Russia, Turkey say they plan to halt Syrian war

MOSCOW – Turkish and Russian diplomats on Tuesday declared their intention to halt the civil war in Syria, showing no signs of a rift in their warming relationship the day after the Russian ambassador to Turkey was assassinated in Ankara in a brazen shooting.

A tripartite conference here, held together with Iran, was hailed by Russian’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, as a way to “overcome the stagnation in efforts on the Syrian settlement.” The comment was a dig at the United States, which was absent from the Moscow meetings despite its own involvement in the Syrian conflict.

But the show of solidarity could not mask underlying frictions between Russia and Turkey over the war in Syria, which the assassination of the ambassador, Andrei Karlov, had brought to the fore.

The shouted words of the 22-year-old assassin, who invoked the carnage in Aleppo, echoed the anger expressed by many Turks over the course of the five-year-old civil war. Russia, a stalwart ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has thrown its military weight behind Syria’s government, and launched its own punishing air raids on rebel-held areas.

As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart, Vladmir Putin, work to effect a cease-fire there, the two leaders face very different stakes.

For Putin, Syria holds mostly geopolitical meaning and helps Russia project power while keeping a foothold in the Middle East. He has cast Russia as a protector of legitimate leaders against the turmoil of rebellions and criticized the United States for supporting Assad’s opponents.

But Russia has faced Islamist-led rebellion in the North Caucasus and is aware that its military actions in the Middle East could bring reprisals. Putin on Tuesday called on his security and intelligence services “to take extra measures to ensure security inside Russia and outside it and tighten security of Russian missions abroad and their employees.”

Erdogan, on the other hand, presides over a country tangibly shaken by the war across its border, which has brought millions of refugees into Turkey, as well as the rising threat of militant attacks. For most of the conflict, which began in 2011, Erdogan was the Syrian rebels’ most vociferous advocate. But the rapprochement with Russia has signaled a shift toward a settlement that might keep Assad in power.

While much about the assassin and his motives remained a mystery on Tuesday, authorities hunted for clues in the life of the young man, Turkish police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas.

The gunman died in a shootout with police after gunning down Karlov as the diplomat spoke at a photo exhibit in Ankara. He was captured on video, denouncing Russia’s role in the Syrian war.

“Don’t forget Aleppo! Don’t forget Syria!” he screamed.

Altintas was allowed to carry a weapon into the event using his police identification, officials said.

There was not yet any evidence to suggest that Altintas belonged to any radical Islamic group, investigators said.

But senior Turkish officials, including the foreign minister, raised the possibility that the gunman was linked to a movement led by Fethullah Gulen, an exiled Turkish preacher who lives in Pennsylvania.

Erdogan has accused the movement of mounting a coup attempt in July. Gulen has denied involvement in the coup attempt, and he released a statement Monday condemning the killing of Karlov.

A senior Turkish official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said Altintas took two days off work during the attempted coup and then traveled to Ankara.

But while both Russian and Turkish leaders moved to assuage fears of a regional conflagration, Turkey has emerged as the weaker of the two, analysts say.

In Moscow on Tuesday, Russia, Turkey and Iran issued a statement – which Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu called the “Moscow Declaration” – that called for an expanded cease-fire.

“Iran, Russia and Turkey are ready to facilitate the drafting of an agreement, which is already being negotiated, between the Syrian government and the opposition, and to become its guarantors,” the declaration said. The three countries “have invited all other countries with influence over the situation on the ground to do the same.”

“All previous attempts by the United States and its partners to agree on coordinated actions were doomed to failure,” he said. “None of them wielded real influence over the situation on the ground.”

In a further effort to cement his influence on the Syrian peace process, Putin said he and Erdogan are trying to organize a new series of negotiations – without the involvement of the U.S. or the United Nations – in Astana, Kazakhstan.