Lavrov: Organizers of Ankara terrorist act failed to thwart Moscow meeting

Lavrov: Organizers of Ankara terrorist act failed to thwart Moscow meeting
# 20 December 2016 12:11 (UTC +04:00)

The organizers of the murder of the Russian ambassador in Ankara have failed to thwart the trilateral meeting of the Russian, Iranian and Turkish foreign ministers in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on Tuesday, APA’s Moscow correspondent reported.

“This crime showed us the war on terrorism must be uncompromising and merciless,” Lavrov said, thanking his Iranian counterpart for his solidarity over the terrorist act that killed the Russian ambassador yesterday in Ankara.

The FM noted that the attempts to make the world believe that the support of the legitimate Syrian regime only increases the terrorist threat, are absolutely unacceptable.

The masterminds of the murder of the Russian ambassador in Turkey will fail to thwart the struggle against terrorism, according to Lavrov.

"If the organizers of this terrorist attack intended to thwart the fight against terrorism and our meeting, in particular, they have failed to do this and will fail," Lavrov added.

Iranian FM Mohammad Javad Zarif in his turn offered condolences to his Russian counterpart over the terrorist act.

“Terror today has exceeded the boundary of place. This shows that we must join forces in the fight against terrorism,” Zarif added. “We think that there can be reason for a terrorist act, which proves useless even in achieving short-term goals. We, alongside Russia, are on the front line against terrorism. The trilateral meeting taking place today I think is also going to contribute to the efforts to resolve the Syria conflict. There are excellent conditions today for a political solution to the Syria conflict.”

Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, was gunned down on December 19 as he was speaking at the opening of a photo exhibition Russia from Kaliningrad to Kamchatka through a Traveler’s Eyes.

The Turkish authorities identified the attacker as former police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas. He was promptly eliminated by the local security forces. The attacker had injured three other persons. The Russian Foreign Ministry has qualified the attack as an act of terrorism.

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