The following is an incomplete, chronological list of people from Turkey murdered by assassins mainly on political and religious grounds. Many were critical public servants and intellectuals assassinated by far-right proponents of an army-controlled Turkish Republic. [1] Many of the victims have historically been intellectual proponents of laicism and the strict separation of religion and state in Turkey, as defined in the constitution, and diplomats who were victims of militant attacks outside of Turkey. [2]
The event is considered to be the first in a decade-long chain of organized attacks against Turkish diplomats by Armenian militant groups. [4]
28 September 1979: prosecutor.
12 October 1979: son of the Turkish ambassador to the Netherlands, Özdemir Benler, murderered by ASALA. [11]
On 5 September 2006 he was shot dead from behind while kneeling in prayer in the church. A witness heard the perpetrator shouting "Allahu Akbar". A 16-year-old high school student was arrested two days after the shooting carrying a 9mm pistol. An investigation by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations on stolen weaponry in Iraq revealed that the gun was of the same type used in the supposedly Islamist attack on the Turkish Council of State in 2006.
19 December 2009: founder and editor of the daily Güney Marmara’da Yaşam, was shot in a street in Bandırma, Balıkesir Province and died later that day at a hospital in Bursa. He had reported on corruption charges involving the owners of İlkhaber, another daily in the town. [29] [30]
19 December 2016: Andrei Karlov, the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, was assassinated by Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, an off-duty Turkish police officer, at an art exhibition in Ankara,Turkey [31] [32] [33]
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 Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front is a Marxist–Leninist communist party in Turkey. It was founded in 1978 as Revolutionary Left, and has been involved in a militant campaign against the Republic of Turkey since the 1980s. It was renamed in 1994 after factional infighting. It is classified as a terrorist group by Japan, Turkey, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union.
Cumhuriyet is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the Freedom of Press Prize by Reporters Without Borders in 2015 and the Alternative Nobel Prize in 2016. It is considered Turkey's newspaper of record. It has been known for its stance of publishing anti-Islamist titles and news at least since the 1960s.
Zeki Kuneralp was a Turkish diplomat, who was brought up in exile in Switzerland after the murder of his father, Ali Kemal Bey, during the Turkish War of Independence. After his education he returned to Turkey and, with the express approval of President İsmet İnönü, entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At first taking up diplomatic posts throughout Europe, Kuneralp was later appointed Turkish Ambassador to Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Spain, as well as twice serving as Secretary-General of the Foreign Ministry. He survived an assassination attempt which claimed the lives of his wife and her brother in Madrid in 1978. He retired, in part due to ill-health, in 1979, renouncing the world and current affairs, and turning his attention instead to writing and publishing. His autobiography was translated into English in 1992, while others of his books are considered important sources of twentieth century Turkish history. He died in Istanbul in 1998.
Uğur Mumcu was a Turkish investigative journalist for the daily Cumhuriyet. He was assassinated by a bomb placed in his car outside his home.
Bahriye Üçok was a Turkish academic of theology, left-wing politician, writer, columnist, and women's rights activist whose assassination in 1990 remains unresolved.
Muammer Aksoy was a Turkish lawyer, politician, columnist and intellectual who was assassinated.
Hüseyin Daniş Tunalıgil was a Turkish diplomat. He was assassinated by JCAG in 1975 during his duty as the Turkish ambassador to Austria.
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.
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.
Galip Balkar was a Turkish diplomat. He was assassinated by two Armenian gunmen in 1983 during his duty as the Turkish ambassador to Yugoslavia.
The prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was assassinated in Istanbul on 19 January 2007. Dink was a newspaper editor who had written and spoken about the Armenian genocide and was well known for his efforts for reconciliation between Turks and Armenians and his advocacy of human and minority rights in Turkey. At the time of his death, he was on trial for violating Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code and "denigrating Turkishness". His murder sparked both massive national protests in Turkey itself as well as widespread international outrage.
The assassination of Taha Carım, a Turkish diplomat and ambassador to the Holy See, took place on 9 June 1977 in Rome, Italy.
Taha Carım (1914-1977) was a Turkish diplomat who held several high-ranking posts in Turkish foreign service and was assassinated by Armenian gunmen from Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide.
Çetin Emeç was a prominent Turkish journalist and columnist, who was assassinated.
The assassination of Mehmet Baydar and Bahadır Demir occurred on 27 January 1973 at the Biltmore Hotel in Santa Barbara, California. The two Turkish diplomats, Consul General Baydar and Vice Consul Demir, were murdered by Armenian-American Gourgen Yanikian. Yanikian, using an alias, had invited the Turkish diplomats to lunch, during which they were both shot dead.
The DHKP/C insurgency in Turkey refers to the Marxist–Leninist insurgency waged by the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) against the Republic of Turkey, ongoing since 1990. The insurgency began with political assassinations in the early 1990s, and has escalated in the past few years with the use of suicide bombers.
On 19 March 2016, a suicide bombing took place in Istanbul's Beyoğlu district in front of the district governor's office. The attack occurred at 10:55 (EET) at the intersection of Balo Street with İstiklal Avenue, a central shopping street. The attack caused at least five deaths, including that of the perpetrator. Thirty-six people were injured, including seven whose injuries were severe. Among those injured were twelve foreign tourists. Among those killed, three were of Israeli nationality. On 22 March, the Turkish interior minister said that the bomber had links with ISIL.
Andrei Karlov, the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, was assassinated by Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, an off-duty Turkish police officer, at an art exhibition in Ankara, Turkey on the evening of 19 December 2016. The assassination took place after several days of protests in Turkey over Russian involvement in the Syrian Civil War and the battle over Aleppo.
Ismail Erez, Turkey's Ambassador to France, was fatally shot in Paris by assassins who also killed his chauffeur.
Two days after the Vienna murder, gunmen in Paris opened fire on a car belonging to the Turkish ambassador to France, Ismail Erez, 56, who died along with his chauffeur.
11 Nisan 1980'de Mecidiyeköy'de, küçücük çocuğunu okula götürürken, gün ortasında, kızının gözleri önünde katledilen bu değerli aydınımız