Turkey honors diplomats martyred in Sydney

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey on Tuesday commemorated two of its diplomats who were assassinated by an Armenian terrorist group in 1980 in Australia.

"We remember with respect our martyrs Sarik Ariyak, Consul General, and Engin Sever, Security Attaché, assassinated by the JCAG terrorist organization in Sydney on 17.12.1980," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Twitter.

On Dec. 17, 1980, at 9.45 a.m. local time, outside Ariyak's home on Portland Street in Sydney, he and Sever were shot by two Armenian terrorists.

While the consul general was martyred at the scene, the attache later succumbed to his wounds at the hospital.

According to data compiled by Anadolu Agency, a total of 77 people -- 58 of them Turkish citizens, including 31 diplomats and members of their families -- lost their lives in attacks carried out by Armenian ASALA and JCAG terror organizations.

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

ASALA, founded in 1975, was the first Armenian terrorist group to wage war against Turkey.

It 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 Armenia diaspora rather than other foreign partners, 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 a 1975 attack on Danis Tunaligil, Turkey’s ambassador in Vienna.