Russias ambassador to Turkey shot, some news reports say he has died.

[dixiegrrrrl]

Pulling this off Twitter..

Russian ambassador to Turkey shot at a photo exhibition ...The Seattle Times

RT says this is photo of apparent gunman: appears to be holding gun



Gunman shouted "We die in Aleppo, you die here," before shooting the Russian ambassador to Ankara, says BBC breaking news

Turkish police shot and killed the gunman, Turkish station NTV reported.

UPDATE:

Russian agency says ambassador in Turkey has died of his wounds after being shot:

https://t.co/Aso1oSQ2jv

[HoneyBadger]

1. response to hacking?

[hatrack]

2. Response to Syria, and indiscriminate Russian bombing

News reports quote the gunman as saying "We die in Aleppo, you die here".

Blowback sucks.

[Yavin4]

5. Don't worry. Trump is all over this.

Russia and Turkey go to war? DJT has it all under control.

[Jeroen]

6. Of course, it will be called 'radical Islamic terrorism' by Russia and Trump

I forsee Trump tweeting it within a few hours

[ghostsinthemachine]

3. My first thought as well

CIA retaliation?

[Bradical79]

15. No, of course not -nt

[Raster]

4. !

[bluedigger]

7. So they took the killer's photo before shooting him?

Doesn't look like much of a threat to me. I hope they cleaned up all the loose ends as well, because I wouldn't plan on Trump's NATO to pull Turkey's nuts out of the fire when Putin accuses them of being behind it.

[former9thward]

8. The "they taking the photo"

and the "they shooting him" were two different "theys".

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. Ambassador was giving televised speech

so yeah, everything was caught on tape.
Gunman was Turkish policeman, is now dead.
Still conflicting reports on ambassador's death.

[ret5hd]

9. I hope he isn't 2016's Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

[marybourg]

11. Yes. My first thought also.

My second one was to be grateful there's still an adult in the WH. at least for a few more weeks.

[dagnuguy]

12. This is just ISIS doing ISIS things

This does not involve Turkey. Plus, Turkey would destroy Russia's military. No worries of this turning into a world war. Putin will drop more bombs though.

[hatrack]

14. Hmmm . . . happened in Turkey, gunman was a Turkish cop, but no, it does not involve Turkey . . .

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

[Igel]

13. Not to worry.

Erdogan will use this for several things.

1. Finish purge. Increase control and restrictions. Somehow Gulen or the Kurds or Islamists that oppose him will come into play--perhaps all 3, depending on the context he needs support for.

2. Close ranks with Russia against "terrorists," both domestic and in Syria/Iraq.

That doesn't mean approving of Assad. But stability is more important than freedom, and with Eurasianist thought Turkey's more like Russia than Greece or Germany is, and that will prove common ground for Turkey's ability to ignore Assad. It's not a stable arrangement, but it'll do for now.

Erdogan's in a tough position if he uses it to oppose Russia. It's unlikely he's behind the shooting; and if he doesn't side with Russia it'll be bad. He'll bill it as showing strength and independence, but he's well open to Russian bullying and being too proud to admit it. Such is the price of public honor.