The
Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (
ASALA) was a
Marxist-LeninistMarxism-Leninism is a communist ideological stream that emerged as the mainstream tendency among the Communist parties in the 1920s as it was adopted as the ideological foundation of the Communist International during Stalin's era....
militantThe word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, comes from the 15th Century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier". The related modern concept of the militia as a defensive organization against invaders grew out of the Anglo-Saxon "fyrd"...
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 responsibility for the
deaths of 1.5 million ArmeniansThe Armenian Genocide , also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Calamity , was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
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 never-
ratifiedRatification is the act of approving and paying for supplies or services provided to and accepted by the government as a result of an unauthorized commitment. It gives official sanction or approval to a formal document such as a treaty or constitution...
Treaty of SèvresThe Treaty of Sèvres was the peace treaty between the Ottoman Empire and Allies at the end of World War I. The Treaty of Versailles was signed with Germany before this treaty to annul the German concessions including the economic rights and enterprises. Also, France, Great Britain and Italy...
in 1920 by
US PresidentThe President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition...
Woodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States. A leading intellectual of the Progressive Era, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
, "
Wilsonian ArmeniaWilsonian Armenia refers to the boundary configuration for Armenian state drawn up by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson for the Treaty of Sèvres. The Treaty of Sèvres was a peace treaty signed by some of the Allies of World War I, on 10 August 1920...
". ASALA was listed as a
terroristTerrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.At present, there is no internationally agreed definition of terrorism...
organization by the United States in 1980s. The group's mottos were "The armed struggle and right political line are the way to Armenia", "Viva the revolutionary solidarity of oppressed people!"
Suffering from internal schisms, the group was relatively inactive in the 1990s, although in 1991 it claimed an unsuccessful attack on Turkish Ambassador to
HungaryHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
. The organization has not engaged in militant activity since then.
Origins
Over 60 years had passed since the Ottoman Empire had embarked on the campaign to exterminate its Armenian population, which was largely concentrated in its eastern provinces and referred to at the time as
Western ArmeniaWestern Armenia , also referred to as Byzantine Armenia, later Turkish Armenia, or Ottoman Armenia is a term coined following the division of Greater Armenia between Byzantine Empire and Persia in 387 AD.-History:After the death of Armenian king Arshak III in 390 AD, Western Armenia was governed...
. The survivors of the massacres and deprivations commonly seen in the death marches found refuge in countries in the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and in Western Europe and the USA. While the key ringleaders of the genocide were executed in the 1920s by Armenians, the Ottoman Empire's successor, the Republic of Turkey, effectively took a hold of all the possessions Armenians left behind and for decades vociferously insisted that a genocide had not taken place. It actively campaigned against any and all attempts to publicise the events and bring forward recognition in the West. It, in fact, blamed Armenians for instigating the violence and alleged that Armenians had massacred thousands of Turks, prompting the commencement of their deportations. In 1965, Armenians around the world publicly marked the 50th anniversary and began to campaign for world recognition. As peaceful marches and demonstrations failed to move an intransigent Turkey, the younger generation of Armenians, resentful at the
denial by TurkeyDenial of the Armenian Genocide is the assertion that the Armenian Genocide did not occur in the manner or to the extent described by scholarship....
and the failure by their parents' generation to effect change, sought new approaches to bringing about recognition and reparations.
In 1973 two Turkish diplomats were assassinated in
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
by
Gourgen YanikianGourgen Mkrtich Yanikian was an Armenian author, engineer and an Armenian Genocide survivor who assassinated two Turkish consular officials in California in 1973.-Biography:...
, an elderly man who survived the
Armenian GenocideThe Armenian Genocide , also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Calamity , was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
. Behind this act of revenge lay a national reawakening among the scattered Armenians in the world, which had begun in the end of the 1960s and early 1970s. This event might have been progressively forgotten, had it not initiated a chain of events which turned it, and its perpetrator, into a symbol representing the end of the conspiracy of silence which since 1915 had surrounded the Armenian Genocide. ASALA was founded in 1975 in
BeirutBeirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon with a population of over 2.1 million as of 2007. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's coastline with the Mediterranean sea, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan Area, which...
,
LebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon
[Republic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies...]
during the
Lebanese Civil WarThe Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in the nation of Lebanon in the Middle East. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 130,000 to 250,000 civilian fatalities...
by
Hagop HagopianHagop Hagopian was one of the founders and the main leader of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia .- Life :...
(Harutiun Tagushian), pastor Rev.
James KarnusianRev. James Karnusian was a Swiss-Armenian pastor, writer and public activist, allegedly one of the founders of Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia militant organization....
and
Kevork AjemianKevork Vartani Ajemian was a prominent Armenian writer, journalist, novelist, theorist and public activist, one of the founders of Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia military organization.-Biography:Ajemian was born in Manbij, near Aleppo, Syria in a family of Armenian Genocide...
, a prominent contemporary writer, with the help of sympathetic Palestinians. At the beginning, ASALA bore the name of "The Prisoner
Kurken YanikianGourgen Mkrtich Yanikian was an Armenian author, engineer and an Armenian Genocide survivor who assassinated two Turkish consular officials in California in 1973.-Biography:...
Group". Consisting primarily of Lebanese-born Armenians of the Diaspora (whose parents and/or grandparents were survivors of the
Armenian GenocideThe Armenian Genocide , also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Calamity , was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
), the organization followed a theoretical model based on leftist ideology. The apex of group's structure was the General Command of the People of Armenia (
VAN).
The group's activities were primarily assassinations of Turkish diplomats and politicians in
Western EuropeWestern Europe is the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of Central Europe...
, in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. Their first acknowledged killing was the assassination of the Turkish diplomat,
Daniş TunalıgilDaniş Tunalıgil was a Turkish diplomat. He was assassinated by ASALA in 1975 during his duty as the Turkish ambassador to Austria.On October 22, 1975, three gunmen armed with automatic weapons entered his office in the Turkish Embassy in Vienna, Austria after disarming the security guards at the gate...
, in
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
on October 22, 1975. A failed attack in
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
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.
ASALA, trained in the Beirut camps of
Palestine Liberation OrganizationThe Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization founded in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people," by over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed observer status at the United...
, is the best known of the guerilla groups responsible for assassinations of at least 36 Turkish diplomats. Since 1975, a couple of dozen Turkish diplomats or members of their families had been targeted in a couple of dozens of attacks, with the outcome that the Armenian revenge, as well as the background to the Armenian struggle, have made it through the world press. These notable acts, while practically carried out by a small group, were successful in conveying the Armenian Genocide and its silence to the forefront of international awareness.
Attacks
According to the
MIPTThe National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism is a non-profit organization in the United States founded in response to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing...
website, there had been 84 incidents involving ASALA leaving 46 dead and 299 injured, including the following:
- February 16, 1976 in Turkish Embassy in Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon with a population of over 2.1 million as of 2007. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's coastline with the Mediterranean sea, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan Area, which...
, Oktar Cirit was killed.
- October 12, 1979 in Turkish Embassy in the Hague, Ahmet Benler, the son of the Ambassador Özdemir Benler, was killed (This attack was one of the attacks co-claimed by JCAG.
- July 31, 1980 in Turkish Embassy in Athens
Athens , the capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the world's oldest cities, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
, 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.
- December 29, 1980 in Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-most populous city by urban area in the European Union after Paris and London.The city is located on the river...
, a SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
journalist, assistant director of the "Pueblo" newspaper, José Antonio GurriaránJosé Antonio Gurriarán is a Spanish journalist, assistant director of the "Pueblo" newspaper.Being accidentally injured during an 3 October Organization attack in Madrid, in December 29, 1980, he was interested what the group's purposes were, he found and interviewed Armenian Secret Army for the...
was accidentally injured during an October 3 group attack. Then Gurriarán was interested what the group's purposes were; he found and interviewed ASALA members. In 1982 his "La Bomba" book was published, dedicated to the Armenian cause and Armenian militant's struggle.
- March 4, 1981 in the Turkish Embassy in Paris
Paris is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Reşat Moralı was killed and Tecelli Arı was injured.
- June 9, 1981 in the Turkish Consulate in Geneva
Geneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
, Mehmet Savaş Yergüz was killed.
- September 24, 1981 in Turkish Consulate in Paris, 56 Turks were held hostage in the embassy by ASALA militants (none of the hostages were harmed), Turkish guard Cemal Özen was killed. ASALA members demanded the Turkish government free Armenian political prisoners within 12 hours and fly them to Paris. After 15 hours they surrendered peacefully requesting political asylum from the French government.
- April 28, 1984 in Turkish Embassy in Tehran
Tehran is the capital and largest city of Iran, and the administrative center of Tehran Province. Tehran is a sprawling city at the foot of the Tochal mountain range with an immense network of highways unparalleled in Western Asia...
, IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
, Işık Yönder was killed.
One of the most criticized attacks of ASALA was
Esenboga airport attackEsenboga airport attack was an attack on Esenboğa airport in Ankara, Turkey, perpetrated by the "Pierre Gulumian commando" group from the Armenian militant organization ASALA on August 7, 1982....
on August 7, 1982 in
AnkaraAnkara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2007 the city had a population of 4,751,360, which includes eight districts under the city's administration...
, 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.
On August 10, 1982,
Artin PenikArtin Penik was a Turkish-Armenian who committed suicide by self-immolation in protest of the terrorist Esenboga airport attack by the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia on August 10 1982.Penik, a 61-year-old, self-employed tailor, set himself on fire in Taksim plaza, the main...
a
Turk of Armenian descentArmenians in Turkey have an estimated population of 40,000 to 70,000. Most are concentrated around Istanbul. The Armenians support their own newspapers and schools...
, set himself on fire in protest of this attack.
Prominent Armenian poet
Silva KaputikyanSirvard Barunaki "Silva" Kaputikyan was a 20th century prominent Armenian poet, writer, academian and public activist...
in 1983 wrote "Its raining my sonny" poem dedicated to the memory of ASALA member Ekmekjian.
On July 15, 1983, the ASALA carried out another
attackThe Orly Airport attack was the 15 July 1983 bombing of a Turkish Airlines check-in counter at Orly Airport in Paris, France, by the Armenian militant organization ASALA as part of its campaign for the recognition of and reparations for the Armenian Genocide...
at the
Orly AirportParis - Orly Airport is an airport located partially in Orly and partially in Villeneuve-le-Roi, south of Paris, France. It has flights to cities in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean, and North America. Prior to the construction of Charles de Gaulle Airport, Orly was the main...
near
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, in which 8 people were killed, most of them being French citizens. The attack resulted in a split in ASALA, between those individuals who carried it out, and those who believed the attack to be counter productive.
The split resulted in emergence of two groups, the Nationalists (
ASALA-Militant) led by Hagopian and the 'Revolutionary Movement' (
ASALA-Mouvement Révolutionnaire) led by
Monte MelkonianMonte Melkonian was a famed Armenian military commander in the Nagorno-Karabakh war. He is largely credited for major military victories against Azerbaijan from the late autumn of 1992 to his death in June 1993...
. 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.
Afterwards, French forces promptly arrested those involved. Moreover, this attack eliminated the suspected secret agreement that the French socialist government made with ASALA, in which the government would allow ASALA to use France as a base of operations in exchange for refraining from launching attacks on French soil. Belief in this suspected agreement was further bolstered after "Interior Minister
Gaston DefferreGaston Defferre was a French socialist politician.Lawyer and member of the French Section of the Workers' International political party, he was a member of the Brutus Network, a Resistance Socialist group during World War II...
called [ASALA's] cause "just," and four Armenians arrested for taking hostages at the Turkish Embassy in September 1981 were given light sentences."
Reactions
Continuous attacks prompted Turkey to accuse
CyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country situated in the eastern Mediterranean, south of Turkey and west of Syria and Lebanon....
,
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
,
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
,
LebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon
[Republic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies...]
, and the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
of provoking or possibly funding the ASALA. 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 BenlerAhmet Benler was the son of Özdemir Benler, the Turkish ambassador to Netherlands. He was assassinated in October 12, 1979. His assassination was claimed separately by ASALA and JCAG- Capture and trial of the alleged assassin :...
on October 12, 1979 by Armenian militants in
the HagueThe Hague is the third largest city in the Netherlands after Amsterdam and Rotterdam, with a population of 485,818 and an area of approximately 100 km²...
. The reaction to the attack led to the bombing of the church of the Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate in
IstanbulIstanbul is the largest city in Turkey and fifth largest city proper in the world with a population of 12.6 million. Istanbul is also a megacity, as well as the cultural and financial centre of Turkey. The city covers 39 districts of the Istanbul province...
on October 19 in retaliation. In 1980, the Turkish government arrested Armenian priest Fr. Manuel Yergatian at the Istanbul airport for the alleged possession of maps that indicated Armenian territory within modern day Turkey and was sentenced to 14 years in prison for possible ties with ASALA.
Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international secular non-governmental organisation which defines its mission as "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated." Founded in London in 1961, AI...
adopted him as a prisoner of conscience, concluding that the evidence against him was baseless.
According to
Tessa HofmannTessa Hofmann is a scholar of Armenian studies and sociology, PhD, Professor of Free University of Berlin. She studied at the Department of Slavonic Languages and Literature, as well as Armenian studies and sociology at the Free University of Berlin....
, Turkish officials frequently used the accusation of collaboration with the ASALA and foreign Armenian circles to incriminate extreme left-wing Turkish opposition groups.
In April, 2000 the opening ceremony of "In Memory of killed ASALA commandos" monument took place at Armenian military pantheon with participation of Greek anti-fascist resistance leader
Manolis GlezosManolis Glezos is a Greek left wing politician and writer, worldwide known especially for his participation in the World War II resistance. He was born on September 9, 1922 in the village of Apiranthos , Naxos. He moved to Athens in 1935 together with his family, where he finished high school....
and other special guests.
Counteroffensive
After the ASALA attack against the
Esenboğa International AirportEsenboğa International Airport , is an airport located east of Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It has been operating since 1955. The name of the airport comes from the village of Esenboğa , which literally means "healthy bull"....
in August 1982 the then President of Turkey
Kenan EvrenAhmet Kenan Evren was the seventh president of Turkey; a post he assumed by leading the 1980 military coup.- Biography :...
issued a decree for the elimination of ASALA. The task was given to the
National Intelligence OrganizationThe National Intelligence Organization is the governmental intelligence organization of Turkey. It was established in 1965 to replace the National Security Service....
's Foreign Operations Department. Evren's own daughter, a member of the MİT, ran the operation together with Foreign Intelligence Department chief Metin (Mete) Günyol, and Istanbul region director Nuri Gündeş.
Levon Ekmekjian was captured and placed in Ankara's Mamak Prison. He was told that he had to choose between confessing and being executed. After being promised that his comrades would not be harmed, he revealed how the ASALA worked to a team lead by MİT's Presidential Liaison and Evren's son-in-law, Erkan Gürvit. He was executed nevertheless.
In the early Spring of 1983 two teams were sent to France and Lebanon. Günyol tapped contract killer
Abdullah ÇatlıAbdullah Çatlı was a Turkish convicted drug trafficker, and contract killer for the Counter-Guerrilla. He led the youth branch of the ultra-nationalist Nationalist Movement Party ....
, who had just finished serving a prison sentence in Switzerland for drug trafficking, to lead the French contingent. Günyol says he did not reveal his identity to Çatlı, who referred to him as "Colonel", thinking Günyol used to be a soldier.
A second French unit was assembled under MİT operative Sabah Ketene. The Lebanese contingent, consisting only of MİT operatives and members of the “Special Warfare Department” (
special forcesSpecial forces and special operations forces are generic terms for elite highly-trained military teams/units that conduct specialized operations such as reconnaissance, unconventional warfare, direct action and counter-terrorism actions.In the United States, the term special operations forces is...
), was led by MİT officer Hiram Abas.
Çatlı's team was ineffectual. The bomb planted in Ara Toranyan's car on 22 March 1983 did not explode. A follow-up attempt also failed. Toranyan said they had planted the bomb in the wrong car. Likewise, Henri Papazyan's car bomb on 1 May 1984 did not explode. Çatlı claimed credit for killing Hagop Hagopian, however he was in a French prison (again, on narcotics charges) at the time of the attack. Papazyan is now believed to have been killed as a result of infighting. The second French team (led by Ketene) did carry out some attacks (which Çatlı also claimed credit for), such as the 1984 Alfortville monument and Salle Pleyel concert room attacks. It is unknown whether the Lebanese contingent did anything at all.
After the ASALA counteroffensives, Çatlı gravitated to the police force, under the leadership of
Mehmet AğarMehmet Kemal Ağar is a Turkish politician and former leader of the Democratic Party.- Political career :...
. Meanwhile, the MİT established its own Counter-Terrorism department, which considered Çatlı and Ağar competitors. The MİT attempted to purge the two in an "accident"; the
Susurluk car crashThe Susurluk scandal refers to the events surrounding the peak of the Turkey–Kurdistan Workers' Party conflict, in the mid-1990s. It is considered a scandal because it indicated a relationship between the government, the armed forces, and organized crime...
. Ağar was forewarned so he was able to save his life by not taking the car that Çatlı died in.
Dissolution
With the
Israeli invasion of LebanonThe 1982 Lebanon War , , called Operation Peace for Galilee by Israel, and later also known colloquially in Israel as the First Lebanon War, began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon...
in 1982 the group lost much of its organization and support. Sympathetic Palestinian organizations including the
Palestine Liberation OrganizationThe Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization founded in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people," by over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed observer status at the United...
(PLO) withdrew their support and passed materials to the French intelligence services in 1983, detailing ASALA operatives. The last attack, on 19 December 1991, targeted the bullet-proof limousine carrying the Turkish Ambassador to
BudapestBudapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it serves as the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation center and is considered an important hub in Central Europe. In 2009, Budapest had 1,712,210 inhabitants, down from a mid-1980s...
. The ambassador was not injured in the attack, which was claimed by ASALA in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
ASALA's founder Hagop Hagopian was assassinated on a sidewalk in an affluent neighborhood in
AthensAthens , the capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the world's oldest cities, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
,
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
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
cancerCancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis...
in 1980. Assassinations of former members continued in
ArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
into the late 1990s.
According to
National Intelligence OrganizationThe National Intelligence Organization is the governmental intelligence organization of Turkey. It was established in 1965 to replace the National Security Service....
official Nuri Gündeş, ASALA was dissolved after its financial backing was withdrawn by the Armenian diaspora after the 1983
Orly airport attackThe Orly Airport attack was the 15 July 1983 bombing of a Turkish Airlines check-in counter at Orly Airport in Paris, France, by the Armenian militant organization ASALA as part of its campaign for the recognition of and reparations for the Armenian Genocide...
.