Skip to main content

The great Russian ambassador to Turkey shot dead today

(AFP) A Turkish policeman crying “Aleppo” and “revenge” shot dead Russia’s ambassador to Turkey at an art exhibition in Ankara on Monday, in what Moscow said was a “terrorist act”.
Andrei Karlov died of his wounds after the shooting, which occurred on the eve of a key meeting between the Russian, Turkish and Iranian foreign ministers on the Syria conflict.

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.


The state-run Anadolu news agency said the gunman had been “neutralised” in a police operation, without giving further details.

“Today in Ankara as a result of an attack the Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov received wounds that he died from,” ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in televised comments.

“We qualify what happened as a terrorist act.”

The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had been informed of the attack.

The incident came after days of protests in Turkey over Russia’s role in Syria, although Moscow and Ankara are now working closely together to evacuate citizens from the battered city of Aleppo.

Pictures published by the Hurriyet daily showed at least two men in suits lying flat on the ground as another man brandished a gun.

The mayor of Ankara identified the attacker as a Turkish policeman.

– ‘People fleeing’ –

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.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu was at the scene to supervise a police operation, Turkish television said.

Turkey and Russia saw relations plunge to their worst levels since the Cold War last year when a Turkish jet shot down a Russian war plane 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 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.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Benin Traditional Fast Food

In retrospect and till date, we had varieties of fast foods. These fast foods are called “Ekusun” which is seasonal and made from fresh maize “moin-moin” made from beans. “Akasan” made from strong-corn. “Emieki” made from plantain flour and beans etc all wrapped up in fresh leaves. The leaves are capable of protecting these foods without loosing taste. It is a common scenario to find young boys, girls and mature ladies hawking these food products in the streets and market places across the metropolice. These are health foods in their natural state devoid of excessive sugar which is the primary cause of diabetes, excessive salt which act as a booster to hypertension and animal fats which also accelerate collesterol consumption in human diet. But what we see these days are youths patronizing refined fast foods that contain a lot of sugar, excessive salt and animal fats which is detrimental to human health in our modern fast foods centers....

BENIN CUSTOMARY LAW OF SUCCESSION 

Written by Efe Sophia Osamuede (Mrs)      A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ADVENT OF IGIOGBE SUCCESSION The Binis, an ethnic tribe in Nigeria are a people with uniquely rich culture and traditional heritage they occupy the south Midwestern part of the country, now known as Edo state. They were nicked- name “Ubini” by the Yorubas who played a domineering role in the kingdom during their crisis period which occurred after the exit of the Ogiso’s dynasty; especially as it relates to Eweka I, the first Oba of Benin kingdom. “ubin” was later corrupted to Bini, by which the people are still called today . Otherwise, the people recognize themselves as the Edo People. The Bini’s were renamed Edo people from the time of Oba Ewuare the Great. History has it that, the people and their language was re- named Edo as a result of a boy called Edo who was killed in the process of sparing prince Ogun’s life in his struggle of taking his rightful po...

Ekpo Culture In Benin Kingdom

Ekpo culture is a festival of false appearance of spirits in persons as representative of alternative values within culture and traditional source of opposition to combating diseases and epidemics and emphasises the ritual importance of the people in a society where age and seniority determine status because Ekpo celebrates the young and the healthy. The founder of Ekpo culture was Agboghidi of Ugo a famous warrior from his Dukeshire in Ugo in the present Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State. The culture was introduced by Emokpaogbe, the Agboghidi, the Enogie, who lived in the time of Oba Akengbuda, in the middle of the eighteenth century. Emokpaogbe as a warrior left his shire for many years to go on war expeditions. On his return, he found infectious disease troubled in his dukedom. He became grieved over the situation and fell asleep. In a dream he saw the Ekpo spirit in the shape of his late grandmother. The Ekpo told the Agboghidi what to do to prevent the epidemics. ...