[1] On the evening of 19 December 2016, while speaking at an art gallery exhibition in Ankara, Turkey, he was shot to death by Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, an off-duty Turkish policeman.

[8][9][10] On 19 December 2016, at 20:15, Karlov was shot and fatally wounded by Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, a 22-year-old off-duty Turkish police officer, at an art exhibition in Ankara, Turkey.

[3] The assassination took place after a long period of highly polarized and incited political atmosphere in Turkey,[14][15] and after several days of protests by Islamist elements of the Turkish public against Russian involvement in the Syrian Civil War and the battle over Aleppo,[16] as well as recent negotiations between Russian and Turkish governments for a ceasefire.

[18] Meanwhile the Army of Conquest, which includes the Al-Nusra Front, claimed responsibility for the assassination, according to Russian News Agency TASS.

Gennady graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and served in the consulate department in the Russian embassy in North Korea.

[7] Karlov was awarded the Order of Seraphim of Sarov, 3rd degree, for his role in establishing a Russian Orthodox Church in Pyongyang while ambassador to North Korea.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Karyağdı Street in Ankara – where the Russian embassy is located – will also be similarly renamed after Karlov.

[25][26][27] Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he has requested that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs "make a proposal for the perpetuation of [Karlov's] memory".