Turkey commemorates counselor gunned down in Athens

ANKARA

Turkey on Thursday commemorated Omer Haluk Sipahioglu, a counselor at the Turkish Embassy in Athens, who was gunned down in front of his home in 1994.

"We commemorate Omer Haluk Sipahioglu, a Counselor of the Embassy in Athens, who was martyred on July 4, 1994 by November 17 terrorist organization," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a Twitter post.

Dimitris Koufodinas used to be the leader of the now-disbanded November 17 terror group, which was held responsible for the assassination of a long string of officials.

Koufodinas was the perpetrator in the assassinations of Sipahioglu, as well as the Turkish Press Attache Cetin Gorgu, who was killed in 1991.

Deniz Bolukbasi, another counselor of Turkish Embassy in Athens, administrative attache Nilgun Kececi and driver Adil Yildirim were also wounded in separate attacks carried out by the same group.

Koufodinas was convicted in 2003 for belonging to the November 17.

November 17 was active in Greece between 1975 and 2002. It is considered responsible for the assassination of 23 people in 103 attacks, which particularly targeted U.S., British, Turkish and Greek nationals.