Gunman kills Russian ambassador to Turkey at photo exhibit
Reports say the assasin was an Ankara police officer. Killed the Ambassador just a day before a high level tri-country meeting between Iran, Russia, and Turkey about Syria.
Having no official knowledge whatsoever, I read this and suspected Iranian involvement immediately. Smart guy economics of terrorism and UW would play the rift between Turkey and Russia through a proxy attack. Tehran may not be in favor of the move but there are factions within Iran that strongly oppose anyone in favor of the anti-Assad movement - which by the way - is Turkey's position. (GOOGLE: Iran & Turkey relations // Iran & Syria relations)
Let us note however, that the attack was extremely cliché.
I doubt Russia is totally oblivious to this either and it will be interesting to see if the discussion between the three countries takes place. My suspicion is that this attack was aimed at disrupting the dialogue. Iran and Russia may be spades partners, but the end result if the above statements are true will be that Iran is going to have to demonstrate more accountability for their involvement in the international arena.
A second possibility would be that Turkey could have been part of the assassination instead, there is of course, a lot to risk with that maneuver so they'd have to cover their tracks. They, logically, would be able to point the finger at Iran with the same goal in mind: disrupt the scheduled dialogue that may have spawned decisions or ultimatums.
Both Iran and Turkey have perceived motivations to sponsor the attacks, ease of access and execution weighs in favor of Turkey but Iran remains as a very capable power regardless.
Really interesting stuff but reading this reminds me how fucked up the middle east is.
H/A
