During the attack, one of the terrorists was killed and the other, Levon Ekmekçiyan, was caught after being wounded. The Esenboğa attack was ASALA’s first terrorist attack in Turkey.Attacks by Armenian terrorist organizations against Turkish diplomats serving abroad started in 1973. In the first terrorist attack, Turkish Consul General in Los Angeles Mehmet Baydar and Consul Bahadır Demir were murdered in an ambush in Santa Barbara on Jan. 27, 1973. No one in Turkey understood why the two young Turkish diplomats were killed in the US by Armenians, nor did anyone believe that these murders were committed by Armenians. However, as the death toll grew, it became obvious that Armenian terrorist organizations were behind these killings.
Armenians were recognized and considered a loyal nation by the Ottoman state in the first half of the 19th century. They replaced the Greeks as reliable and loyal Christian subjects of the Ottoman state when the Greeks rebelled against the state in Mora in the 1820s. However, this changed during the war between the Ottomans and the Russians in 1877-78 and Armenians resorted to insurgency and terrorism with the help and instigation of Russia, which became their protector and sponsor after the 1878 Berlin Agreement, signed in the aftermath of the war, which the Ottoman state lost.
In this process, Ottoman Armenians, with the help of large states, rioted in the hope of having a state of their own. They took action to create an Armenian state in Anatolia. But there was one thing they forgot: The demographic structure of Anatolia was rapidly changing in the 19th century. Turkish and Muslim populations were subjected to genocide and forced migration in the Balkans, Crimea and the southern and northern Caucasus because the Ottoman state was losing territory. People from these areas then migrated to Anatolia. There was no land left other than Anatolia for these people to settle down and seek refuge in. The Turkish and Muslim population had no other option than to make Anatolia its homeland. For this reason, there was no chance for Armenians to create a state of their own in Anatolia. Armenian riots and acts of terror did nothing than harm peace and harmony in Anatolia.
Ankara’s Esenboğa Airport holds a particular importance in the history of the Republic of Turkey. During the period between 1973 and 1994, coffins wrapped with Turkish flags were transported from 13 countries and 17 cities (Rome, Marseilles, Athens, Lyon, Paris, Sydney, Copenhagen, Geneva, Los Angeles, Ottawa, Boston, Lisbon, Burgas, Belgrade, Brussels, Vienna and Teheran) to the airport. Funeral prayers were held at Ankara’s Maltepe Mosque, and the martyrs were subsequently buried in the Foreign Ministry’s Martyrs’ Cemetery.
What was done at the Esenboğa Airport to remember the martyrs killed in the ASALA raid on Aug. 7, 1982? Nothing. Not even a plaque was placed in the airport to remember the martyrs; no corner was opened for the martyrs; no picture was hung in memory of these martyrs; not even a small statue representing peace was erected. At no time were sirens sounded for a moment of silent to remember the martyrs of the Esenboğa Airport attack.
Armenians are Turkey’s next-door neighbors. They are a part of the same family. For this reason, terrorist attacks carried out by ASALA or any other terrorist organization cannot be attributed to the Armenian nation. However, we should remember that not only Armenians but also Turks suffer from great pain.
