The murder of the Russian Ambassador to Ankara Andrei Karlov was aimed at undermining Russian-Turkish relations and the settlement in Syria, these attempts have failed, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Wednesday on the fifth anniversary of the tragedy.
"We pay tribute to the fact that Turkey's judicial authorities strongly condemned this barbaric act of aggression, the innocent victim of which was a prominent Russian diplomat. Together with our Turkish colleagues, a thorough investigation was conducted into all the circumstances of this crime. The progressive development of bilateral dialogue with Ankara, including in a number of key areas, allows us to believe that the main intention of the organizers of this atrocity - to undermine the normalization of bilateral relations at the time and the collective efforts to stabilize the situation and launch a political settlement in Syria - all this has failed completely," stated the diplomat.
Zakharova pointed out that this tragedy obliges us to be as attentive as possible to measures to ensure the safety of Russian citizens and foreign establishments and once again to fight terrorism more decisively. "We honor the bright memory of Andrei Karlov, who gave his life in combat and tirelessly defended the interests of our homeland," she stressed.
Karlov was killed on December 19, 2016, while speaking at the opening of a photo exhibition in Ankara; his attacker, police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas, was eliminated. The Russian Foreign Ministry qualified the incident as an act of terrorism, and the Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under the article "Act of International Terrorism". The diplomat was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia.
On March 9, the second Serious Crimes Court in Ankara sentenced five of the defendants in the Karlov case to life imprisonment, eight to prison terms of five to 15 years, and acquitted six more. In addition, the court separately transferred the cases of nine fugitive defendants, including Fethullah Gulen, head of the "terrorist group" (FETO), to separate proceedings as part of the ambassador's murder trial.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS