Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia

Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) Հայաստանի Ազատագրութեան Հայ Գաղտնի Բանակ (ՀԱՀԳԲ)
Logo of the ASALA
Dates of operation	1975[1] to 1986[2]
Leader	Hagop Hagopian[3]
Motives	"To compel the Turkish Government to acknowledge publicly its responsibility for the Armenian Genocide in 1915, pay reparations, and cede territory for an Armenian homeland."[1]
Active region(s)	Lebanon, Greece, France, Italy, United States, Turkey
Ideology	Marxism–Leninism, Greater Armenia
Major actions	Assassination of a number of Turkish diplomats and their relatives. Bombing of Turkish, French and Swiss targets for varying motives. Several minor bombing attacks against US airline offices in Western Europe.
Notable attacks	Esenboga airport attack, Orly airport attack.
Status	Dissolved

The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (Armenian: Հայաստանի Ազատագրութեան Հայ Գաղտնի Բանակ ; Arabic: الجيش السري الأرمني لتحرير أرمينيا‎) or ASALA (ՀԱՀԳԲ) was a Armenian nationalist^[4] militant^[4] organization, that operated from 1975 to 1986.^[5] The group also operated under other names such as The Orly Group and the 3 October Organization.^[6] It is considered a terrorist organization by many sources,^[7][8][9] other sources describe it as guerrilla^[10][11][12] and armed^[13] organization. 46 people were killed and 299 injured as a result of ASALA attacks and assassinations. The stated intention of ASALA was "to compel the Turkish Government to acknowledge publicly its responsibility for the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915, pay reparations, and cede territory for an Armenian homeland".^[14] The principal goal of ASALA was to reestablish historical Armenia that would include eastern Turkey, northern Iran and the Soviet Armenia.^[15] The territory to be ceded would be the area promised to the Armenians at the never-ratified Treaty of Sèvres in 1920 by US President Woodrow Wilson, "Wilsonian Armenia".^[6] ASALA was listed as a terrorist organization by the United States in the 1980s;^[14] it is no longer listed as such. The group's mottos were "The armed struggle and right political line are the way to Armenia", "Viva the revolutionary solidarity of oppressed people!"^[16]

The group received considerable clandestine support from Armenian diaspora in Europe and in the USA.^[17]

Suffering from internal schisms, the group was relatively inactive in the 1990s, although in 1991 it claimed an unsuccessful attack on the Turkish ambassador to Hungary. The organization has not engaged in militant activity since then.^[18]

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 Armenia. The survivors of the massacres and deprivations commonly seen in the death marches found refuge in countries in the Middle 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 Turkey 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 Angeles by Gourgen Yanikian, an elderly man who survived the Armenian Genocide. 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.^[19] ASALA was founded in 1975 in Beirut, Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War by Hagop Hagopian (Harutiun Tagushian), pastor Rev. James Karnusian^[20] and Kevork Ajemian,^[21] a prominent contemporary writer, with the help of sympathetic Palestinians.^[22] At the beginning, ASALA bore the name of "The Prisoner Kurken Yanikian Group".^[23] Consisting primarily of Lebanese-born Armenians of the Diaspora (whose parents and/or grandparents were survivors of the Armenian Genocide), the organization followed a theoretical model based on leftist ideology.^[24] The apex of group's structure was the General Command of the People of Armenia (VAN).^[25] The group's activities were primarily assassinations of Turkish diplomats and politicians in Western Europe, in the United States and the Middle East.^[22] Their first acknowledged killing was the assassination of the Turkish diplomat, Daniş 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.

ASALA, trained in the Beirut camps of Palestine Liberation Organization, is the best known of the guerrilla groups responsible for assassinations of at least 36 Turkish diplomats.^[26] 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.^[19]

Political objectives

1. Force an end to Turkish colonialism, NATO imperialism and Zionism by using revolutionary violence
2. Attack institutions and representatives of Turkey and of countries supporting Turkey
3. Affirm "scientific socialism" as the main ideology of Armenia
4. Use Soviet Armenia as a base against Turkey^[15]

Attacks

See also: List of attacks by ASALA

According to the MIPT website, there had been 84 incidents involving ASALA leaving 46 dead and 299 injured, including the following:^[3]

• 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 (This attack was one of the attacks co-claimed by JCAG).
• 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.
• December 29, 1980 in Madrid, a Spanish journalist, assistant director of the "Pueblo" newspaper, José Antonio Gurriarán 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.^[27]
• March 4, 1981 in the Turkish Embassy in Paris, Reşat Moralı was killed and Tecelli Arı was injured.
• June 9, 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 (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.^[28]
• April 28, 1984 in Turkish Embassy in Tehran, Iran, Işık Yönder was killed.

One of the most criticized attacks of ASALA was Esenboga airport attack on August 7, 1982 in Ankara, 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 Penik a Turk of Armenian descent, set himself on fire in protest of this attack.^{[29][30][31][32]}

Prominent Armenian poet Silva Kaputikyan in 1983 wrote "Its raining my sonny" poem dedicated to the memory of ASALA member Ekmekjian.^[33]

On July 15, 1983, the ASALA carried out another attack at the Orly Airport near Paris, 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.^[34] 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 Melkonian.^[35] 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.^[36] 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 Defferre called [ASALA's] cause "just", and four Armenians arrested for taking hostages at the Turkish Embassy in September 1981 were given light sentences."^[37]

Reactions

ASALA is blamed by international society especially after the Esenboga airport attack which ASALA terrorists attacked the passengers waiting at the restaurant of the airport and killed 9 passengers. Continuous attacks prompted Turkey to accuse Cyprus, Greece, Syria, Lebanon, and the Soviet Union of provoking or possibly funding the ASALA.^[22] Although they publicly distanced themselves from the ASALA,^[22] 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.^[38] 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 International adopted him as a prisoner of conscience, concluding that the evidence against him was baseless.^[38]

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 Glezos and other special guests.^[39]

Counteroffensive

After the ASALA attack against the Esenboğa International Airport in August 1982 the then President of Turkey Kenan Evren issued a decree for the elimination of ASALA. The task was given to the National Intelligence Organization's (Turkish: Millî İstihbarat Teşkilâtı, MİT) 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.^[40][41]

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 led by MİT's Presidential Liaison and Evren's son-in-law, Erkan Gürvit. He was executed nevertheless.^[40][42]

In the early Spring of 1983 two teams were sent to France and Lebanon. Günyol tapped contract killer Abdullah Çatlı, 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.^[43]

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 forces), was led by MİT officer Hiram Abas.^[42]

Çatlı's team was 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.^[44]

Hagopian was assassinated by in succsessful attack of Turkish contrterror team. Hagopian was assassinated outside his home in Athens' Palaio Faliro suburb at 4:30 a.m. on April 28, 1988, while he was waiting for a taxi to take him to the airport for a flight to Belgrade. He was accompanied by his sister-in-law, who was not hurt.

A Greek police official said two armed men got out of a parked car as Hagopian walked out of his apartment building, carrying his luggage. One of the two men opened fire with the sawed-off shotgun, wounding Hagopian in the chest and elbow. As Hagopian tried to flee, the killer ran after him and fired two more slugs into his head and chest. The attack was planned and led by Mete Günyol ^[45]

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, on 19 December 1991, targeted the bullet-proof limousine carrying the Turkish Ambassador to Budapest. The ambassador was not injured in the attack, which was claimed by ASALA in Paris.^[28]

ASALA's founder Hagop Hagopian was assassinated on a sidewalk in an affluent neighborhood in Athens, Greece on April 28, 1988. His body was riddled with several bullets while he was walking with two women at 4:30 in the morning.^[46] Tarakchian died of cancer in 1980. Assassinations of former members continued in Armenia into the late 1990s.^[47]

According to National Intelligence Organization official Nuri Gündeş, ASALA was dissolved after assasination of Hagop Hagopian,other reason is financial backing was withdrawn by the Armenian diaspora after the 1983 Orly airport attack.^[48]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Hunsicker (2006). Understanding International Counter Terrorism. Universal-Publishers. pp. 431. ISBN 158112905X. http://books.google.com/?id=K4XefrTlSygC&pg=PA431&lpg=PA431&dq=%22to+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%22. 
2. ^ Roy, Olivier. Turkey Today: A European Nation? p. 170. Roy suggests that the Orly incident led to "dissension end[ing] in the settling of scores in which ASALA militants killed each other in their camp at Bekaa (Al-Biqa, Lebanon)... (It) practically disappeared. It resurfaced once again, however, to assassinate important members of the Lebanese section of the Dashnak Party (March 1985 – May 1986)."
3. ^ ^{a b} Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base
4. ^ ^{a b} Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia - Copyright © 2010 Farlex, Inc.
5. ^ Roy, Olivier. Turkey Today: A European Nation? p. 170. Roy suggests that the Orly incident led to "dissension end[ing] in the settling of scores in which ASALA militants killed each other in their camp at Bekaa (Al-Biqa, Lebanon)... (It) practically disappeared. It resurfaced once again, however, to assassinate important members of the Lebanese section of the Dashnak Party (March 1985 - May 1986)."
6. ^ ^{a b} Pitman, Paul M. Turkey: A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: The Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress, 283, 354-355 OCLC 17841957
7. ^ John E. Jessup. An encyclopedic dictionary of conflict and conflict resolution, 1945—1996. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998. ISBN 0-313-28112-2, 9780313281129, стр. 39
8. ^ Michel Wieviorka, David Gordon White. The making of terrorism. University of Chicago Press, 1993. ISBN 0-226-89650-1, 9780226896502, p. 256
9. ^ Bruce Hoffman. Inside terrorism. Columbia University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-231-12699-9, 9780231126991, p. 71
10. ^ Remembring with Vengeance, by Pico Iyer // Time magazine, № 32, 8 Aug, 1983
11. ^ The Caucasus: an introduction, by Frederik Coene, 2009 - 238 pages, p. 221
12. ^ The history of Turkey, by Douglas Arthur Howard - 2001 - 241 pages, p. 161
13. ^ Untold Histories of the Middle East, by Amy Singer, Christoph Neumann, Selcuk Somel - 2010 - 240 pages, p. 27
14. ^ ^{a b} U.S. Department of State. "Appendix B". Patterns of Global Terrorism Report - 1996. 
15. ^ ^{a b} Terrorist Group Profiles. DIANE Publishing, 1989. p. 32
16. ^ G. Yazchian, Three days ago this day was born ASALA // Azg daily, Yerevan, January 20, 2005
17. ^ Encyclopedia of terrorism. Harvey W. Kushner. SAGE, 2003. p. 47
18. ^ Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA). GlobalSecurity.org
19. ^ ^{a b} Kurz & Merari, Anat & Ariel (1985). JCSS Study No. 2 ASALA - Irrational Terror or Political Tool. Jerusalem: The Jerusalem Post. pp. 3. ISBN 0-8133-0324-9. 
20. ^ Rev. James Karnusian, retired pastor and one of three persons to establish ASALA, dies in Switzerland // The Armenian Reporter International, 18 april 1998.
21. ^ "Kevork Ajemian, Prominent Contemporary Writer and Surviving Member of Triumvirate Which Founded ASALA, Dies in Beirut, Lebanon", Armenian Reporter, 1999-02-01
22. ^ ^{a b c d} "Political Interest Groups", Turkey: A Country Study ed. Helen Chapin Metz. Washington, D.C.: The Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress, 283, 354-355 OCLC 17841957
23. ^ Near East/South Asia Report‎, by United States Foreign Broadcast Information Service, United States Joint Publications Research Service, 1987, p. 3
24. ^ Roy, Olivier. Turkey Today: A European Nation? p. 169.
25. ^ The Middle East Annual: Issues & Events, 1984, edited by David H. Partington, p. 155
26. ^ Iyer, Pico (1983-08-08). "Long Memories". TIME 32. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,955176,00.html. Retrieved 2008-09-02. 
27. ^ GENTE José Antonio Gurriarán, El Pais, April 4, 1982. "Subdirector del diario Pueblo, relatará en su libro La bomba, que será publicado en el próximo mes de abril, el atentado de que fue víctima en la Gran Vía de Madrid el 29 de diciembre de 1980, hecho del que luego se responsabilizaría el grupo armenio Octubre 3. El autor entrevista en el libro a los miembros del comando que activaron las dos cargas de Goma 2."
28. ^ ^{a b} "ASALA attacked Diplomatic target". MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base. Hungary. 1981-12-19. Archived from the original on 2007-08-27. http://web.archive.org/web/20070827173744/http://www.tkb.org/Incident.jsp?incID=6723. 
29. ^ Oran, Baskın (2006-12-17). "The Reconstruction of Armenian Identity in Turkey and the Weekly Agos (Interview with Hrant Dink)". Nouvelles d'Armenie. http://www.armenews.com/article.php3?id_article=27696. Retrieved 2008-09-02. 
30. ^ "Armenian Issue: Chronology". Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism. http://www.kultur.gov.tr/EN/BelgeGoster.aspx?17A16AE30572D313A781CAA92714FCE0A3216081A23BEF0D. Retrieved 2007-02-21. ^{[dead link]}
31. ^ "He was an Armenian: Artin Penik". Turkish Journal. http://www.turkishjournal.com/i.php?newsid=361. Retrieved 2007-02-21. 
32. ^ "Armenian Dies from Self-Inflicted Burns". Associated Press. 1982-08-15. 
33. ^ Spurk Journal, #1-12, 2005, Beirut, p. 35.
34. ^ Baghdasaryan, Edik (2007-11-26). "He Was a Man Deeply Connected to the Natural World". Hetq Online. http://www.hetq.am/eng/society/7332/. Retrieved 2008-09-02. 
35. ^ Harvey W. Kushner. Encyclopedia of terrorism. SAGE, 2002. ISBN 0761924086, 9780761924081, стр 47
36. ^ "French Hold Armenians In Orly Airport Bombing", Associated Press, New York Times, October 9, 1983.
37. ^ Echikson, William. "Armenian bombing at Orly ends pact between Socialists and terrorists", Christian Science Monitor, July 19, 1983.
38. ^ ^{a b} Tessa, Hofmann. Armenians in Turkey today
39. ^ Arax Monthly, #4, 2000, Tehran, p. 4
40. ^ ^{a b} Mercan, Faruk (2004-09-06). "Asala operasyonlarını Kenan Evren'in kızı yönetti" (in Turkish). Aksiyon (Feza Gazetecilik A.Ş.) 509. http://www.aksiyon.com.tr/detay.php?id=15119. Retrieved 2008-12-13. ^{[dead link]}
41. ^ "Evren: Kızım MİT'te çalışıyordu" (in Turkish). Sabah. 2004-09-08. http://www.sabah.com.tr/2004/09/08/siy112.html. Retrieved 2008-12-13. ^{[dead link]}
42. ^ ^{a b} Kilic, Ecevit (2008-09-28). "ASALA operasyonları efsane mi?" (in Turkish). Sabah. http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2008/09/28/haber,B5E3B51FA2F94618A781886CB7B3B590.html. Retrieved 2008-12-25. 
43. ^ Erdem, Ali Kemal (2007-10-17). "Çatlı'yı kullandık ve başarılı oldu" (in Turkish). Sabah. http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2007/10/17//haber,D6295FFF00984E8D827CBD646EDB8918.html. Retrieved 2009-01-02. "Benim gerçek kimliğim mi? Bunu hiçbir zaman bilmedi. Bana 'Albayım' derdi, çünkü beni askerlikten ayrılmış sanıyordu" 
44. ^ Kilic, Ecevit (2008-09-28). "Boş konser salonu bombalandı" (in Turkish). Sabah. http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2008/09/28/haber,6BC4820941214D84A08DD404742B2C6F.html. Retrieved 2008-12-25. 
45. ^ http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2007/10/19/haber,7FE33432923A4F41A8DFC740317407DA.html
46. ^ Melkonian, Markar. My Brother's Road: An American's Fateful Journey to Armenia. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005 pg. 187.
47. ^ Melkonian, Markar. My Brother's Road: An American's Fateful Journey to Armenia. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, pp. 277-278.
48. ^ Birand, Mehmet Ali (2008-12-21). "Thanks to Nuri Gündeş". Turkish Daily News (Hürriyet). http://arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=-599507. Retrieved 2008-12-21. "It was the raid of Paris's Orly Airport in 1983 that finished the ASALA off. Feeling ill at ease by the raid, the French and U.S. Armenians who used to support ASALA monetarily stopped the aid and the issue was closed. I know this through French authorities that were involved. The ones that were instrumental in the stopping of the aid were MİT and the Foreign Ministry. Otherwise, ASALA did not yield because it was afraid of the Turkish bullies. They were stopped because they had gone too far with their murders." 

External links

• Attacks attributed to ASALA on the START terrorism database