Türkiye remembers diplomat killed by Armenian terror group

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye on Thursday remembered a Turkish diplomat who was slain in Beirut in 1976 by an Armenian terror group.

“We remember with respect our martyr Oktar Cirit, First Secretary of our Embassy in Lebanon, assassinated in a heinous attack by the Armenian terrorist organization ASALA in Beirut on 16 February 1976,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Twitter.

Over the decades, Armenian terror groups, including the JCAG, the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), and the Armenian Revolutionary Army, carried out many assassinations of Turkish diplomats and their families around the world.

According to data compiled by Anadolu, a total of 77 people – 58 of them Turkish nationals, including 31 diplomats and members of their families – lost their lives in attacks carried out by these terrorist groups from 1973 to 1986.

The terror campaign started in 1973, when Türkiye’s Consul General in Los Angeles Mehmet Baydar and diplomat Bahadir Demir were assassinated by a terrorist named Gourgen Yanikian.

ASALA was the first Armenian terrorist group to launch a campaign against Türkiye. It targeted not only Türkiye but also other countries, and became infamous for a 1975 bomb attack on the Beirut office of the World Council of Churches.

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

The Armenian Revolutionary Army is considered a continuation of the JCAG under a different name.