Ahmet Gençtürk
October 24, 2020•Update: October 24, 2020
ANKARA
Turkey on Saturday remembered its diplomat and his driver, who were martyred in an attack by Armenian terror group ASALA in October 1975.
"We remember with respect our martyrs, Ambassador Ismail Erez and his driver Talip Yener, assassinated in a heinous attack by the terrorist organization ASALA in Paris, France on 24 October 1975," the Foreign Ministry said on Twitter.
Armenian terrorist organizations have martyred 31 Turkish diplomats, and their family members since the 1970s. The vast majority of the attacks were conducted by the ASALA and JCAG terrorist organizations.
ASALA, founded in 1975, was the first Armenian terrorist group to wage war against Turkey.
It has not only targeted Turkey but also other countries and became infamous for a 1975 bomb attack on the Beirut office of the World Council of Churches.
The JCAG was formed in 1975 in Beirut. However, it is nationalistic, not Marxist-Leninist like ASALA.
Claiming that it only received support from the Armenian diaspora rather than foreign partners, the JCAG only targeted Turkey because it believed that attacking other countries would damage the so-called "Armenian struggle."
It initially gained notoriety by claiming responsibility with ASALA for the attack on Turkey’s ambassador to Austria, Danis Tunaligil.
* Writing by Ahmet Gencturk
