This is a list of Turkish diplomats and other officials assassinated by Armenian militant organisations. The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) and Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide (JCAG) were Armenian nationalist militant groups [1] that targeted Turkish diplomats and officials in Europe, the Middle East, and North America in a series of bombings, shootings, and other attacks. [2] The group aimed to draw international attention to the Armenian genocide and to pressure Turkey to acknowledge the killings as a genocide. [3] The attacks resulted in the deaths of dozens of people, including Turkish diplomats, embassy staff, and bystanders, and injured many more. [4] The group's actions were widely condemned by the international community including the Reagan administration that labelled the assassinations as terrorism. [5] [6] [7] In the following years, the international community's response led to a wave of arrests and extraditions of ASALA members. [8] [9] The ASALA and JCAG attacks and the Armenian genocide remain highly sensitive and controversial topics in Turkey, [10] and discussions of the events are often met with strong emotions and heated political debates. [11] Despite this, the attacks serve as a reminder of the ongoing tensions and historical wounds that continue to affect Armenian-Turkish relations to this day. [12]
Ambassador | Status | Diplomatic mission | Assassination date | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
İsmail Erez | Fully accredited | Paris, France | 24 October 1975 | [13] [14] [15] |
Daniş Tunalıgil | Fully accredited | Vienna, Austria | 27 October 1975 | [16] |
Taha Carım | Fully accredited | Vatican City | 9 June 1977 | [17] |
Beşir Balcıoğlu | Not active | Madrid, Spain | 2 June 1978 | [18] |
Galip Balkar | Fully accredited | Belgrade, Serbia | 9 March 1983 | [19] |
Diplomat | Title | Diplomatic mission | Assassination date | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Mehmet Baydar | Consul general | Santa Barbara, California | 27 January 1973 | [8] |
Bahadır Demir | Consul | |||
Oktar Cirit | First secretary | Beirut, Lebanon | 16 February 1976 | [20] [21] |
Şarık Arıyak | Consul general | Sydney, Australia | 17 December 1980 | [22] [23] [24] |
Kemal Arıkan | Consul general | Los Angeles, California | 28 January 1982 | |
Orhan Gündüz | Honorary consul general | Somerville, Massachusetts | 4 May 1982 |
Individual | Military rank | Title | Diplomatic mission | Assassination date | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Talip Yener | N/A | Driver | Paris, France | 24 October 1975 | [25] |
Engin Sever | N/A | Security attaché | Sydney, Australia | 17 December 1980 | [22] [23] [24] |
Cemal Özen | N/A | Security attaché | Paris, France | 24 September 1981 | |
Atilla Altıkat | Air Force Colonel | Military attaché | Ottawa, Canada | 27 August 1982 | [26] |
Diplomat | Title | Diplomatic mission | Assassination date | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Yılmaz Çolpan | Tourism counsellor | Paris, France | 22 December 1979 | [27] |
Galip Özmen | Administrative attaché | Athens, Greece | 31 July 1980 | [28] [29] [30] |
Reşat Moralı | Labour attaché | Paris, France | 4 March 1981 | |
Tecelli Arı | Religion officer | Paris, France | ||
Mehmet Savaş Yergüç | Secretary | Geneva, Switzerland | 9 June 1981 | |
Erkut Akbay | Administrative attaché | Lisbon, Portugal | 7 June 1982 | [31] |
Bora Süelkan | Administrative attaché | Burgas, Bulgaria | 9 September 1982 | |
Dursun Aksoy | Administrative attaché | Brussels, Belgium | 14 July 1983 | [32] [33] [34] |
Erdoğan Özen | Labour attaché | Vienna, Austria | 20 June 1984 | |
Evner Ergun | United Nations officer | Vienna, Austria | 19 November 1984 |
Individual | Relation | Diplomatic mission | Assassination date | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Necla Kuneralp | Spouse of incumbent ambassador | Madrid, Spain | 2 June 1978 | [18] |
Ahmet Benler | Son of incumbent ambassador | The Hague, Netherlands | 12 October 1979 | [35] |
Neslihan Özmen | Daughter of incumbent administrative attaché | Athens, Greece | 31 July 1980 | [28] [29] [30] |
Nadide Akbay | Spouse of incumbent administrative attaché | Lisbon, Portugal | 11 January 1983 | [36] |
Cahide Mıhçıoğlu | Spouse of incumbent charge d'affaires | Lisbon, Portugal | 27 July 1983 | [37] |
Işık Yönder | Spouse of a secretary | Tehran, Iran | 28 April 1984 | [38] |
Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) was a militant organization active between 1975 and the 1990s whose stated goal was "to compel the Turkish Government to acknowledge publicly its responsibility for the Armenian genocide in 1915, pay reparations, and cede territory for an Armenian homeland." ASALA itself and other sources described it as a guerilla and armed organization. Some sources, including the United States Department of State, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan listed it as a terrorist organization.
Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide (JCAG) was an Armenian militant organization active from 1975 to 1987.
The Armenian Revolutionary Army (ARA) was an Armenian militant organization that attacked at least seven times resulting in at least six fatalities and eight injuries. The group took responsibility for the gunning down of Turkish Embassy attache Dursun Aksoy in Brussels (1983), an attack on Turkish embassy in Lisbon (1983), and the attack on the Turkish Embassy in Ottawa (1985).
Armenian genocide denial is the negationist claim that the Ottoman Empire and its ruling party, the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), did not commit genocide against its Armenian citizens during World War I—a crime documented in a large body of evidence and affirmed by the vast majority of scholars. The perpetrators denied the genocide as they carried it out, claiming that Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were resettled for military reasons, not exterminated. In its aftermath, incriminating documents were systematically destroyed. Denial has been the policy of every government of the Ottoman Empire's successor state, the Republic of Turkey, as of 2024.
Hagop Hagopian was one of the founders and the main leader of ASALA.
Hüseyin Daniş Tunalıgil was a Turkish diplomat. He was assassinated by JCAG in 1975 during his duty as the Turkish ambassador to Austria.
Ahmet Benler was the son of Özdemir Benler, the Turkish ambassador to the Netherlands. He was assassinated on October 12, 1979, in The Hague. The responsibility for his assassination was claimed separately by ASALA and JCAG.
The Orly Airport attack was the 15 July 1983 bombing of a Turkish Airlines check-in counter at Orly Airport in Paris, by the Armenian militant organization ASALA as part of its campaign for the recognition of and reparations for the Armenian genocide. The explosion killed eight people and injured 55.
Erich Feigl was an Austrian documentary film producer and author. He produced almost 60 documentaries, mostly for the Austrian ORF but some for BR (Bavarian), ZDF (German) and TRT in co-production. He authored books about the Habsburgs, whose restoration he supported, and the historical fact of the Armenian genocide, which he denied until his death.
Mourad Topalian is a prominent Armenian-American political activist, former chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), who visited the White House several times. In 1999, Topalian was charged by the United States government with conspiracy acts, possession and storage of weapons and explosives. In 2001, he was convicted of storing stolen explosives and owning two machine guns, sentenced to 37 months in prison and three years of supervised release.
The 1985 Turkish embassy attack in Ottawa was the storming and attack that took place on 12 March 1985 by agents of the Armenian Revolutionary Army against the Turkish embassy in Ottawa, Canada.
The Turkish consulate attack was an attack on the Turkish consulate in Paris, France, on 24–25 September 1981. According to a statement issued by Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia, army's militants demanded to release political prisoners in Turkey including two Armenian clergymen Father Manuel Yergatian and Pastor Hrant Guzelian and 10 non-Armenians.
Galip Balkar, Turkish ambassador to Yugoslavia, was assassinated on 9 March 1983 in downtown Belgrade, capital of Yugoslavia. He died two days later as a consequence. The responsibility for the attack was taken by the Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide (JCAG), an Armenian militant group.
İsmail Erez was a Turkish diplomat who held several high-ranking posts in the Turkish Foreign Service.
The assassination of Taha Carım, a Turkish diplomat and ambassador to the Holy See, took place on 9 June 1977 in Rome, Italy.
Galip Ozmen was the Administrative Attaché of Turkish Embassy in Greece and Turkish intelligence (MIT) agent, who was assassinated in Athens on 31 July 1980 by the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA). An Armenian gunman attacked Galip Ozmen, 45, and his family as they were waiting in their automobile in the Pangrati area of Athens. Galip Ozmen was killed and his fourteen-year-old daughter, Neslihan Ozmen, later died of her wounds. His wife, Sevil Ozmen, and his sixteen-year-old son, Kaan Ozmen, were seriously wounded, but survived.
Dursun Aksoy was the Turkish administrative attaché in Brussels, Belgium, who was assassinated in 1983.
Gourgen Mkrtich Yanikian was an Armenian genocide survivor. He is best known for the assassination of two Turkish consular officials, Consul General Mehmet Baydar and Consul Bahadır Demir. The event took place in Santa Barbara, California in 1973.
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