The Turkish Embassy in Serbia on Monday remembered its ambassador, who was assassinated by an Armenian terrorist group in 1983.
A ceremony was held in entrance of the tree and the monument planted in Tasmajdan Park within the capital Belgrade in reminiscence of Ambassador Galip Balkar.
The ceremony was attended by Turkish Ambassador Hami Aksoy, Turkish Ambassador to Moscow Tanju Bilgic, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs personnel.
Later, at a commemorative convention held at a Belgrade resort, Bilgic offered the e book “Martyr Ambassador Galip Balkar, Star of the Foreign Ministry,” which he wrote after greater than three years of analysis and was revealed by the Turkish Historical Society.
Bilgic informed Anadolu that Armenian terrorists have focused many Turkish diplomats serving overseas, together with Galip Balkar.
“We collaborated with the Turkish Historical Society to compile a book about Galip Balkar. This type of work requires a larger scale… we also have a story to tell, which is shared not only in Türkiye but also throughout Europe through the stories of our martyrs,” Bilgic mentioned, including, “We need to tell the entire international public where and what is going on.”
Bilgic believed that Armenian terrorists focused Balkar as a result of he was a promising diplomat.
“Those who committed the murder were very young, and they might not have known that Galip Balkar was such a successful ambassador. However, the mastermind behind the murder aimed to impede and harm Turkish diplomacy and diplomatic power abroad. At the same time, they wanted to harm Türkiye-Yugoslavia relations at the time by committing this murder in Yugoslavia,” he mentioned.
Bilgic, Türkiye’s ambassador to Belgrade, started engaged on the e book throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ambassador to Belgrade Hami Aksoy mentioned Balkar was a really gifted and promising diplomat.
“We can say that Armenian terrorism had just started at the time, and our ministry wanted to provide an armored vehicle to our martyr ambassador. But he refused to accept it, insisting that Yugoslavia was safe. I wished he had accepted it,” Aksoy mentioned, stressing, We, Turkish diplomats, should train excessive warning as a result of we now have misplaced many victims to terrorism.”
Aksoy mentioned Serbia is the one nation within the Balkans the place FETO terror group members can’t search refuge.
“Currently, our relations with Serbia are at the best level in history. Serbia is the only country in the Balkans where FETO cannot take shelter,” he mentioned, including, “Serbian authorities are very sensitive on this issue. However, this does not mean that we will not take precautions… we are taking our precautions.”
“Serbia is one of Türkiye’s true friends in its fight against terrorism,” mentioned Aksoy.
Serbia’s Commerce Minister Slobodan Cvetkovic was among the many many friends who attended the convention.
A mini-exhibition of pictures from Balkar’s time in workplace was additionally displayed.
On March 9, 1983, two members of the Armenian Justice Commandos (JCAG) terrorist group attacked Balkar with computerized weapons close to the Turkish embassy. The ambassador was significantly injured within the assault and died two days later.
A Yugoslav pupil, who was hit by a bullet throughout the assault, additionally died.
The assailants-Kirkor Levonyan and Raffi Aleksandr-were arrested on March 9, 1984, and sentenced to twenty years in jail every.
Since the Nineteen Seventies, Armenian terror teams have killed 31 Turkish diplomats and their members of the family, together with Balkar.
ASALA, based in 1975, was the primary Armenian terror group to wage battle in opposition to Türkiye, and the JCAG was based the identical yr in Beirut.
ASALA not solely focused Türkiye but additionally different nations and have become notorious for a 1975 bomb assault on the Beirut workplace of the World Council of Churches.
The JCAG, which claimed that it solely acquired assist from the Armenian diaspora fairly than overseas companions, solely focused Türkiye as a result of it believed that attacking different nations would harm the so-called “Armenian struggle.”
Source: www.anews.com.tr
