Andrey G. Karlov, Russian Ambassador to Turkey Is Assassinated in Ankara (VIDEO)

Russian Ambassador to Turkey Is Assassinated by man shouting, “Don’t forget Aleppo and “Allahu akbar”.

A gunman, wearing a dark suit and tie, shot and killed the Russian Ambassador to Turkey at an art gallery yesterday in Ankara, Turkey. In the video below, the assassin can be seen waving a pistol and shouting in Arabic: “God is great! Those who pledged allegiance to Muhammad for jihad. God is great!” He then switched to Turkish and shouted: “Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria! Step back! Step back! Only death can take me from here.” The terrorist was identified as 22-year-old Mevlut Mert Altintas, an off duty Turkish policeman. He was later shot dead by Turkish authorities.

Russia’s ambassador to Turkey was assassinated at an Ankara art exhibit on Monday evening by a lone Turkish gunman shouting “God is great!” and “don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria!” in what the leaders of Turkey and Russia called a provocative terrorist attack.

The gunman, described by Turkish officials as a 22-year-old off-duty police officer, also wounded at least three others in the assault on the envoy, Andrey G. Karlov, which was captured on video. Turkish officials said the assailant was killed by other officers in a shootout.

The assassination, an embarrassing security failure in the Turkish capital, forced Turkey and Russia to confront a new crisis tied directly to the Syrian conflict, now in its sixth year.

The longer-term implications for the Russia-Turkey relationship, which had been warming recently after plunging a year ago, were not immediately clear. But some analysts played down the notion that the assassination would lead to a new rupture, saying it could conversely bring the countries closer together in a shared fight against terrorism.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said on Russian television that Mr. Karlov had been “despicably killed” to sabotage ties with Turkey. Mr. Putin spoke with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, by phone, and the two leaders agreed to cooperate in investigating the killing, and in combating terrorism broadly.

In typical Barack Obama fashion, Obama headed off to the golf course after receiving reports on Berlin attack and Russian Ambassador’s death. UNREAL. I would say this is bad optics; however, Obama has never cared about putting tragic events ahead of his golf game. It will be a pleasant change to no longer have to put up with this nonsense.