Turkiye remembers diplomats assassinated by Armenian terrorist in 1973

ANKARA

Turkiye on Thursday remembered two of its diplomats who were assassinated by an Armenian terrorist in 1973.

Turkiye's Consul General Mehmet Baydar and Consul Bahadir Demir in Los Angeles were assassinated by Armenian-American terrorist Gourgen Yanikian on Jan. 27, 1973 in Santa Barbara, California.

The terrorist, using a false name, had invited the Turkish diplomats to lunch and then shot them dead when they arrived.

“We remember with respect our martyrs Mehmet Baydar, Consul General, and Bahadır Demir, Consul in Los Angeles, assassinated in a heinous attack by an Armenian terrorist in the USA on 27 January 1973,” Turkiye's Foreign Ministry said on Twitter.

Armenian wave of terror against Turkish diplomats

According to data compiled by Anadolu Agency, a total of 77 people – 58 of whom were Turkish citizens, including 31 diplomats and members of their families – were killed in attacks from 1973 to 1986 carried out by terrorist groups the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), Justice Commandos of the "Armenian Genocide" (JCAG), and the Armenian Revolutionary Army (ARA).

The deadly campaign began in 1973 with the assassination of Turkiye's Consul General in Los Angeles Mehmet Baydar and diplomat Bahadir Demir by a terrorist named Gourgen Yanikian.

ASALA was the first Armenian terrorist group to wage war against Turkiye. It not only targeted Turkiye, but also other countries, and it became notorious for a 1975 bomb attack on the World Council of Churches' Beirut office.

The JCAG initially gained notoriety after claiming responsibility, with ASALA, for the Oct. 22, 1975 assassination of Danis Tunaligil, Turkiye's ambassador in Vienna.

The ARA is believed to be a continuation of the JCAG under a different name.