Number 6 | May 16, 2007
On May 4, 1982 a gunman assassinated Turkish Honorary Consul General Orhan Gunduz in Boston, while he was waiting in his automobile in rush-hour traffic. An Armenian terrorist organization, Justice Commandos against Armenian Genocide (JCAG) claimed responsibility. Orhan Gunduz was not a career diplomat and a respected member of the Turkish American community in Boston. The assassination occurred six weeks after Mr. Gunduz was wounded in a bomb attack at his gift shop, before which JCAG threatened Mr. Gunduz to either resign as Honorary Consul or be executed. To help solve the murder of Orhan Gunduz, local television and newspapers utilized a composite drawing based on information provided by a witness. When the witness was subsequently gunned-down, all community efforts to help apprehend the assassin came to a halt. The murder of Orhan Gunduz remains unsolved.
The killing spree by Armenian terrorist organizations began nine years before the assassination of Mr.Gunduz, on January 27, 1973 in Los Angeles. Turkish Consul General to Los Angeles Mehmet Baydar and Vice Consul Bahadir Demir were killed in cold blood by an Armenian named Kourken Yanikian at the Baltimore Hotel in Santa Barbara. He lured the two diplomats to the hotel by saying that he wished to present a painting as a gift to Turkey. Yanikian was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was paroled by California Governor George Deukmejian, of Armenian descent, after serving less than 11 years in prison for two murders. The anniversary of this killing was “marked” by Armenian terrorists on January 28, 1982 with the murder of Turkish Consul General to Los Angeles Kemal Arikan, as he was waiting at an intersection in his car.
The terror campaign of Armenian organizations worldwide continued until 1995 with a total of 110 acts of terror carried out by Armenian terrorists in 38 cities and 21 countries. 42 Turkish diplomats, including family members, and 4 foreign nationals were murdered in these attacks; 15 Turks and 66 foreign nationals were wounded.
During the time of the killings of innocent men, women and children, Armenian organizations and leaders in the United States, rather than condemning the terrorism, celebrated the terrorists as heroes. As recently as in 1999, Mourad Topalian, the then chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), was indicted by a grand jury in Ohio on charges of participating in the 1980 bombing of the Turkish Mission in New York City. At the time of his arrest, the FBI identified Topalian as a suspected leader of the Justice Commandoes of the Armenian Genocide. Topalian was sentenced in 2001 to 37 months in prison for storing stolen explosives, which prosecutors insisted were used in the Turkish Mission bombing, and owning two machine guns. When the federal charges were filed, Topalian resigned from his post at the ANCA, but continued to receive support from Armenian Americans nationwide for his legal defense fund through concerts and other fundraisers.
