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The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) was a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla organization, that operated from 1975 to 1986. The group also operated under other names such as The Orly Group and the 3 October Organization. The stated intention of ASALA was "to compel the Turkish Government to acknowledge publicly its alleged responsibility for the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915, pay reparations, and cede territory for an Armenian homeland". The territory to be ceded would be the area promised to the Armenians at the Treaty of Sèvres in 1920 (which never came into effect) by US President Woodrow Wilson, "Wilsonian Armenia". ASALA was listed as a terrorist organization by the United States in 1980s.

History

The ASALA was founded in 1975 in Beirut, Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War by Hagop Hagopian (Harutiun Tagushian) with the help of diasporan Armenian intellectuals like Simon Simonian and Kevork Ajemian and sympathetic Palestinians. The group's activities were primarily assassinations of Turkish diplomats and politicians in Western Europe, in the United States and the Middle East. Their first acknowledged killing was the assassination of the Turkish diplomat, Danış Tunalıgil, in Vienna on October 22, 1975. A failed attack in Geneva on October 3, 1980, in which two Armenian militants were injured resulted in a new nickname for the group, the 3 October Organization. The ASALA's eight point manifesto was published in 1981.

Continuous attacks prompted Turkey to accuse Cyprus, Greece, Syria, Lebanon, and the Soviet Union of provoking or possibly funding the ASALA, though nothing of this sort was ever found to be true. Although they publicly distanced themselves from the ASALA, Turkey's Armenian community came under attack by Turkish nationalists in reaction to the group's actions. This became apparent after the assassination of Ahmet Benler on October 12, 1979 by Armenian militants in the Hague. The reaction to the attack led to the bombing of the church of the Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate in Istanbul on October 19 in retaliation. Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink once said in an interview with Vatan, referring to that period, "we, Armenians in Turkey, used to go around with our heads hanging low."

Major attacks

The ASALA's most infamous attack was on August 7, 1982 in Ankara at the Esenboğa International Airport, when its members targeted non-diplomat civilians for the first time. Two militants opened fire in a crowded passenger waiting room. One of the shooters took more than 20 hostages while the second was apprehended by police. Altogether, nine people died and 82 were injured. The arrested militant Levon Ekmekjian condemned the ASALA in the aftermath of the attack and appealed to other members to leave and stop the violence. The Esenboga attack also precipitated a split in the group over tactics, between the Nationalists (ASALA-Militant) led by Hagopian and the 'Popular Movement' (ASALA-Mouvement Révolutionnaire) led by Monte Melkonian. While Melkonian's faction insisted on attacks strictly against Turkish officials and the Turkish government, Hagopian's group disregarded the losses of unintended victims and regularly executed dissenting members. On August 10, 1982, Artin Penik a Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, set himself on fire in protest of this attack.

On July 15, 1983, the ASALA carried out another devastating attack at the Orly Airport near Paris, in which 8 people were killed. The attack gave the group a new nickname, the Orly Group. Afterwards, French forces promptly arrested those involved.

Other noteworthy attacks

According to MIPT website, there had been 84 incidents involving ASALA leaving 46 people dead, and 299 people injured.

• February 16, 1976 in Turkish Embassy in Beirut, Oktar Cirit was killed
• October 12, 1979 in Turkish Embassy in the Hague, Ahmet Benler, the son of the Ambassador Özdemir Benler, was killed
• July 31, 1980 in Turkish Embassy in Athens, Galip Özmen and his 14 year old daughter Neslihan were killed in the Turkish consulate. Galip Özmen's wife Sevil Özmen and their son Kaan survived the attack with injuries
• March 4th, 1981 in the Turkish Embassy in Paris, Reşat Moralı was killed and Tecelli Arı was injured
• June 9th, 1981 in the Turkish Consulate in Geneva, Mehmet Savaş Yergüz was killed
• September 24, 1981 in Turkish Consulate in Paris, 56 Turks were held hostage in the embassy by ASALA militants, Cemal Özen was killed.
• April 28, 1984 in Turkish Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Işık Yönder was killed

Dissolution

With the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 the group lost much of its organization and support. Sympathetic Palestinian organizations including the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) withdrew their support and passed materials to the French intelligence services in 1983, detailing ASALA operatives. The last attack committed by the ASALA was the assassination of Armenian Revolutionary Federation party member Zaven Tashjian in Beirut in 1986. Another attack with alleged ASALA involvement occurred in Beirut the following year when unidentified gunmen opened fire killing two French embassy guards and wounding another. An alleged spokesman for the group claimed responsibility, though others denied involvement.

It was clear that the group's existence was over when its founder Hagop Hagopian was assassinated on a sidewalk in an affluent neighborhood in Athens, Greece on April 28, 1988. His assailants, Hovsep A., Vartan G., Garabed K., and Albert "Sultan-Minas", were all former ASALA members and lieutenants of Hagopian. His body was riddled with several bullets while he was walking with two women at 4:30 in the morning. Tarakchian died of cancer in 1980. Assassinations of former members continued in Armenia into the late 1990s. According to Turkish sources, the ASALA was repressed by a series of attacks by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT), some carried out by Abdullah Çatlı, leader of the ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves, which worked in cooperation with the MIT and with Gladio, "stay-behind" secret NATO paramilitary organizations.

See also

• Justice Commandos Against Armenian Genocide (JCAG)
• Armenian Genocide
• Denial of the Armenian Genocide
• Monte Melkonian

External links

Non-partisan sources:

• Groups Listed as Terrorist in Prior Editions of "Patterns of Global Terrorism": ASALA Profile (Internet Archive). United States Department of State Publication 10321

From an Armenian perspective:

• ASALA Online

From a Turkish perspective:

• Chronology of Armenian Terrorism

References

1. ^ Pitman, Paul M. Turkey: A Country Study. Washington D.C.: The Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress, 283, 354-355
2. ^ U.S. Department of State. "Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA)". Retrieved 2007-01-26.
3. Dr. Tessa Hofmann, Armenians In Turkey Today, the EU Office of Armenian Associations of Europe, 2002.
4. Hrant Dink Interview with Vatan Newspaper, 02.10.2005
5. Oran, Baskın (2006-12-17). "The Reconstruction of Armenian Identity in Turkey and the Weekly Agos (Interview with Hrant Dink)". Nouvelles d'Armenie. Retrieved 2007-02-21. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |1= and |coauthors= (help)
6. "Armenian Issue, Allegations-Facts, Chronology". Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Republic of Turkey. Retrieved 2007-02-21.
7. "He was an Armenian: Artin Penik". Turkish Journal. Retrieved 2007-02-21.
8. "Armenian Dies from Self-Inflicted Burns". Associated Press. 1982-08-15. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
9. The Associated Press. French Hold Armenians In Orly Airport Bombing. October 9, 1983
10. http://www.tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=258
11. "ASALA attacked Other target. (1986-03-03, Lebanon)". MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
12. "ASALA and Other Group attacked Diplomatic target. (1987-12-29, Lebanon". MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
13. Melkonian, Markar. My Brother's Road: An American's Fateful Journey to Armenia. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005 p.187
14. Melkonian, My Brother's Road, pp. 277-278
15. Template:Tr icon "Ağca basit bir kukla değil" (PDF). Cumhuriyet. January 2006.

• 1975 establishments
• Defunct Armenian paramilitary organizations
• Armenian Genocide
• Former designated terrorist organizations
• Turkophobia