Terrorists led by members of the terrorist organizations ASALA (Armenian Secret Army for the liberation of Armenia), JCAG (Justice Commandos for the Armenian genocide) and ARA (Armenian Revolutionary Army) perpetrated attacks targeting our diplomats and their families during the 1970s and 1980s. In this context, first in 1973, our Consul General in Los Angeles Mehmet Baydar and Consul Bahadır Demir were martyred by an Armenian terrorist. Then, attacks related to Armenian terrorist organizations began in Vienna when Ambassador Daniş Tunalıgil was martyred on 22 October 1975, and subsequently seventy seven people in total, among them fifty eight Turkish citizens (including thirty one diplomats and their families), lost their lives and a great number of others were wounded.

Besides the attacks perpetrated by Armenian terrorists, Çetin Görgü, Deputy Press Attaché of our Embassy in Athens, and Ömer Haluk Sipahioğlu, Counsellor of our above-mentioned Embassy, were martyred in Athens by the terrorist organization of November 17, respectively in 1991 and 1994. In addition, in 1993 Çağlar Yücel, Administrative Attaché of our Embassy in Baghdad, and in 2004 Security Attachés Nihat Akbaş, Bilal Urgen, Adem Çiçek, Bülent Kıranşal and Süleyman Karahasanoğlu fell as martyrs in Mosul while discharging their duties.

On the occasion of 18 March Martyr’s Day, we commemorate each year, through ceremonies held in our country and at our foreign missions, our members who became martyrs in various countries while they were representing our flag and our nation. In this framework, a commemoration ceremony will be held on Monday 18^th of March 2019 at 10:30 at the Martyrs Cemetery of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara. On the same day, a ceremony will also be held by our local authorities and our Representative Office in Izmir, at the Monument for Martyred Turkish Diplomats in Karşıyaka, Izmir. Also, a wreath will be laid at the Monument for Martyred Turkish Diplomats in Fethiye.

We attach utmost importance on honouring the sacred memories of our martyrs with monuments and plaques erected/placed also in the locations where our diplomats were martyred abroad. In this framework, works regarding monuments/plaques in the memory of our martyrs have been completed in Sydney, Ottawa, The Hague, Lisbon, Vienna and Burgas. Within the next period, Belgrade and Vatican City will also be included in this list. We continue to work for this purpose in other cities where we had martyrs. In commemoration of our martyred diplomats, monuments were also erected in our country. Thanks to the initiatives of the Municipality of Karşıyaka, a monument was built in Karşıyaka, Izmir in 2008. Another monument was built in 2015 in Fethiye, Muğla, thanks to the initiatives of the Municipality of Fethiye.

The locations where our martyrs were murdered are marked on a virtual map accessible from the website of our Ministry.

http://www.mfa.gov.tr/sehit-edilen-diplomatlarimiz-ve-vatandaslarimiz_en.en.mfa

We once more bow with respect and gratitude before the sacred memories of all our martyrs. May Allah bless their souls!