Turkey commemorates martyred diplomat in Canada

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey on Tuesday commemorated a martyred military attache to Canada who was assassinated by an Armenian terror group in 1982.

"We commemorate with respect our martyr, Military Attache of the Turkish Embassy in Ottawa Colonel Atilla Altikat, murdered by JCAG terrorist organization on 27.08.1982," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a Twitter post.

On Aug. 27, 1982, Altikat was assassinated by a gun shot in capital Ottawa while he stopped his car at a red light.

The attack was one of the numerous assassinations of Turkish diplomats and family members around the world by Armenian terror groups ASALA and JCAG.

Armenian terrorist attacks against Turkish diplomats and civilians intensified from 1980 to 1983, when 580 of the 699 attacks occurred. The terrorist attacks ended in 1986.

While the Armenian terror groups waged a campaign of murdering Turkish diplomats internationally, some members of the Armenian diaspora took legal action against Turkey in U.S. courts, seeking compensation for the 1915 events.

But, the U.S. Court of Appeals rejected two lawsuits due to time lapse and ended the nine-year lawsuit process on Aug. 8. Two cases were denied by American courts before, concluding that they were "political matter which could not be subject to trial".

Turkey's position on the events of 1915 is that the deaths of Armenians in eastern Anatolia took place when some sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces. A subsequent relocation of Armenians resulted in numerous casualties.

Ankara does not accept the alleged genocide but acknowledges that there were casualties on both sides during the events of World War I.

Turkey objects to the presentation of the incidents as “genocide" but describes the 1915 events as a tragedy for both sides.

Ankara has repeatedly proposed the creation of a joint commission of historians from Turkey and Armenia plus international experts to study and come to a conclusion regarding the 1915 events, only to be rejected by Armenian officials.