Karlov’s murder took place on December 19, 2016. He was shot while delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the photo exhibition “Russia through the eyes of a traveler: from Kaliningrad to Kamchatka” at the Center for Contemporary Art in Ankara. The attacker fired three shots at the ambassador. The Turkish Interior Ministry reported that the attacker was a former Turkish policeman, Mevlut Altintash. He was shot dead at the scene.
The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under Art. 360 of the Criminal Code (an attack on a representative of a foreign state enjoying state protection) and qualified the murder of an ambassador as an act of international terrorism.
Read on RBC Pro
In March of this year, Turkey passed a verdict in the case of the murder of the ambassador. Nine people were sentenced to prison terms ranging from five to 15 years. Five more received life sentences. Five more people were acquitted. Nine people are wanted.
Among the convicts are former employees of the Office of Information Technology and Communications of Turkey Husein Ketyuce and Shahin Sogut, who, according to the investigation, was the curator of the diplomat’s killer, as well as former officers of the Turkish police Ahmet Kilicharslan and the ex-head of the department for work with Russia of the National Intelligence Organization ( MIТ) of the Republic of Vehbi Kurshad Akalyn.
Turkish Prosecutor’s Office Completed Investigation into Murder of Ambassador Andrei Karlov
According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the organizers of the murder wanted to “undermine” the normalization of relations between Moscow and Ankara in order to “prevent an effective fight against terrorism in Syria.”
According to the Turkish Interior Ministry, followers of the opposition preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accused of organizing a coup attempt in 2016, are behind the murder.
Karlov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia for the “displayed perseverance and courage in the post” of the ambassador, as well as for his “great contribution to the implementation of the foreign policy course” of Russia. In Turkey, one of the streets of the city of Demre in Antalya province was named after the ambassador.
.