statement published by state media Syria condemned the killing as a "cowardly" attack and offered condolences to Mr Karlov's family and the Russian people.

Russia is Syria's most powerful ally and has played a major role in the Syrian government's attempts to eradicate rebel groups across the country.

In recent weeks pro-government forces have made rapid advances on rebel-held territory in the devastated city of Aleppo, leaving many people dead or wounded.


Police respond to the shooting at the art gallery (Photo: REUTERS)

Karlov in an undated photo (Photo: Collect Unknown)
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Aleppo crisis: First wave of buses packed with terrified civilians leaves besieged city
After rebels were driven into an enclave in eastern Aleppo after heavy bombing a ceasefire was brokered by Russian and Turkish officials.

The deal included the ongoing evacuation of thousands of rebels and civilians, including women and children, from Aleppo to rebel-held territory in Idlib province in north-western Syria.

Turkey's relationship with Russia has been strained in recent years amid the crisis in Syria and after Turkish forces downed a Russian fighter jet along the border with Syria in November last year.

Russia denied Turkey's accusation that the fighter jet had entered Turkish air space.

Since late June efforts have been underway to repair the relationship, with Putin and Erdogan meeting a number of times.

Fethullah Gulen
Fethullah Gulen has been living in self-imposed exile in the US (Photo: Getty)
Turkey has struggled with a string of attacks by Islamist and Kurdish militants but the killing of a Russian envoy is expected to resonate through the region.

Since a failed coup in July, Erdogan has been purging the police of supporters of Gulen, an exiled cleric and former ally, whom he characterises as the chief terrorist threat to Turkey.

The government says Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999, created a "parallel network" in the police, military, judiciary and civil service aimed at overthrowing the state. The cleric denies this.

[Whitehall_Bin_Men]

The one that got away?
What's still unclear is how did he get away with playing the role of being part of the security detail on the day whilst being 'off duty'.

He fired nine shots, also said:
Allahu Akbar
He said in Arabic
"We are the descendents of those who supported the prophet Mohammed for jihad."
Which is similar to the 'unofficial anthem' of Al Nusra front. Al Qaeda in Syria.
According to local media these words are similar to Al Nusra, the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda.

He was a follower of the Gulen movement behind July coup attempt.
During the attack he said: "Don't forget Aleppo, don't forget Syria! So long as our brothers are not in safety, you'll not taste safety either. Only my dead body will leave here."
"Anyone who has a role in this oppression, they will all die one by one."
He lived with some people before police training school who were arrested this year over July's failed coup.

Mirror & Mail.

[TonyGosling]

FINIAN CUNNINGHAM | 20.12.2016 | OPINION
West Directed Killer’s Hand in Assassination of Russian Ambassador
The brutal slaying of Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov in Ankara sent shockwaves around the world. Condemnations were issued by Washington and European states of the act of terrorism by a gunman who shot Karlov in the back while he was speaking at a photo gallery in the Turkish capital.
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2016/12/20/west-directed-killer- hand-assassination-russian-ambassador.html

The White House condemned what it called a «heinous attack», while the European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Morgherini vowed solidarity with Russia in the aftermath of the killing.

One headline read: ‘EU, US Shocked by killing of Russian ambassador in Turkey’.

Given the months of relentless and unwarranted vilification of Russia by the US and EU over the Syrian conflict, the phrase «crocodile tears» comes to mind on hearing their condemnations in regard to the murdered ambassador.

Within hours on the same day of this atrocity, Monday, a second apparent terrorist attack took place in the German capital, Berlin, when a Pakistani asylum plowed a lorry into a crowded Christmas market, killing at least 12 people and injuring nearly 50 others. Taken together, both events ramped up state security measures across Europe. Again, another cruel irony, given the culpability of European states in sowing seeds of violence.

Karlov (62) had been a career diplomat for four decades, taking up his post in Turkey in 2013. He worked deftly behind the scenes to facilitate the recent political dialogue between Russia, Iran and Turkey aimed at finding an evacuation arrangement for civilians and militants out of the battleground Syrian city of Aleppo.

Both Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that Karlov’s assassination was a «provocation» to derail the ongoing sensitive negotiations on finding a political settlement in Syria’s conflict. Those talks went ahead the day after the killing when foreign ministers from the two countries, plus Iran, met in Moscow as planned on Tuesday.

Pointedly, the US and its European allies have been left out of the talks between Russia, Iran and Turkey. Even though the Western states are a party to the nearly six-year war in Syria, having bankrolled and armed various anti-government militant factions.

Putin, in a televised address from the Kremlin, said that investigations into the murder of ambassador Karlov needed to find «who was behind the hand of the gunman».

The shooter, who was quickly killed by Turkish special forces when they stormed the photo gallery, was named as Mevlut Mert Altintas, a 22-year-old off-duty member of the Ankara’s anti-riot police squad. Video footage taken by surviving members of the public attending the fatal event showed the killer declaring support for the people of Aleppo and shouting «Allahu Akbar» («God is Great»)… «This is payback for Aleppo», as Karlov lay dying on the floor.

Turkish authorities later claimed that the shooter was affiliated with the Gulenist movement, which they have already blamed for inciting the failed coup back in July. That move may be a diversion by the Turkish government to conceal what would otherwise be an embarrassing affiliation between its police force personnel and Islamist terrorists in Syria.

Some Russian lawmakers went as far as alleging that the slaying of Karlov may have been orchestrated by the US-led NATO military alliance. The Syrian army’s liberation of Aleppo last week, with the help of Russian, Iranian and Lebanese military allies, has come as a strategic defeat for NATO powers who have been waging a covert war for regime change in Syria.

Over the weekend, reports also emerged of several special forces from NATO members having been captured by Syrian troops in Aleppo. The covert presence of NATO personnel in Aleppo, presumably training and directing jihadist terrorists, would be proof positive of the Western criminal conspiracy prosecuting the war in Syria.

It remains to be seen if the killer cop who shot ambassador Karlov was acting under direction from NATO intelligence.

However, even if he acted alone, it can still be said that the Western governments and their news media have an onerous responsibility for «directing his hand».

Among the condemnations pouring forth from UN chief Ban Ki-Moon, the US, UK, France and Germany were those articulated by American Secretary of State John Kerry and Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN. Only days before the murder of Andrey Karlov, the Western states and senior UN officials were waging an intense media campaign alleging that Russia was committing war crimes during the Syrian offensive to retake Aleppo.

John Kerry denounced what he called was a «massacre» in Aleppo. Samantha Power was almost hysterical at the UN Security Council berating Russia for being «incapable of shame» and bandying reckless, unsubstantiated claims of women and children being executed in Aleppo.

A months-long crescendo of condemnation by Western governments and media reached a climax last week when Aleppo finally was finally recaptured by the Syrian army and its allies. Citing dubious sources linked to terror groups holding east Aleppo under siege, the West has demonized Russia as an oppressor of civilians, committing crimes against humanity.

American, British and French diplomats have grossly distorted historical analogies by comparing Russia and its Syrian ally to the depredations of Nazi Germany and Spain’s fascist Franco.

Recall too that when Russian consular offices in Syria have been targeted by militant rockets, the Western states declined to condemn these gross violations. Recall too how British foreign secretary Boris Johnson urged public protests outside the Russian embassy in London. Recall too when two Russian nurses were murdered in a terror rocket attack on a mobile hospital in Aleppo, Western states kept a muted silence rather than condemn. In countless subtle and not-so subtle ways, Western governments and media have set Russia up as a villain deserving attack.

The climax of condemnation reached unconscionable heights last week when Washington, its Western allies and the UN – all amplified unquestioningly by the Western news media – vilified Russia for allegedly slaughtering civilians in east Aleppo. American ambassador Samantha Power specifically cited unverified reports of children being killed in a basement by Syria and Russian forces.

Belying Western hysteria, a calm evacuation of tens of thousands of civilians in Aleppo was actually underway. There was no evidence of any massacres or crimes against humanity that the West and UN officials were screaming about. Droves of civilians have instead expressed relief and gratitude for having been liberated by Syrian and Russian forces from a reign of terror imposed on them for four years by Western-backed militants.

Virtually everything that Western official sources have been saying about Aleppo, and the Syrian war more generally, is seen to be a grotesque lie.

Russian lawmaker Alexey Pushkov, of the Duma’s foreign affairs committee, is correct when he said following the death of Andrey Karlov that the West bore responsibility because its hysteria and fabrications about events in Aleppo have fostered a climate of deranged hatred towards Russia.

When the Turkish assassin raised his pointed gun at Karlov, he declared that he was acting in memory of «civilians killed in Aleppo». But who gave him the image of Russia being a legitimate target for «payback»? Who filled his head with (false) images of carnage and horror against civilians in Aleppo?

In answering those questions honestly, the conclusion is that Western governments, diplomats and media directed the gun that murdered ambassador Andrey Karlov.

[scienceplease 2]

Man shouting with gun was clean shaven.
Man lying dead on the ground had a day old beard.
Unlikely to be same person.
Apparently no blood running from the Ambassador either...

[TonyGosling]

RUSSIAN ENVOY ASSASSINATION: QUESTIONS MUST BE ANSWERED
https://southfront.org/russian-envoy-assassination-questions-must-be-a nswered/

SF expresses condolences to Karlov’s family and admires his bravery.

Questions Must Be Answered
An outrageous international relations incident took place in Ankara on December 19th. The Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, was assassinated by Mevlut Mert Altintas, a Turkish police officer.

The death of Karlov complicates the international situation and changes the expected negotiated settlement for the Middle East.

Among a number of political and security questions, three main pointed questions over the incident must be answered.

Why were there no adequate security measures by Russian security services, especially amid constant provocations, rallies and threats against the Russian diplomatic staff in Ankara?

Furthermore, Vladimir Putin said that “considering the specific developments there”, it was possible to arrange, with a host state, for tightened security.

Why were there no adequate security measures by Turkish security services?

After shooting Karlov, the attacker had about a minute to chant slogans without interference or even the appearance of Turkish security personnel or policemen.

Altintas did not fire at other people and had been at the scene of the crime until he was liquidated with massive fire. When police and security services want to investigate a crime, especially a much-publicized crime, they always seek to capture a perpetrator alive by any means. But Altintas received over 20 bullets and was killed.

Erodgan’s words that the attacker was killed because he had a bomb aroused a special perplexity because the whole world saw a video in which Altintas was not able to have any bomb bigger than a grenade under his unbuttoned suit.

Why did Turkish security services allow the attacker to remain at the scene of the crime with other people for a long time?

The situation looked as if he did all that was needed and was waiting for arrest.

Why was Altintas liquidated?

Who would have been interested in this?