Killing of Russia’s ambassador in Turkey may bring the two nations closer

One day after Russia's ambassador to Turkey was gunned down by an off-duty Turkish cop, you might expect a strain in diplomatic relations. But, instead, Russia and Turkey seemed to be amping up their friendship.

"The Russians might be asking how it is that a Turkish police officer ended up at an art exhibition, killing Ambassador Andrei Karlov," observed Moscow-based journalist Charles Maynes. "But, essentially, the focus has been on how can we work together to strengthen our efforts against terrorism."

The foreign ministers of Turkey and Russia, along with their Iranian counterpart, sketched out their plans for a new partnership at a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday. Their plans to join forces to confront security threats begins, they said, in Syria, Turkey's troubled neighbor. 

At the press conference the two foreign ministers seemed to be on the same page with regard to at least some opponents of the Assad regime.

"Al Nusra Front is definitely a terrorist group blacklisted in many countries. Russia makes … great efforts in Syria and it's absolutely unacceptable to support this group and its branches," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters.

"Our countries commit to fight together against these organizations," echoed Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. "This is the first step that we have with Russia, which we believe is a very important step, and this will create the conditions to create a lasting ceasefire in Syria."

The two countries have had their share of differences lately. There was much concern in Turkey when Russia entered the Syrian conflict in the fall of 2015.

"The Turks, particularly Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have come out against Bashar Al-Assad, the Syrian leader, while the Syrian leader is an ally of Moscow," says Maynes. 

"It even got to the point where you had a Turkish jet shoot down a Russian plane, killing the pilot," Maynes recalls. "At the time Mr. Putin said it was 'a stab in the back,' and they imposed sanctions on the Turks."

"But it's amazing how things turn around," says Maynes. "Mr. Erdogan finally made amends with Moscow when he apologized for the downing of the pilot [in June]. We had a coup in Turkey in July, and the Russians, then seeing a chance to create some space between Turkey and its Western allies in NATO, came to Mr. Erdogan's support. And now they seem to have this loose agreement on Syria, where essentially they don't interfere with each other's war aims on the ground."

And so the brutal assassination does not seem to be driving a wedge between Turkey and Russia.

Just 24 hours after the violent death of the Russian ambassador in Ankara, the Turkish and Russian Foreign Ministers appeared together in a public ceremony in Moscow to lay flowers at a makeshift memorial to the slain diplomat. 

"And," says Maynes, "the signals seem to be playing out that the Turks and the Russians want to keep working together."