Turkey commemorates diplomat's wife killed by Armenian terrorist group

ANKARA

Turkey on Tuesday commemorated a diplomat’s wife who was slain by an Armenian terrorist group in 1983.

“We commemorate with respect our martyr Cahide Mihcioglu,” the wife of Yurtsev Mihcioglu, charge d’affaires of the Turkish Embassy in Lisbon, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Twitter.

Cahide Mihcioglu was assassinated by the terrorist Armenian Revolutionary Army (ARA) on July 27, 1983.

According to data compiled by Anadolu Agency, a total of 77 people – 58 of them Turkish citizens, including 31 diplomats and members of their families – lost their lives in attacks carried out by Armenian terrorist groups.

From 1973 to 1986, the terror groups ASALA (Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia), JCAG (Armenian Justice Commandos), and ARA (Armenian Revolutionary Army) carried out attacks targeting Turkish diplomats and their families.

The murderous campaign started in 1973, when Turkey's Consul General in Los Angeles Mehmet Baydar and diplomat Bahadir Demir were martyred in an attack by a terrorist named Gourgen Yanikian.

ASALA, founded in 1975, was the first Armenian terrorist group to wage war against Turkey.

It targeted not only Turkey but also other countries and became infamous for a 1975 bomb attack on the Beirut office of the World Council of Churches.

The JCAG initially gained notoriety by claiming responsibility with ASALA for an Oct. 22, 1975 attack on Danis Tunaligil, Turkey's ambassador in Vienna.

The ARA is considered a continuation of the JCAG under a different name.