150) Fanatical Armenian terrorists

Chart for terror groups in the USA, 1980-1986
An Overview of International Terrorist Group Incidents in the United
States According to Group Classification 1980-1986. The Armenians
were second to the Anti-Castro Cuban Elements. Source: U.S. Dept. of
Justice (FBI): FBI Analysis of Terrorist Incidents in the United States,
1986. Washington, D.C. (Terrorist Research & Analytical Center —
Terrorism Section — Criminal Investigative Division), 1986, p. 53.
Chart from Armenian Allegations: Myth and Reality, ATAA, 1987. . .

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1) Fanatical Armenian Terrorists
2) Armenian Terror Tactics
3) Armenian Terrorist Enjoys Support of Armenian Community
4) Another Armenian Terrorist: SASSOUNIAN
5) A Tale of Two Criminals
6) Time for Holdwater to Reflect
7) And Now for a Little More Deny, Deny, Deny!
8) Official Deception on Paris Bombings
9) French Foil Turks’ Hunt for Terrorist
10) Postscript for Another Armenian Hero
11) ASALA's Day

Editorials and articles appeared in newspapers throughout the United States for several days following the brutal murder of Turkish Consul General Kemal Arikan on January 28, 1982 by an Armenian assassin. He was the third Turkish diplomat to be slain in the USA, and the twentieth Turkish diplomat or family member, up until that time, to be murdered throughout the world since 1973 by Armenian terrorists. The Armenian Justice Commandos had claimed responsibility.
Kemal Arikan (1928-1982): Murdered.

Kemal Arikan (1928-1982): Murdered.

On January 29th, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner carried an article entitled “Pointless Rage.” It stated that the killing of innocent people cannot be justified.

Kemal Arikan was innocent, as is the government he represented, for it came into existence in 1923...

The article ended with this conclusion:

No sense of justice survives, only a blind urge to destroy.

On January 31st, Russell Warren House's article named “Death in Westwood” appeared in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. He looked at the historical background of this latest Armenian assassination, giving a detailed account of the last eight years and its roots.


In 1977, the French newspaper Le Figaro, prompted by Armenian outrages in France, investigated their background and came up with a figure of 15,000 Armenians dead from shootings, sickness and deprivation on the march

The Swiss writer, Pierre Moser, traces the Armenian nationalist movement to 1853, when a group of Armenians in Paris set up an organization whose objective was an Armenian state carved out of Russia, Syria, Turkey and Persia. The movement, which soon became anarchic in the extreme, was encouraged by France, which was eager to see that the spoils of the dying Ottoman Empire not go solely to Russia and Britain.

With the outbreak of World War I, Armenian activists, hoping for a successful Russian invasion of the Ottoman Empire, joined the tsar’s army, ambushed Turkish troops at home and rioted in numerous Turkish cities.

Armenian sources tell pitiful narratives of Armenians who perished in the mutual slaughter, while the Turks, armed with cameras, have left gory pictures of dead heaps of Turkish soldiers and citizens, including women and children, who had been butchered by the Armenians.

How many died on both sides is today the subject of conjecture, hype and myth. After the war, the Armenians claimed they had lost 170,000 dead. Later the figure became half a million. Today Armenian literature claims 2 million — about three times the population of the province involved at that time.

In 1977, the French newspaper Le Figaro, prompted by Armenian outrages in France, investigated their background and came up with a figure of 15,000 Armenians dead from shootings, sickness and deprivation on the march.

Allegations of Turkish genocide of Armenians were raised in both the League of Nations and the United Nations, but both bodies decided there was no basis to the charge.

ATA-USA / MARCH, 1982
ARMENIAN TERROR TACTICS
by Colman McCarthy

How many more Turkish diplomats will be killed by fanatical murderers from Armenian terrorist groups? The question has a raw answer: as many as the terrorists think they can put away without getting caught.

Since 1973, twenty-seven Turkish diplomats and members of their families have been killed. Armenian underground killers take responsibility, saying they are avenging the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians said to have occurred between 1915 and 1923 at the hands of the Ottoman Turkish government.

The most recent slaying of a diplomat was in Brussels in mid-July, followed the next day by a bomb explosion in Paris in which seven people were killed and 56 wounded while waiting to board a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul. Last Wednesday in Lisbon, the wife of a Turkish official was slain in a suicide attack in which five Armenian terrorists died by their own violence. Four Turkish diplomats have been killed in the United States. In May 1982, Orhan Gunduz, an honorary consul general who had run a small business in a Boston suburb for 20 years, was gunned to death while driving home from his store.

In choosing sides, we go against the Turks. Images of murderous sultans wielding thick-ended sabers remain.

Despite the large death toll and despite the pledges of Armenian terrorists to send it higher, few displays of concern, much less supportive indignation, have been offered to the Turks. By contrast, would public opinion be as unstirred if 27 British diplomats had been killed by IRA gunmen, or if the 27 were Jewish diplomats slain by Palestinian hit squads?

Turkish victimization can remain a minor issue because, first, Americans look at the headlines about the latest killings and conclude that an ancient, inscrutable and unstoppable feud goes on. The Turks and Armenians are blood enemies, we think—if we think about the issue at all. In choosing sides, we go against the Turks. Images of murderous sultans wielding thick-ended sabers remain. The stereotype of the savage Turk, backed up by menacing Young Turks persists. Then, too, they are Moslem, dismissable as the infidels of Western history.

To move beyond this intellectual laziness is to discover that the Turks deserve not only more sympathy for what they are suffering at the hands of Armenian killers, but also more support in their efforts to explain their position.

The talk of “genocide” that the Armenian terrorists throw around after they kill another Turkish diplomat was echoed in Congress in late April in observance of Armenian Martyrs Day. Nearly 40 members of the House made statements about the era of “modern genocide” that the Turks supposedly brought on in the alleged killing of 1.5 million Armenians. Liberals and conservatives were united in their certitude about the number and that the Turks had actually committed the systematic extermination that is genocide. Several members attacked the current Turkish government, demanding that it confess its guilt.

This onrush of congressional concern for Armenians went too far. Among independent historians and scholars, the events of 70 years ago, as World War I began, are not as black and white as the congressional friends of Armenians made them out to be. One of these historians is Justin McCarthy, a professor of Middle Eastern history and demographer at the University of Louisville. He is on neither the Turkish nor the Armenian side. He sides with whatever truth emerges from reliable research.

McCarthy states that the 1.5 million figure is inaccurate: “After the war, Armenian sources said that approximately 600,000 Armenians had died, and this figure is much closer to the truth. Turks were indeed killing Armenians in 1915. But Armenians were also killing Turks, and indeed (in the war) many more Turks died than Armenians. Most who died on both sides died more of starvation and disease than from bullets.”

McCarthy, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Turkey and the author of “Muslims and Minorities” says that no documentation has ever been found to prove that a policy to exterminate Armenians existed. “Everyone in this period around World War I was to some extent guilty and some extent persecuted: Turks, Armenians, Kurds, Russians.” Last month on public television McCarthy stated that, from his research, he found that about “600,000 Armenians died, 2.2 million Muslims died . . . This was a horrible time for everyone.”

None of this diminishes either the culture of Armenia nor the large contributions of Armenians to American life. It suggests only that perspective is needed in this complicated and at times, dimly lit issue.

The current Turkish government is trapped in a double bind. Its diplomats live in fear of gunmen and its officials are frustrated in explaining a period of history that few in the West care to study. A false impression has been created that Turkey is stonewalling the facts of the past by not admitting that genocide occurred. In fact, it didn’t. Even if historians agreed about the genocide, today’s Turkish government has no political or philosophical ties to the old Ottoman Empire.

For a start, fair-minded historical analysis is needed. That won’t stop the terrorists, but it will help to expose the full irrationality of their cause.

Copyright July 31, 1983, The Washington Post Company.

Armenian Terrorist Enjoys Support of the Armenian Community

Topalian — A Quiet Observation
TO: The Plain Dealer

Dear Editor.

We were present recently to witness the sentencing of Mr. Mourad Topalian. an Armenian American and former Clevelander, who was sentenced to a three year imprisonment following the discovery of explosives belonging to him in a storage facility located between a daycare center and a gas station Many of us were unable to enter the courtroom because of limited seating. We stayed outside, observing the many people, young and old, of Armenian descent, who came to show their support for Mr. Topalian.

Jailbird Mourad Topalian

We stood there, quietly observing the people who are our friends in this country, which is a spectrum of all cultures. We all have friends who are Armenians, whom we love and respect. There are many more Armenians who live in today’s modem Turkish Republic in peace and harmony. Yet ironically, by being present at the court as Turkish American families, none of us could deny our fear for the safety of our loved ones because of hate crimes perpetrated by certain groups who are still trying to persuade a new generation of Armenians to dislike and distrust Turkish people. 73 innocent Turkish citizens and bystanders have lost their lives since 1973 because of the actions of an Armenian terrorist group known as ASALA. which acted as the judge and jury toward Turkish citizens in order to avenge the alleged genocide. And what have these acts accomplished? Will the killings bring back loved ones from a past of more than eighty years ago? Do the killings justify the proposition that Armenians should be given more land?

It was difficult for us to comprehend the passionate support for Mr. Topalian since the occasion that day was his sentencing with connections to hate crimes, violence, and terrorism. A historical fact that no one denies is that many Armenians did perish during the First World War in that region. However, this represents only half of the story because, as a number of American scholars stated in an open letter to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1985, Armenian suffering cannot be viewed as separate from the suffering experienced by the Turkish and other inhabitants of the region. The weight of evidence uncovered so far points in the direction of a serious civil war, complicated by disease, famine, suffering and massacres in Anatolia and adjoining areas. The resulting death toll among all communities in the region was immense. There are unbiased historical facts to support the events of the early l900s. and the Turkish people will never accept that what occurred during those years was a state-sponsored “genocide.”

We now live in America, a great country that has shown people that they are interdependent and that they can live together harmoniously. We are trying, and have tried very hard in the past to accomplish this with our Armenian friends as well.

Our main purpose of being at the court was to send the message to those who still wish to foment hatred and violence in this generation: It must end. We do not know why Mr. Topalian kept those explosives in that storage facility because he never bothered to explain to the court. We are deeply disappointed that Mr. Topalian did not deplore all acts of violence, and could not bring himself to state to the court that he is against terrorism, of all kinds. The message we heard him say to his supporters outside the court was, unfortunately, “keep the battle going”!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Plain Dealer for presenting our views on this issue.

Christine Congdou, and 8 friends
Beachwood, Ohio

From The Turkish Times, February 15, 2001
-------------------------------------

Holdwater: Ah! A news account filling us in more on Mourad:

Armenian terror: What is the difference between this terrorist in a business suit and the ones that blow up buildings in Oklahoma?

Friday, October 15, 1999
CLEVELAND (AP) - A prominent Armenian-American activist was charged with plotting attacks against Turkish targets in the United States for two decades, including a bombing that injured three in 1980.

Mourad Topalian, who has served as chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America, was arrested Thursday on a five-count indictment charging him with conspiracy, concealing and storing stolen explosives, improper storage of explosives, possession of machine guns and possession of firearms with defaced serial numbers. Topalian could get 31 years in prison if convicted.

The indictment charged Topalian with directing a group that stole weapons and explosives used in a car bombing outside the Turkish mission to the United Nations in New York City in October 1980. Three people were hurt.

U.S. Attorney Emily Sweeney said the alleged plot was intended to draw attention to alleged atrocities that left up to 1 million Armenians dead in 1915 when Armenia was ruled by the Turkish Ottoman Empire. Turkey denies committing genocide, saying any deaths were the result of a civil war.
Marshall Pete Elliot of Ohio

Marshall Pete Elliot got the goods on the
terrorist. In a 2005 NBC-DATELINE report,
Topalian was said to have accused Elliot
as "being against the Armenian cause"!

The explosives, dating back to the late
1970s, were deteriorating and highly volatile.
The marshall expressed that had the arsenal
ignited and exploded, it would have killed
at least 750 people, mostly children.

More than 500 Armenian-Americans packed
the courthouse halls in support, and ANCA
supported Topalian’s legal defense fund.
(Last two paragraphs from Günay Evinch's
2005 article, "The Armenian Cause Today.")

Topalian, who works as an administrator at a local junior college, appeared in U.S. District Court on Thursday and declined to comment after he was freed on $100,000 bond. There is no phone listing under his name on the address provided by the government and he could not be reached today.

The investigation began with the 1996 discovery of weapons and explosives in a suburban Bedford storage garage that was opened after the rent went unpaid for six months.

According to the indictment, Topalian was questioned in 1988 about the New York bombing and denied any involvement.

Topalian also was accused of sending people to Massachusetts and Beirut, Lebanon, for weapons and bomb training. The indictment said Topalian demonstrated how to use submachine guns at a camp in Franklin, Mass., in 1976 and 1977.

The indictment also mentions two 1981 California bombings in which no one was hurt but it did not specify whether Topalian was involved. They were at the Orange County Convention Center in Anaheim and the Turkish consulate in Beverly Hills.

Before taking a job at Cuyahoga Community College this year, Topalian worked as a consultant to the president of Citibank Florida from 1995 and helped Miami attract a $130 million federal job training grant. He attended a March 1996 White House coffee session with other political and community leaders to discuss issues with President Clinton, the White House confirmed.
------------------------------------

A disgruntled Turkish-American, Fuat Noras, embellishes the above within the following excerpt of a June 11, 2003 letter (to U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert):

Mourad Topalian, chairman of ANCA, was accused of leading a group which stole explosives and firearms and proceeded to bomb the Turkish Center at the United Nations in New York, causing serious injuries to Turkish and American citizens. Chairman Topalian was found guilty, struck a plea bargain to guilty of stolen explosives and possessing firearms only; the charge of CONSPIRACY, which would have created a more intensive investigation of ANCA, was dropped and Mr. Chairman let his organization sneak away from the law. U.S. District Judge Ann Aldrick sentenced him to a total of thirty-seven months in jail. This wonderful — slap on the hand — sentence was celebrated by the Armenians. What sort of message are we sending terrorists? Armenian terrorists in business suits in New York and McVeigh of Oklahoma — terror is terror.

Chairman Topalian was accused by the prosecutor of sending young Armenians to MA and Beirut for bomb and weapon training. He PERSONALLY demonstrated the use of a submachine gun at a camp in Franklin, MS. in 1976-1978.

U.S. Attorney of Northern District of Ohio, charged Topalian with concealing more than 100 lbs. of explosives stolen from a stone mine and stored in Bedford, Ohio next to a BP gas station and 300 feet from a children's care center. Also, this "gentleman" had two fully automatic uzi submachine guns and 1000 rounds of live ammo. By the time this convicted felon committed his crimes, Mr. Aram Hamparian — who is now Chairman — was Executive Director of the same organization.

Another Armenian Terrorist: SASSOUNIAN

Sassounian Case Dissmisal Effort Moves Ahead

LOS ANGELES — A motion to dismiss the retrial of the special circumstance of the Hampig Sasssounian's life sentence was heard Monday at the Criminal Courts building, as defense attorneys argued that the prosecution does not have enough evidence to prove that national origin was a motivating factor for the alleged crime, for which Sassounian is serving a life sentence.
Hampig Sassounian

Hampig Sassounian
(evidently at time of
arrest, 19 years old.)

Judge Robert Perry asked for further briefing on the preliminary hearing that took place more than 20 years ago, during which two jailhouse informants testified that Sassounian admitted to the murder of Turkish Consul General to Los Angeles Kemal Arikan, because of his nation origin.

The only evidence on record from that hearing is the testimony of Geoffery Busch and Manuel Cortez. Both of their testimony was proven false and both informants said they were lying under oath.

Without the testimony of the two informants, there is no evidence that this was racially motivated crime, therefore the charge must be dismissed, said Attorney Mark Kassabian of the law firm of Geragos and Geragos, who is assisting lead trial attorney Mark Geragos on the Sassounian defense.

Judge Perry will hear the briefing on Friday, after which he will rule on the motion to dismiss.

Assistant District Attorney Gregory Dohi, who is prosecuting the case, went on record Monday as saying that without the Cortez testimony there is no record in the court, which would corroborate the claim of national origin.

"It was a good hearing," said Kassabian who opined that "I think when the judge sees the whole picture of what went, he'll dismiss the case."

On February 22, the Sassounian Defense Committee organized a successful fund-raising event, during which more than $70,000 was raised for the defense efforts.

The committee commended the community for its continuous assistance and urged the community to come together and ensure that this case will yield the desired outcome for Sassounian.

It appears Hampig Sassounian's conviction rested on the testimony of two jailhouse informants. I'm getting the uneasy feeling of watching a bad Mafia movie, here... the kind where the smug Don smilingly watches one previous witness against him after another recant their testimony, out of fear of repercussions, or because they have been paid off. We all know the word of convicts are not usually to be trusted... but I find it an incredible coincidence that two of them would have testified Hampig Sasssounian was the criminal, and two of them would later admit they lied. What possible motivation would they have had to lie? Because Hampig Sasssounian stole their soup during chow time? Maybe one of them could have lied for some mysterious and inexplicable reason, but what are the chances of both of them having lied?

Meanwhile, the Armenian community never wavers in its effort to pretend the murderers in their midst are just innocent lambs... carrying on their proud tradition from the years 1914-1916. I'm a little surprised all they were able to raise for this case was a measly $70,000. Perhaps they raised more, and the rest had to be shown as "off the books," channeled into less savory areas. (Sassounian's first trial netted $250,000 in small donations from Armenian-Americans throughout the United States; Michael M. Gunter, "Pursuing the Just Cause of Their People": A Study of Contemporary Armenian Terrorism, p. 74.)

BUT HOLD ON A MINUTE. After writing the above, it appears the terrorist admitted his guilt, and his retrial was.... dropped! I knew there was something fishy going on. (By the way, this is the fellow who murdered Kemal Arikan, whose photograph is on top of this page.) And the Armenian community worked so hard to get him off... I don't get it. Why did the Armenian assassin 'fess up when freedom was so close, according to the previous article?

Los Angeles - The Associated Press, 21 October 2002

US prosecutors drop plans to retry assassin of Turkish diplomat Harry Sassounian admitted for the first time Friday that he participated in the fatal shooting of Turkish Consul General Kemal Arikan.

Prosecutors agreed to drop plans to retry a portion of their case against a man who murdered a Turkish diplomat in 1982, instead giving him a chance at future parole in exchange for his denouncing terrorism.

Harry Sassounian admitted for the first time Friday that he participated in the fatal shooting of Turkish Consul General Kemal Arikan.

"I renounce the use of terrorist tactics such as the assassination of diplomats to achieve political goals," Sassounian, 39, said at a hearing Friday. "I regret the suffering of the Arikan family."

Superior Court Judge Robert Perry then sentenced Sassounian to 25 years to life in prison. He will be eligible for parole Sept. 28, 2007, although prosecutors say they may oppose his release.

The district attorney's office had intended to retry Sassounian on a special circumstance allegation. If he had been convicted, he could have been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Two years ago, a federal appeals court upheld Sassounian's murder conviction, but overturned the special circumstance conviction, which had contended he killed Arikan because of his nationality. The reversal threw out Sassounian's sentence of life in prison without parole.

Sassounian, then 19, was convicted of shooting Arikan at a Los Angeles intersection on Jan. 28, 1982. A second gunman was never caught.

A jail informant testified that Sassounian told him he killed the 54-year-old diplomat as revenge for the so-called Turkish genocide late in the 19th and early in the 20th century.



Holdwater: although Sassounian confessed in 2002, the site for the American Youth Federation Houston branch still insists on this poor, innocent Armenian as having been railroaded (as of July 2005); from an article entitled, "The Complete History of The
Armenian Youth Federation":

In 1982 Hampig Sassounian, a 19-year old AYF member from the Pasadena "Nigol Touman" Chapter, was falsely arrested for the murder of the Los Angeles Turkish Consulate. Sassounian was convicted even though the prosecution could not provide evidence, which proved he was guilty. The case of Hampig Sassounian caused the community to unite for one goal that represented the Armenians and their centuries old struggle for the establishment of a free, independent, and united Armenia. Other similar cases that involved the AYF members followed, such as the LA Five, which continued to cause more interest in the Armenian Youth.

Subsequent to the writing above, a new TAT page has been prepared on the LA-Five, linked at this page's bottom, and here as well. The man who currently (late 2006) serves as chairman of ANCA-WR, Steven J. Dadaian, shares the exact name and similar age of one of the L.A. Five, all of whom got off with a slap on the wrist. The LA-Five, similarly composed of JCAG members recruited from the AYF (read the humble philosophy behind the Armenian Youth Federation's beginnings here; previously known as the "Tzeghagron," they were patterned after the Hitler Youth) was also connected in the assassination of Kemal Arikan. As armeniapedia.org's page on Sassounian instructs: "Two Armenian gunmen assassinate Turkish Consul General, Kemal Arikan." Who was the second? If the state was to make a deal with Sassounian, too bad they didn't require him to reveal the identity of his fellow murderer, who could have possibly been any one of the L.A. Five, all of whom are enjoying a good life today. (The FBI figured if their last plot had succeeded, 2,000-3,000 Americans would have been killed.)

Consider the confessions of the 19-year-old Armenian terrorist Hampig Sassounian, who murdered the Turkish consul-general in Los Angeles on January 28, 1982 and the 20-year-old Levon Ekmekjian, who was the surviving Armenian terrorist in the attack at Ankara's airport in August 1982, where they massacred 9 Turkish citizens and wounded 82 others. Their confessions clearly illustrate how young Armenian minds are indoctrinated in a climate that poisons ethnic relations and prevents peaceful co-existence in the community.

Sincerely,

Dr. Ferruh Demirmen
January 13, 2002

Excerpted from a letter protesting a January 8, 2002 Los Angeles Times editorial, supporting a "Glendale Armenian monument" commemorating the so-called Armenian Genocide, on city property; the newspaper predictably and ignorantly parakeets the Armenian claim of 1.5 million Armenian casualties.

Sam Weems on Sassounian

A TALE OF TWO CRIMINALS

…An unfortunate babysitter, Ms. Gulertekin in Columbus, Ohio… was sentenced to 8 prison years in house arrest with electronic shackles. Her crime was shaking a suffocating tot too severely while trying to save his life. She has not tasted freedom ever since because her bail bond was an astronomical 10 million dollars. I have also heard of a notorious Armenian terrorist caught red handed with a storage depot full of explosives and ammunition. The bomb he had manufactured had allegedly exploded in front of the Turkish office, wounding three passersby in New York City. The Armenian Lobby and deep pocketed supporters have found a way of freeing him from jail. You might think that terrorist Murad Topalian's bail bond was perhaps twice as much as Ms. Gulertekin's, right? . Think again. He paid a mere100 thousand dollars and he was free as a bird for a long time before his incarceration at the end. I guess they prefer Armenians over Turks in this democratic nation.

Professor Mahmut Ozan, from " ‘TO BE GREAT IS TO BE MISUNDERSTOOD’ OR A LESSON TO THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW US”; reflecting on how the American Justice System clamped down on the babysitter/au pair… the fact that she had the misfortune to be Turkish likely did not help her case any. Was she a murderer, or guilty of criminal neglect… or was she just the second victim in a situation where a baby lay dead, and somebody had to pay? Who is the one between the two who clearly wished to cause harm? Yet she gets eight years, and he got three.

Time for Holdwater to Reflect

It's important to remember Armenian terrorist activities were not confined to the murders of Turkish diplomats and their families.

Dr. Heath Lowry compiled a "Chronological Breakdown of Armenian Terrorists Incidents 1973-1987," and it's pretty shocking.

I counted two hundred and ten separate terrorist acts, worldwide, almost always via deadly bombs... leading to many injuries and much property damage. The targets were not always Turkish, either.

I didn't study the long list, but I happened to open the book where the listing was printed, and "Switzerland" kept hitting my eye:

July 19, 1981

SWITZERLAND (Bern): A bomb exploded in a trash bin at the Swiss Parliament Building in Bern. Subsequently, an anonymous caller claimed the attack was the work of the "Ninth of June Organization."

July 20, 1981

SWITZERLAND (Zurich): A bomb exploded in an automatic-photo booth at Zurich's International Airport. The attack was claimed by the "Ninth of June Organization."

July 21, 1981

SWITZERLAND (Lausanne): A bomb placed in th "women's wear" section of a department store in Lausanne injured twenty women shoppers. ASALA's "Ninth of June Organization" claimed credit for the attack.

July 22, 1981

SWITZERLAND (Geneva): A bomb placed in a coin-operated locker at the Geneva Train Station exploded, injuring four people. Law enforcement authorities credited the attack to the "Ninth of June Organization."

July 22, 1981

SWITZERLAND (Geneva): A second bomb placed in a locker at the Geneva Railway Station exploded approximately one hour after the first. Police had cordoned off the area following the first explosion, thereby preventing injuries from the second. The Swiss authorities also credited this second explosion to ASALA's "Ninth of June Organization."

Not that Switzerland was the only victimized nation by a long shot; the list goes on and on (England, Iran, Denmark, Lebanon, Spain, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Germany, Luxembourg, Canada, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Belgium, Austria, Australia, Turkey and the United States...), but why was Switzerland hit so hard during the summer of 1981?

I hope the motive had nothing to do with one Armenian author's claiming, "The Armenians are the former inhabitants of today's Switzerland." (Ruppen Courian, Promartyrs de la Civilization, 1964, p. 27.) Since it's the Armenians who have mainly created their own myth by writing their own history, utilizing their traditionally trustworthy credibility, perhaps after they realize they can't get their grubby hands on their "ancient homeland" in "Turkish Armenia," they'll move on to another land-grab scheme with their other "ancient homeland" in central Europe. Woe be to the Swiss!

These were the kinds of cowardly and fanatical attacks that claimed a friend of Erich Feigl's as a victim, which led the professor to write a few of the more valuable Western books (Chiefly, "The Myth of Terror") that debunked the Armenian Myth. These were the kinds of cowardly and fanatical attacks that spurred Artin Penik, a brave Armenian Turk, to sadly and unfortunately commit suicide, to protest the actions of terrorist groups such as ASALA.

Violence always breeds more violence.

Now that I have a better idea of the extent of the Armenian violence from the 1970s and 1980s, I can better understand how their terrorism became synonymous with the word "Armenian," thus growing counter-productive to their "Con Job" of the Armenian "Genocide." All such attacks magically came to a halt, as if directed by a central headquarters... and not by out-of-control, loose cannon madmen. Once again, the Armenians demonstrated themselves to be an uncanny, "one-voice" monolith, with dissidents perhaps counted on one hand.

(And who can blame Armenians for challenging the terrorism that has become implicit with their ethnic identity? Anyone who steps out of line could pay a high, fatal price... especially if they are Armenian, and considered traitors to the cause.)

In Heath Lowry's "Chronological Breakdown of Armenian Terrorists Incidents 1973-1987," I noticed among the long list of victimized nations one entry for.... Greece.

Greece? Armenia's Orthodox buddy, and cut from the same cloth as far as their deceptive and murderous methods of operation? (Some Armenians dislike the Greeks, branding them as traitors for having signed the Lausanne Treaty... forgetting that Armenia signed the Treaty of Leninakan (Gümrü) on December 3, 1920, which closed the book on past ills, foregoing the issue of reparations. Who was guiltier in turning their backs on the essence of the stillborn Treaty of Sevres, Armenians or Greeks? We'll let them fight that out amongst themselves.)

I wondered exactly in what way Greece suffered at the hands of Armenian terrorists, and out of the listing of 210 separate attacks, this second-to-last listing could be the only one that could be considered "nice":

January 20, 1987

GREECE (Athens): On the occasion of its 12th Anniversary, the "Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), issued a message to the Armenian people, from their headquarters in Athens, Greece. The message, which appears to have emanated from ASALA's political arm, the Athens based "Armenian Populist Movement," names the enemies of the Armenian people as "the Turkish fascist state, and its supporters, international imperialism and Zionism..." The ASALA message received wide coverage in the Greek press, including the pro-government English-language daily "Athens News" which published quotes from the ASALA communique.

Well, isn't that heart-warming. And so much in keeping with Greece's role as a supporter of terrorism. Naturally, as is the familiar Orthodox M.O., the Greek government would deny, deny, and then deny some more whenever confronted with accusations of their own terrorist inclinations and support... until a few years ago, when the nation got caught with her pants down, with the arrest of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, in or around a Greek embassy in Africa. (Man, did those angry European Kurds sock it to Greek embassies and establishments the next few days!) But don't worry, fans of deceit; Greece will live to deny, deny and deny again.

While we're on the subject, let's examine this topic of Greek support for terrorism a little further, and the Greeks' tendency to be "honest" about the situation.

Armenian Reporter, July 30, 1987, p. 1.

Turks Accuse Greece for Providing Shelter to
Armenian Gunman Just Released by Yugoslav Authorities

NEW YORK, N.Y.—”Turkey last week accused Greece for continuing its support of Armenian terrorists and said the latest evidence of this support is the shelter granted to Mr. Krikor Levonian, the partially paralyzed Armenian gunman who was recently released from a prison in Yugoslavia.

Mr. Levonian, who was given a long prison sentence for the 1983 assassination of the Turkish ambassador in Belgrade, was released on April 24 from prison where he was confined along with an associate, both members of the ‘Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide.’ Soon after his release, according to Turkish sources, Mr. Levonian was allowed entry into Greece, where Turks say Greek authorities offered him shelter and provided the much needed medical treatment.

Turks assert this latest action on the part of Greece clearly indicates that that country openly supports Armenian radicals who plan to stage terrorism against Turkish diplomats and attack Turkish targets.

In a related development, the Athens based ‘Committee for the Defense of Armenian Political Prisoners,’ a group that is affiliated with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnag Party) finally admitted that Mr. Levonian was freed from imprisonment. While the Committee did not disclose the circumstances that led to his release by the Yugoslavs, it hinted that it was instrumental in securing his freedom. Earlier reports that appeared in ‘The Armenian Reporter’ reported that groups other than Dashnag Party affiliated groups had played a major role in securing the release of Mr. Levoniart and.that his associate, still in prison, was also expected to be released in the near future. Ironically, the committee apparently waited three months before formally acknowledging that Mr. Levonian was released.”

(Translation:)

The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend.

(Even if it means going to bed with the killers of innocents.)

And Now for a Little More Deny, Deny, Deny!

The New York Times
June 27, 1987, p. 4.

U.S. and Greece in Dispute on Terror

By ALAN COWELL
Special to The New York Times

ATHENS, June 26—A dispute developed today between Athens and Washington over United States intelligence reports saying that Athens had, for several months, conducted negotiations with the terrorist known as Abu Nidal. Greece rejected the assertions.

The United States intelligence reports were presented at a meeting here Thursday between the Greek Foreign Minister, Karolos Papoulias, and the United States Ambassador, Robert Keeley, people with knowledge of the encounter said.

They declined to specify the nature of the reported negotiations with Abu Nidal. They said the contacts were verified in what were termed hard intelligence reports.

Abu Nidal leads the Palestinian splinter group Al Fatah Revolutionary Council, implicated in the 1985 airport bombings at Rome and Vienna that contributed to the Reagan Administration’s decision to bomb Tripoli, Libya, last year.

No Formal link to Expulsion

The terrorist group was said to have maintained offices in Tripoli and Damascus. Arab diplomats said recently that the Syrian authorities ordered Abu Nidal to close his Damascus office shortly before this month’s Venice summit meeting of leading industrialized nations, which was attended by President Reagan.

The United States has since indicated its readiness for improved relations with Damascus, but has drawn no formal link to Abu Nidal’s reported expulsion from Syria.

In Washington, State Department officials said that when Administration officials learned about the contacts, the State Department drafted a strongly worded demarche. The officials also expressed unhappiness with Greece’s dealings with Asala, the Armenian Liberation Army, which has carried out terrorist acts against Turks, although it is unclear whether that was included.

The people familiar with the meeting Thursday said Ambassador Keeley’s accusations drew an instant protest from Mr. Papoulias, who was reported to have made several telephone calls to Greek officials during the encounter to ascertain that the assertions by the United States were untrue.

No Comment on Meeting

An official spokesman said Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou’s Government had decided to make no official comment on the meeting.

The United States Embassy also declined formal comment on the accusations.

Abu Nidal was reportedly ordered to close his office in Damascus after a meeting this year of the Palestine National Council, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s so-called parliament in exile. Abu Nidal was said to be seeking to attend the meeting along with other Palestinian figures who were prepared to defy President Hafez al-Assad of Syria by reconciling with Yasir Arafat.
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One nation that was hit particularly hard by Armenian terror attacks was France. You might have read the findings of Le Figaro within the first article of this page, where the number of Armenian dead during the "Genocide" was found to be much lower than most prevailing notions. Maybe the French newspaper desired to sock it to the Armenians, getting sick and tired of being violently victimized by them, or maybe this could have been a moment of French temporary insanity.... since France competes with my country, the United States of America, as the biggest Armenian butt-kisser in the world. There is a huge Armenian establishment in France, as well as in the United States, and cowardly, opportunistic politicians in both nations fall over each other in kowtowing to the Armenians. Artin Penik, the Armenian-Turk mentioned above, said in his deathbed interview:

My decision was to commit suicide in front of the French embassy, because it all started with them at the beginning. If they had punished them at the right time, they wouldn't have been spoiled that much. They ignored it to get votes.

Not too many Armenian assassins and terrorists have been caught, but those who were often received remarkably lenient sentences, particularly in France and the United States. Following a September 1981 attack, for example, Armenian butt-kissing France doled out an unbelievable seven year prison term to four Armenian terrorists who took hostage 56 Turkish officials, wounded the consul general, and killed the security guard.

Let me now segue to two articles appearing days apart, by crusading American journalist Jack Anderson (working with a partner this time), who was famous for exposing views not popularly heard in the United States. (America needs more mainstream reporters like Jack Anderson, but since control is in the hands of a handful of mega-conglomerates, The Land of the Free can only present the news from a few select windows.)

French Foil Turks’ Hunt for Terrorist

Official Deception on Paris Bombings

Jack Anderson and Dale Van Atta

The Washington Post (October 29, 1986), p. C12.

French officials are deliberately misleading their own people and the international press about the true source of the terrorist bombings that have rocked Paris in recent months. They may be trying to cover up a secret deal that the French hope will end the carnage.

Responsibility for the indiscriminate bombings, which killed 10 persons and wounded 162, was claimed by an unknown group called the Committee for Solidarity with Arab and Middle Eastern Political Prisoners. “With” may be the key word.

Each bombing was followed by a demand to release three terrorists held in French prisons. Two, Georges Abdallah and Anis Naccache, are Maronite Christian Lebanese; the third, Varadjian Garbidjian [sic. Varoujan Garabedian], is an Armenian Christian, born in Syria.

French officials from Prime Minister Jacques Chirac down have convinced the press that Abdallah is the key individual. He heads a small terrorist group, the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions, but is charged with only minor crimes in France. There’s not enough evidence on which to hold Abdallah for very long; the French will have to set him free in a few years at most.

Naccache, who bungled an attempt to assassinate an lranian exile leader, is small potatoes. He doesn’t even belong to a terrorist organization capable of a series of bombings.

As for Garbidjian [sic. Garabedian], he is serving a life sentence, with no chance of parole, for the 1983 bombing at Orly Airport outside Paris that killed seven persons. (Holdwater: The count was eight. As for the "parole," see below.) He asserted responsibility for the bombing.

Garbidjian [sic. Garabedian] is a top leader—if not No. 1—of one of the deadliest terrorist groups in the world: the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA). In the last decade, ASALA assassins have killed more than 70 Turkish officials, family members and bystanders, and have wounded more than 300 in attacks all over the world. ASALA demands that the present Turkish government admit the genocide of Armenians during World War I, and that an independent Armenian homeland be carved out of eastern Turkey.

Our sources, who are terrorism experts in various Western intelligence agencies, believe Garbidjian [sic. Garabedian] is the French prisoner whose release is the crucial demand of the Paris bombers. ln this scenario, Abdallah, the Lebanese terrorist, is just a red herring to divert the press from a deal over Garbidjian [sic. Garabedian]. In fact, a similar situation developed five years ago.

On Oct. 25, 1981, ASALA launched a series of 15 bombings in Paris to win the release of an ASALA leader, Monte Melkonian, and better treatment for four other members charged with the takeover of the Turkish consulate in Paris, in which a security guard was killed.

Our sources confirm that the French cut a deal with ASALA in January 1982. The bombings stopped, Melkonian was set free and the four other ASALA prisoners were given light sentences.

The truce blew up — literally — with the Orly Airport bombing. Although Garbidjian [sic. Garabedian] tried to convince the French it was an accident, they sentenced him to life. Our inquiries into the Garbidjian [sic. Garabedian] link have made French sources nervous. Meanwhile, though, Chirac has succeeded in selling the story that Abdallah is behind the bombings.

Holdwater: Ah. I see the light sentences mentioned earlier could have stemmed from a French desire to negotiate with Armenian terrorists. It appears the Armenian terrorists did not stick to their word. Surprise.

French Foil Turks’ Hunt for Terrorist

Jack Anderson and Dale Van Atta

The Washington Post (October 31, 1986), p. E5.

France’s appeasement of terrorists has taken another ugly turn. The French refuse to let Turkish counterterrorist investigators see photographs of the man who has directed the slaughter of Turkish diplomats and their families.

For more than three years, Turkish intelligence officials have been pleading with the French to give them a picture of the No. 1 Armenian terrorist, who used the nom de guerre “Hagop Hagopian.”

for the Liberation of Armenia. Its goal is to force the Turkish government to acknowledge what they claim was the 1915 genocide of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks, and to establish an independent Armenian state in eastern Turkey.

ASALA was founded in Beirut in 1975 by the shadowy Hagopian, a Syrian-Armenian with Marxist inclinations.

After the lsreali invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Hagopian fled and set up new bases in Damascus and Athens. He also broke with the Palestine Liberation Organization, which had given ASALA training and support. Hagopian linked up with Abu Nidal, the anti-PLO leader responsible for much anti-American terrorism.

Hagopian has never given a face-to-face interview, and descriptions of him vary. A photo of him would be of enormous value to the Turks, who have been trying to track him down.

The French secret services have obtained photographs of Hagopian. Intelligence sources tell us that a top PLO leader, Salah Khalaf, slipped the French some pictures of Hagopian and other Armenian terrorists in December 1982, following the ASALA-PLO break.

Using these pictures, the French were able to identify Hagopian when he visited Paris in April 1983. They didn’t arrest him, but followed him to all his secret meetings and compiled an extensive file on ASALA.

As we reported, the French cut a deal with ASALA in January 1982, releasing an Armenian leader in return for an end to a series of deadly bombings. The truce was broken in July 1983, by the premature detonation at Orly Airport of a bomb terrorists say was intended to go off aboard a Turkish airliner.

Varoujan Garabedian

Garabedian; Hagopian was probably another
(Photo Source: A Myth of Terror)

Using the information from their surveillance of Hagopian, the French quickly rounded up 51 people linked to ASALA. One of them, Vardjian Carbidjian [sic. Varoujan Garabedian], was sentenced to life for murder; he is one of three terrorists whose release has been demanded by those responsible for the recent wave of bombings in Paris.

One theory for the French refusal to give Hagopian’s picture to the Turks is that Garbidjian [sic. Garabedian], the Armenian terrorist now in a French prison, may be the elusive Hagopian. A photo of Hagopian would enable the Turks to prove this by comparing it to pictures taken of Garbidjian [sic. Garabedian] at his trial.

The Hagopian/Garbidjian [sic. Garabedian] theory would explain the wave of Paris bombings. ASALA (with a little help from Abu Nidal) wants its founder released; with the previous deal as precedent, the Armenian terrorists figure they can win Hagopian/Garbidjian’s [sic. Garabedian’s] freedom with a series of bombings.

Holdwater: Hagop Hagopian was assassinated on April 28, 1988 in Athens, Greece, according to the Armenian Reporter. The murderous ASALA leader who didn't care whether his victims were Turkish or anyone else was not the same person as Garabedian. (Or... who really knows? The mysterious terrorist took the real name of the famous Armenian novelist, Raffi.)

ADDENDUM, 1-07: The Armenian Reporter, citing a 1985 article from Le Matin, claimed Hagopian was one of the terrorists taking part in the "Munich Massacre" of Israeli athletes, and further stated the man's real name was Bedros Ohanesian. Read more.

Garabedian arrives in Yerevan

The then 47-year-old "was greeted with rapturous
applause by dozens of supporters in Yerevan," as
he promised to do his best "for the realization
of our goals." (The Armenian Reporter)

POSTSCRIPT FOR ANOTHER ARMENIAN HERO: On May 7, 2001, Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markarian expressed his "joy" at Garabedian's release from a French jail where he served almost 18 years of a life sentence for his role in the 1983 bombing of the Turkish Airlines Office at Orly airport. Garabedian, who was born in Syria, was released on the condition that he be expelled to Armenia. The French daily "Liberation" reported at the time of Garabedian's release that Yerevan Mayor Robert Nazarian had pledged to provide him with employment and accommodation.

Garebedian, who was 29 years old at the time, had confessed to planting the bomb, admitting that the intention was for the bomb to go off once the plane was in the air. Garebedian's bomb that had exploded in front of the Turkish airlines counter at Orly airport, on July 15, 1983, had killed eight people (two Turkish) and wounded sixty one.

ASALA’s DAY

While considering yet another of those infernal "Armenian Genocide" resolutions in Congress, we hear from:

HON. CARROLL HUBBARD, JR. OF KENTUCKY IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Tuesday, October 9, 1984

Mr. HUBBARD: Mr. Speaker, I read an excellent editorial in the October 2 WaIl Street Journal entitled, “ASALA’s Day,” which I urge my colleagues in the House to read. Indeed, the points raised about considering resolutions in the House and Senate that might be interpreted as endorsing terrorism against the diplomats of a democratic ally, namely Turkey, are definitely worthy of our consideration.

The editorial follows:

ASALA’s DAY
In the 11 years since an Armenian terrorist campaign against Turkey began, 41 Turkish diplomats plus members of their families and other innocents have been murdered.

The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), one of the major perpetrators, seems reasonably clear in its long-range goal, although its objectives are sometimes clouded by factionalism. Its dominant faction wants to “liberate” the eastern provinces of Turkey and incorporate them into the Soviet Union. This was explicitly stated when the ASALA official journal editorialized: “Our forces never strike against the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia which is already liberated.”

NATO bases in eastern Turkey, just the region that ASALA wants to “liberate,” are essential to any Western defense against a Soviet attack in the Mideast. The Soviets poured more than a billion dollars of arms through Bulgaria into the hands of both leftist and rightist Turkish terrorists during the 1970s in an attempt to destabilize the bulwark of NATO’s southern flank. The Turks responded with martial law and defused the threat sufficiently to allow the present movement back to democracy. But there is no reason to believe that the Soviets have given up their campaign to isolate Turkey from its NATO allies.

The U.S. Congress has managed to bumble into this nasty game.

Two bills now before that body seek to commemorate the large number of deaths of Armenians in eastern Turkey during World War I. There can be little doubt that the Armenian repression was a terrible chapter in history and perhaps the Turks have been too insistent on denying guilt. But it was only one part of a global tragedy that claimed nearly 15 million lives. Dredging it up now in Congress, some 70 years after the event, may be a generous gesture toward Americans of Armenian descent but is hardly an appropriate signal to U.S. enemies.

The milder version, sponsored by Rep. Tony Coelho (D., Calif.) and passed by the full House, calls for April 24, 1985, to be a day to commemorate the Armenian "genocide perpetrated in Turkey between 1915 and 1923.” In specific terms, this bill would not directly affect U.S. policy.

But the bill that has recently passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee makes no pretense of avoiding current policy implications. Sponsored by Sens. Carl Levin CD., Mich.) and Pete Wilson (R., Calif.), Senate Resolution 241 calls for U.S. foreign policy “to take into account the genocide of the Armenian people. No one knows exactly what this means. According to his spokesman, Sen. Levin wants to link U.S. aid to the Turkish record on human rights.

The Turks are understandably confused, worried and upset. The Senate bill specifically says that the Ottoman empire and not the modern Turkish republic was responsible for the killings of Armenians. So, perhaps, the Turks have reacted too strongly to the threat of its passage. But, after more than a decade of terrorism, they can be excused for suspecting that the bills are part of a wider political agenda to separate Turkey from the West. In a week when Congress is examining ways to prevent attacks on our embassies, it is particularly ironic to consider resolutions that will be widely interpreted as endorsing terrorism against the diplomats of a democratic ally.

ATA-USA/Fall 1984-Winter 1985, p. 8




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© Holdwater

tallarmeniantale.com/Westwood-death.htm
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