Turkey remembers diplomat martyred in US in 1982

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey on Tuesday remembered with respect its late distinguished diplomat Kemal Arikan, who was the victim of an assassination on Jan. 28, 1982.

Arikan, Turkey’s consul general in Los Angeles, was martyred by Armenian terrorists affiliated with JCAG, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said on Twitter.

"We call on the relevant U.S. Authorities not to release Hampig Sassounian, who brutally assassinated Consul General Arıkan," said the ministry.

On Dec. 27 a California court ordered the conditional release of Sassounian, one of the assassins being Arikan’s deliberate murder.

"Granting parole to this murderer will only serve the hands of extremists worldwide and give the message that hate crimes and terrorist attacks against foreign diplomats on duty can be pardoned," the statement said.

The ministry also urged the international community "to show solidarity against such an outcome, which would establish an extremely dangerous precedent."

Arikan was shot to death 14 times by Sassounian and Krikor Saliba. Saliba escaped justice, but Sassounian was arrested and in 1984, he was sentenced to life in prison.

Since the 1970s, Armenian terror groups martyred 31 Turkish diplomats and their family members, according to data compiled by Anadolu Agency.

The vast majority of the attacks were conducted by ASALA and JCAG.

The assassinations took place in the U.S., Austria, France, Italy, Spain, Lebanon, Greece, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada, Portugal, Iran, and the U.K.