751) Armenian Terror Victims, Diplomats Were Commemorated

The undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Faruk Lo�o�lu gave a reception on March 19, 2001 on the occasion for the introduction of the book "Martyr Diplomats" by retired Ambassador Dr. Bilâl N. �im�ir. On that occasion the Turkish Diplomats who were assassinated by the Armenian terrorists were commemorated.

During his speech Ambassador �im�ir reminded that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has faced a great tragedy in the recent years. The bloodsheds have started at January 27, 1973 with the assassination of the General Consul of Los Angeles Mehmet Baydar and vice Consul Bahad�r Demir at a hotel. At March 22, 1975 Armenian terrorists attacked the Turkish Embassy in Vienna and killed Ambassador Dani� Tunal�gil at his office. Two days later at Paris Ambassador �smail Erez and his driver were assassinated.

In the 1980’s the Armenian attacks increased considerably. Among many others, our Ambassador in Belgrade Galip Balkar, General Consul in Sidney �ar�k Ar�yak, General Consul in Los Angeles Kemal Ar�kan and Air Force Attaché at the Turkish Embassy in Ottowa, Colonel Attilâ Alt�kat, were murdered.

The Armenian assassins have committed 27 plots against the Turkish diplomats at four continents and killed 34 and injured many.

These attacks were systematic murders. The Foreign Affairs Ministry at that period had lost 4% of its staff. Our colleagues have been victims of the Armenian terrorism due to the fact that they were Turkish and represented the Turkish Republic abroad.

Most of the assassinations towards the Turkish diplomats took place at Western countries. The Armenian terrorists have logistic facilities at America, Western Europe and Australia thus they can easily commit their actions and if convicted served a short term in prison. Besides, in those countries they were able to find a convenient atmosphere for their propaganda.

During the years 1975-1983 most of the Armenian terrorist activities took place at Paris. The French authorities did not protect properly the Turkish diplomats and sometimes condoned the Armenian terrorism. Today the French parliament is affronting the Turkish nation for a crime that has not been committed.

Although the perpetrators of these murders were all Armenians, Ambassador �im�ir says that he does not believe that all the Armenians are responsible for these actions.

The Armenians had a terror and conspiracy tradition. Huntchak and Dashnaktsutiun parties which were established in 1887 and 1890 respectively, ever since had adopted terror as their method. If we had remembered it perhaps we would have been more cautious towards the Armenian attempts and most probably some of our diplomats would have today still been alive.

Ambassador �im�ir continues by stating that he has a wish: it should not only be the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which commemorates deceased diplomats but also the school and faculties from which they have graduated should do the same. Also as this is not an ordinary event the press should give more attention to the assassinations of the Turkish diplomats.

Turkey has recognized all the countries that proclaimed their independence from the Soviet Union including the Armenian Republic. However Turkey was not able to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia because of Armenia’s aggressive attitude which did not recognize the invariability of the borders.

Ambassador �im�ir believes that the Soviet Armenian Republic and the Armenian Republic of today are both responsible for the murders of the Turkish diplomats. If Armenia wants to normalize its relation with Turkey, she needs to accept the principle of invariability of the borders and should apologize for the assassinations of the Turkish diplomats and finally hand over to the Turkish justice their assassins some of whom live today in Armenia.

Retired Ambassador, Dr. Bilal N. ��M��R*
* Historian -
- Armenian Studies, Issue 1, March -April - May 2001