WORLD
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
East Oregonian
Invoking Syria, policeman kills
Russian ambassador to Turkey
By BURHAN OZBILICI
and SUZAN FRASER
Associated Press
ANKARA, Turkey — A
Turkish policeman fatally
shot Russia’s ambassador to
Turkey on Monday in front
of a shocked gathering at
a photo exhibit and then,
pacing near the body of his
victim, appeared to condemn
Russia’s military role in
Syria, shouting: “Don’t forget
Aleppo! Don’t forget Syria!”
The leaders of Turkey
and Russia said the attack in
Ankara, the Turkish capital,
was an attempt to disrupt
efforts to repair ties between
their countries, which have
backed opposing sides in the
Syrian civil war.
An Associated Press
photographer and others at
the art gallery watched in
horror as the gunman, who
was wearing a dark suit and
tie, fired at least eight shots,
at one point walking around
Ambassador Andrei Karlov
as he lay motionless and
shooting him again at close
range.
The assailant, who was
identified as Mevlut Mert
Altintas,
a
22-year-old
member of Ankara’s riot
police squad, was later
killed in a shootout with
police. Three other people
were wounded in the attack,
authorities said.
The assassination came
after days of protests by
Turks angry over Russia’s
support for President Bashar
Assad in the Syrian conflict
and Russia’s role in the
bombardment and destruc-
tion of Aleppo, Syria’s largest
city.
The gunman shouted
about Aleppo in Turkish, and
also yelled “Allahu akbar,”
the Arabic phrase for “God is
great,” continuing in Arabic:
“We are the descendants
of those who supported the
Prophet Muhammad, for
jihad.”
The attack, condemned
by the White House and the
United Nations, was another
sign of how Turkey, a NATO
member and a partner in the
U.S.-led campaign against
the Islamic State group, is
struggling to contain multiple
security threats. The war
in Syria has been a major
problem for years, sending
several million refugees into
Turkey and, more recently,
drawing in Turkish troops.
Turkey has become
accustomed to deadly attacks
— Kurdish militants claimed
responsibility for Dec. 10
bombings in Istanbul that
killed 44 people, many of
them police.
The
spectacle
of
62-year-old Karlov’s assas-
sination by a member of the
Turkish security forces at a
photography exhibit meant
to highlight Russian culture
reinforced the sense of unease
over the region’s conflict and
complex web of alliances and
relationships.
It came a day before a
key meeting about Syria to
be held in Moscow. Those
attending include the foreign
and defense ministers from
Turkey, an opponent of
Assad, and Russia and Iran,
backers of the Syrian regime.
Russian
President
Vladimir Putin described
the killing of Karlov as an
attempt to damage Russia-
Turkey ties “and to thwart a
peace process in Syria which
Russia, Turkey and Iran
have been actively trying to
promote.”
Putin said he and Turkish
President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan agreed in a phone
call that Russian investiga-
tors would fly to Ankara to
conduct a joint probe with
their Turkish counterparts.
“We must know who was
directing the killer,” Putin
said in televised remarks.
He ordered top officials to
strengthen protection of the
Turkish Embassy in Moscow
and asked Turkey to increase
security at the Russian
mission in Ankara.
In a video message shown
on several Turkish TV chan-
nels, Erdogan said: “This
is a provocation to damage
the normalization process of
Turkish-Russian relations.
But both the Russian and
Turkish administrations have
the determination not to fall
for this provocation.”
AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici
Mevlut Mert Altintas gestures after shooting the Russian Ambassador to
Turkey, Andrei Karlov, at a photo gallery in Ankara, Turkey, Monday.
Photographer captures attack
EDITOR’S NOTE: Associated
Press photographer Burhan
Ozbilici was attending a photo
exhibition Monday when a Turkish
policeman opened fire, killing
Russia’s ambassador to Turkey.
A
NKARA, Turkey (AP) —
The event seemed routine,
the opening of an exhibit of
photographs of Russia. So when a
man in a dark suit and tie pulled out
a gun, I was stunned and thought it
was a theatrical flourish.
Instead, it was a coolly
calculated assassination, unfolding
in front of me and others who
scrambled, terrified, for cover as
the trim man with short hair gunned
down the Russian ambassador.
The gunshots, at least eight of
them, were loud in the pristine art
gallery. Pandemonium erupted.
People screamed, hid behind
columns and under tables and
lay on the floor. I was afraid and
confused, but found partial cover
behind a wall and did my job:
taking photographs.
The exhibition, titled “From
Kaliningrad to Kamchatka, from
the eyes of travelers” featured
photos from Russia’s westernmost
Baltic region to the Kamchatka
Peninsula, in the east. I decided to
attend simply because it was on my
way home from the Ankara office.
When I arrived, the speeches
had already begun. After Russian
Ambassador Andrei Karlov began
to make his address, I moved closer
to photograph him, thinking the
pictures would come in useful for
stories on Turkish-Russian relations.
He was speaking softly and —
from what I could tell — lovingly
about his homeland, stopping
occasionally to allow the translator
to relay his words in Turkish. I
remember thinking how calm and
humble he seemed.
Then came the gunshots in
quick succession, and panic in the
audience. The ambassador’s body
lay on the floor, just yards away
from me. I couldn’t see any blood
around him; I think he may have
been shot in the back.
It took me a few seconds to
realize what had happened: A man
had died in front of me; a life had
disappeared before my eyes.
I moved back and to the
left, while the gunman — later
identified as police officer Mevlut
Mert Altintas — gestured with his
gun at people cowering on the right
side of the room.
At first, I couldn’t figure out
what had motivated the shooter.
I thought he might be a Chechen
militant. But people later said he
was shouting about the Syrian city
of Aleppo.
So he was probably angry
about Russian bombardments of
Aleppo that were aimed at driving
out anti-government rebels. Many
civilians have been killed in the
fighting.
He also shouted “Allahu akbar,”
but I couldn’t understand the rest of
what he said in Arabic.
The gunman was agitated. He
walked around the ambassador’s
body, smashing some of the photos
hanging on the wall.
I was, of course, fearful and
knew of the danger if the gunman
turned toward me. But I advanced a
little and photographed the man as
he hectored his desperate, captive
audience.
This is what I was thinking:
“I’m here. Even if I get hit and
injured, or killed, I’m a journalist.
I have to do my work. I could run
away without making any photos.
... But I wouldn’t have a proper
answer if people later ask me:
‘Why didn’t you take pictures?”’
I even thought about friends and
colleagues who have died while
taking photographs in conflict
zones over the years.
As my mind raced, I saw that
the man was agitated — and yet,
he was, strangely, in control of
himself. He shouted at everyone to
stand back. Security guards ordered
us to vacate the hall and we left.
When I returned to the office to
edit my photos, I was shocked to
see that the shooter was actually
standing behind the ambassador
as he spoke. Like a friend, or a
bodyguard.
Page 7A
U.N. approves
Aleppo monitors
as evacuations
from city proceed
BEIRUT (AP) — The leaders
of Russia and Iran, military allies of
Syria’s president, talked Monday
about joining forces to reach a quick
political settlement in Syria, as the
country’s largest city, Aleppo, was
poised to return to full government
control.
Syrian state TV said it expected the
evacuation of thousands of civilians
and fighters from the last opposition
footholds in Aleppo to be completed
by early Tuesday.
As more people left the city, the
U.N. Security council approved a
compromise French-Russian reso-
lution urging the immediate deploy-
ment of U.N. monitors to watch over
the evacuation and “the well-being
of civilians” remaining in the city.
U.N. officials said more than 100
U.N. humanitarian staff already on
the ground in Aleppo, most of them
Syrian nationals, could be used in that
role.
France’s
U.N.
Ambassador
Francois Delattre said the goal of
the resolution is “to avoid new mass
atrocities by the forces on the ground
and the militias in particular.” But
thousands of people have already
been evacuated from the city and the
operation could be completed before
the observers arrive.
The departure of the last rebels
from Aleppo would close another
chapter in Syria’s civil war and would
give President Bashar Assad a signif-
icant symbolic and strategic victory.
Almost six years after the outbreak
of an armed rebellion against Assad,
the Syrian leader will be in charge
again of the country’s five largest
cities and the Mediterranean coast.
The presidents of Russia and Iran
spoke by phone Monday to discuss
the next moves. The Kremlin said
Vladimir Putin and Hassan Rouhani
“underlined the need for joint efforts
to launch a real political process
aimed at a quick settlement in Syria.”
The leaders noted that a quick
launch of talks between the Syrian
government and the opposition in
Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, would
be an important step toward that goal,
a Kremlin statement said.
The conversation came a day
before a scheduled meeting of foreign
and defense ministers of Russia,
Turkey and Iran in Moscow. Russia
and Iran have backed Assad, while
Turkey has supported the opposition.
The U.N. special envoy for Syria,
Staffan De Mistura, welcomed the
Moscow meeting and any effort that
results in a cessation of hostilities.
He announced that the United
Nations hopes to arrange negotiations
between the government and opposi-
tion in Geneva on Feb. 8.
The Special Envoy will follow
with interest the meeting tomorrow
between the governments of the
Russian Federation, the Republic of
Turkey, and the Islamic Republic of
Iran. He welcomes any effort that can
bring about a cessation of hostilities,
which remains a cornerstone of the
framework laid down in Security
Council resolution 2254 (2015) in
parallel with the political process.
He has also taken note of the possi-
bility that this initiative, and other
initiatives, can promote intra-Syrian
dialogue. He welcomes all such
efforts as potential contributions to
the UN process.
Truck rams German Christmas market, killing at least nine
By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER
Associated Press
BERLIN — A truck
rammed into a crowded
Christmas market in central
Berlin on Monday evening,
killing at least nine people
and injuring around 50 as
it tore through tables and
wooden stands. Police said
a suspect believed to be the
driver was arrested nearby
and a passenger died as para-
medics were treating him.
The popular Christmas
market outside the Kaiser
Wilhelm Memorial Church
was filled with a mix of tour-
ists and locals when the large
Scania truck hurtled into
it. Germany’s top security
official said initial evidence
pointed to an intentional
act, and the White House
condemned “what appears to
have been a terrorist attack.”
Mike Fox, visiting from
Birmingham, England, told
The Associated Press that the
truck missed him by about
three meters (yards). Fox
said he helped people who
appeared to have broken
limbs, and that others were
trapped under Christmas
stands.
“You do what you can to
help who you can, really. It
happened so fast that there
was nothing we could do
AP Photo/Michael Sohn
Firefighters look at a toppled Christmas tree after a truck ran into a crowded Christ-
mas market and killed several people in Berlin, Germany, Monday.
to stop it — if we’d tried to
stop it we would have been
crushed,” Fox said.
The truck, which was
loaded with steel beams,
came to a halt on a sidewalk
on one side of the market.
It had just rammed a large
stand called “Fascination
Christmas,” tearing off one
side and knocking down a
large Christmas tree. The
three-meter tree lay in the
street, red and gold orna-
mental balls still attached to
its limbs and a golden star at
the top.
The crash came less
than a month after the U.S.
State Department called for
caution in markets and other
public places across Europe,
saying extremist groups
including Islamic State and
al-Qaida were focusing “on
the upcoming holiday season
and associated events.”
The Islamic State group
and al-Qaida have both called
on followers to use trucks in
particular to attack crowds.
On July 14, a truck plowed
into Bastille Day revelers
in the southern French city
of Nice, killing 86 people.
Islamic State claimed respon-
sibility for that attack, which
was carried out by a Tunisian
living in France.
Following that attack
there were calls to block off
and better protect high-pro-
file public gatherings. There
were no barriers around
the Christmas market on
Monday.
After the attack, dozens of
ambulances lined the streets
waiting to evacuate people,
and heavily armed police
patrolled. Authorities on
Twitter urged people to stay
away from the area, saying
they need to keep the streets
clear for rescue vehicles.
Among the dead was a
passenger in the truck, who
succumbed as paramedics
treated him, Berlin police
spokesman Winfried Wenzel
said. He offered no further
details.
A suspect believed to be
the driver was picked up
about 1½ miles away, near
Berlin’s Victory Column
monument. He was being
interrogated, Wenzel said.
The truck was registered in
Poland, and police said it was
believed to be stolen from a
building site there.
The Polish owner of
the truck said he feared the
vehicle, driven by his cousin,
may have been hijacked.
Ariel Zurawski said he last
spoke with the driver around
noon, and the driver told
him he was in Berlin and
scheduled to unload Tuesday
morning. “They must have
done something to my
driver,” he told TVN24.
Federal
prosecutors,
who handle terrorism cases,
took over the investigation,
according to German Justice
Minister Heiko Maas. In
Washington, White House
National Security Council
spokesman Ned Price said
the United States was in
contact with German offi-
cials and ready to help in the
investigation and response.
Merry Christmas!
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