1973 Baltimore Hotel attack
Encyclopedia
The 1973 Baltimore Hotel attack was the January 27, 1973 killing of Mehmet Baydar and Bahadir Demir, two officials of the Turkish Consulate General in Los Angeles
, California
by a 78-year-old Armenian American Gourgen Yanikian
.
Yanikian Invited Consul General Baydar and Consul Demir to the Baltimore Hotel in Santa Barbara
by declaring that he wished to give a painting of the Ottoman
sultan Abdul Hamid II
(1842–1918) as a gift to Turkey
. He pulled a Luger pistol from a hollowed-out book and shot the two Turkish diplomats dead.
He was arrested for murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Yanikian was paroled on December 31, 1984 and died shortly afterwards.
This incident, constituting the first assault against the Turkish diplomats, launched a chain of murders and became a template for the subsequent attacks by Armenian terrorists.
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
by a 78-year-old Armenian American Gourgen Yanikian
Gourgen Yanikian
Gourgen Mkrtich Yanikian was an American-Armenian author, engineer and an Armenian Genocide survivor, who assassinated two Turkish consular officials in California in 1973....
.
Yanikian Invited Consul General Baydar and Consul Demir to the Baltimore Hotel in Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
by declaring that he wished to give a painting of the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
sultan Abdul Hamid II
Abdul Hamid II
His Imperial Majesty, The Sultan Abdülhamid II, Emperor of the Ottomans, Caliph of the Faithful was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire...
(1842–1918) as a gift to Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. He pulled a Luger pistol from a hollowed-out book and shot the two Turkish diplomats dead.
He was arrested for murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Yanikian was paroled on December 31, 1984 and died shortly afterwards.
This incident, constituting the first assault against the Turkish diplomats, launched a chain of murders and became a template for the subsequent attacks by Armenian terrorists.