Russia urges for establishing all facts surrounding envoy's murder
All the circumstances surrounding the murder of the Russian
ambassador in Turkey should be established as soon as possible,
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow on December
20.
Russia's Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov was shot by a gunman at
an art gallery exhibition opening in Ankara on December 19. The
Russian Foreign Ministry called the incident an act of
terrorism.
"It is necessary to establish all the circumstances of the organization and execution of the terrorist act as soon as possible," Lavrov said at a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Sputnik reported.
“Yesterday, our presidents agreed that in addition to the investigatory action of the Turkish special services, the Russian investigation team would fly to Ankara, and… it has already landed in the Turkish capital," Lavrov added. "This tragedy makes all of us more determined to fight terrorism and makes this meeting even more useful. So I very much hope that these negotiations, as well as the upcoming trilateral meeting with our Iranian counterpart, will allow us to reach agreements that will facilitate the process of the Syrian conflict settlement by concrete actions, will create conditions for a more efficient delivery of humanitarian aid without making any concessions to terrorists.”
The street where the Russian Embassy is located in Ankara will be named in honor of the late Russian Ambassador, said Mevlut Cavusoglu.
“We made a decision, I was informed by the Turkish prime minister about it, to eternalize Andrey Karlov’s memory in Ankara,” noted Cavusoglu.
Later, Sergei Lavrov and Mevlut Cavusoglu laid flowers near the
Russian Foreign Ministry's hall of receptions in memory of
Ambassador Karlov. The ministers laid flowers near Karlov's
portrait and honored his memory with a minute of silence.
Karlov was delivering a speech at the Contemporary Arts Gallery in
the Cankaya district when an assailant opened fire on the diplomat
before shooting into the air. Police special forces neutralized the
attacker, identified as 22-year-old riot police officer Mevlut Mert
Altintas.
Following the assassination of the Russian envoy, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke via telephone and both leaders described the act as "provocation" to undermine relations Turkey and Russia carry in Syria.
The attack came just a day before Turkish, Russian and Iranian
foreign ministers were due to meet in Moscow to discuss settling
the Syrian conflict. The sides decided to press on with the meeting
despite the attack with Cavusoglu stressing that the incident would
not impact relations between Turkey and Russia.
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