President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Monday that the assassination of Russian ambassador to Ankara was a provocation aimed at damaging the normalization of ties between Russia and Turkey.He said that Russia and Turkey will form a joint investigation committee to investigate the murder of ambassador Andrey Karlov.Erdoğan also offered condolences to President Putin and the people of Russia.

Russian Ambassador to Ankara Andrey Karlov was killed on Monday following an attack by an unidentified gunman during the opening reception of an art exhibition in the Turkish capital.

The assailant, who was said to be an off-duty policeman, was shot dead during an operation by special forces at the scene.

The attack comes a day before FM Çavuşoğlu, his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran were to hold unprecedented tripartite talks in Moscow on the Syria conflict.