The death of the ambassador, Andrey Karlov, immediately prompted comparisons to the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914 that led Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia, which ultimately sparked World War I.
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The assassination of Russia's ambassador to Turkey will likely bring the countries 'closer together'
The assassination on Monday of Russia's ambassador to Turkey at an art gallery in Ankara is unlikely to fracture relations between the two countries as they work to improve their tumultuous relationship, analysts said.
Andrey Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, at the art gallery in Ankara, Turkey, on Monday before he was killed by an assassin.
"I call out to those who are trying to break this relationship," Erdogan continued, "Your expectations are wasted."
The Turkish government, meanwhile, was apparently preparing to blame a domestic opposition movement, known as the Gulenists, for the attack. The movement is led by Turkish preacher Fetullah Gulen, who has lived in exile in the US since 1999.
Turkish-Russian relations had been precarious but improving since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane along the Turkish-Syrian border in November 2015.
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Though they are on opposite sides of the war in Syria, with Turkey supporting the opposition and Russia supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Turkish and Russian officials managed to broker a deal last week that resulted in a cease-fire and the evacuation of civilians and fighters from rebel-held eastern Aleppo.
Michael Koplow, a Middle East analyst at the Israel Policy Forum, said that he thinks Karlov's assassination "is likely to bring Russia and Turkey closer together."
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