Assassination of Galip Balkar
Encyclopedia
The assassination of Galip Balkar refers to the murder of the Turkish
ambassador
to Yugoslavia
, Galip Balkar
, on March 9, 1983.
gunmen opened fire with small firearm
s on his car, which stopped for a red light at a major downtown intersection in Belgrade
. Balkar, 47, and his chauffeur
Kaya Necet were wounded, the condition of the ambassador being critical. The two assailants then attempted to run away from the scene, and killed a Yugoslav student, Zeljko Milivojevic, who tried to prevent their escape. Two Yugoslav security agents in the area chased them and shots were exchanged. The gunmen wounded one of the agents, Slobodan Brajevic. Another shot aimed at Brajevic had ricocheted off a wall and slightly wounded an office worker, Zorica Solotic.
The attackers were arrested and identified as Harutyun Krikor Levonian and Alexander Elbekyan. They had arrived in Yugoslavia from Beirut
on 6–7 March and both held Lebanese
passports. Levonian, seriously wounded, was caught shortly after the attack, and Elbekyan eight hours later.
The same day, an anonymous caller to The Associated Press
in Athens
took responsibility for the attack on behalf of the Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide a terrorist unit that is blamed for at least a dozen attacks on Turkish targets since 1975. Callers to other news outlets in Paris
and Beirut also said the Justice Commandos had carried out the assault. The messages said the shooting was intended to draw the world's attention to what the group called "the national problem of the Armenian people."
Galip Balkar died on 11 March in the neurosurgical clinic in Belgrade where he was in critical condition after emergency surgery for two bullet wounds one in the head, the other through the right shoulder to the spine. Following the news of the death, SFRY President
Petar Stambolic
sent a telegram to Turkish President Kenan Evren
expressing his most sincere condolences. Premier Milka Planinc
and Foreign Secretary Lazar Mojsov
also sent messages of condolence to their Turkish counterparts.
Balkars body was flown to Ankara
aboard a special aircraft and the funeral was held there on the 15th.
Commenting on the events, Yugoslav news agency Tanjug
emphasised the deep indignation evoked throughout Yugoslavia by the assassination attempt and Yugoslavia's condemnation of terrorism.
Balkar's death brought to 26 the number of Turks slain in the previous 10 years. More than 300 people had been wounded and 35 others killed since the mid-70s. Only days prior to the shooting, Greek
Armenians were quoted in the Athenian newspaper Acropolis
as saying, "we are going to bring Turkey to her knees by shooting her best diplomats.” Turkey called on Western governments for help in preventing attacks on Turkish diplomats by radical Armenian groups.
On April 14, 1983 the Armenian Patriarch
of Istanbul
appealed to Armenians around the world to fight against "those Armenians who have made a black stain on the race." Patriarch Shnork Kaloustian and other Armenian religious and lay leaders took part in a march to the central Taksim Square
, where they observed a minute's silence in memory of the 26 Turkish diplomats and aides killed by Armenian extremists in the previous decade.
of Turkish Ambassador to Yugoslavia Galip Balkar and attempt to kill his driver Kaya Necet. In addition to this, the bill of indictment charged Levonian with having, after the assassination of the Turkish ambassador, tried to kill retired Colonel
of the Yugoslav People's Army
Slobodan Brajovic, who was blocking his escape. It also charged Elbakian with the murder of Yugoslav student Zeljko Milivojevic, who tried to capture the assassin. It was established that Levonian and Elbakian arrived in Belgrade with the task set by JCAG. In view of the fact that the first accused, Levonian, was in a special health condition as a consequence of his wound and that Elbakian was a junior adult, the two were not sentenced to death. They were defended by Srdja Popovic, a leading Yugoslav lawyer who worked in Belgrade.
Terrorists Kirkor Levonian and Raffi Alexander were sentenced each to 20 years of imprisonment
on 9 March 1984, exactly one year after the incident. The Court ruled that after they have served the sentences they would be expelled from Yugoslavia. It was established that Levonian killed the Turkish Ambassador and seriously wounded the Yugoslav Slobodan Brajovic, while Elbekian seriously wounded the Ambassador's driver Necat Kaya, and trying to escape from the scene of the crime, killed the Yugoslav student Zeljko Milivojevic. Stojan Miletic, Deputy Republican Public Prosecutor of Serbia, stressed that the harshness of the sentences corresponded to the gravity of the criminal acts.
According to a statement from the "Central Committee of Solidarity with Armenian Prisoners" in Athens, the Armenian terrorist Harutyan Levonian, was set free by the Yugoslav authorities in June 1987. Although the statement did not elaborate on the reasons for his release, officials in the Greek capital had hinted that he might have been released on medical grounds: he was wounded when security guards returned the fire and subsequently became paralyzed after a stroke
.
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, Galip Balkar
Galip Balkar
Galip Balkar was a Turkish diplomat. He was assassinated by two Armenian terrorists in 1983 during his duty as the Turkish ambassador to Yugoslavia.-Life and career:...
, on March 9, 1983.
Incident
Two ArmenianArmenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
gunmen opened fire with small firearm
Firearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
s on his car, which stopped for a red light at a major downtown intersection in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
. Balkar, 47, and his chauffeur
Chauffeur
A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine.Originally such drivers were always personal servants of the vehicle owner, but now in many cases specialist chauffeur service companies, or individual drivers provide...
Kaya Necet were wounded, the condition of the ambassador being critical. The two assailants then attempted to run away from the scene, and killed a Yugoslav student, Zeljko Milivojevic, who tried to prevent their escape. Two Yugoslav security agents in the area chased them and shots were exchanged. The gunmen wounded one of the agents, Slobodan Brajevic. Another shot aimed at Brajevic had ricocheted off a wall and slightly wounded an office worker, Zorica Solotic.
The attackers were arrested and identified as Harutyun Krikor Levonian and Alexander Elbekyan. They had arrived in Yugoslavia from Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
on 6–7 March and both held Lebanese
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
passports. Levonian, seriously wounded, was caught shortly after the attack, and Elbekyan eight hours later.
The same day, an anonymous caller to The Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
took responsibility for the attack on behalf of the Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide a terrorist unit that is blamed for at least a dozen attacks on Turkish targets since 1975. Callers to other news outlets in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and Beirut also said the Justice Commandos had carried out the assault. The messages said the shooting was intended to draw the world's attention to what the group called "the national problem of the Armenian people."
Galip Balkar died on 11 March in the neurosurgical clinic in Belgrade where he was in critical condition after emergency surgery for two bullet wounds one in the head, the other through the right shoulder to the spine. Following the news of the death, SFRY President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
Petar Stambolic
Petar Stambolic
Petar Stambolić was a Yugoslav communist politician who served as the President of the Federal Executive Council of Yugoslavia from 1963 to 1967 and President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia from 1982 until 1983.Stambolić was born in Brezova, Ivanjica, Kingdom of Serbia and died in Belgrade, Serbia...
sent a telegram to Turkish President Kenan Evren
Kenan Evren
Ahmet Kenan Evren was the seventh President of Turkey; a post he assumed by leading the 1980 military coup. He was also the last president to be born in the Ottoman Empire.- Biography :...
expressing his most sincere condolences. Premier Milka Planinc
Milka Planinc
Milka Planinc was an ethnic Croatian Yugoslav politician. She served as a Prime Minister of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1982 to 1986. She was the first female head of government in the history of real socialism...
and Foreign Secretary Lazar Mojsov
Lazar Mojsov
Dr. Lazar Mojsov was a Macedonian journalist, politician and diplomat from SFR Yugoslavia.Mojsov received his doctoral degree from the University of Belgrade's Law School. He fought for the anti-fascist partisans in World War II and continued to rise through the ranks of the Communist Party after...
also sent messages of condolence to their Turkish counterparts.
Balkars body was flown to Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
aboard a special aircraft and the funeral was held there on the 15th.
Commenting on the events, Yugoslav news agency Tanjug
Tanjug
Tanjug was founded on November 5, 1943. It is now a Serbian news agency based in Belgrade....
emphasised the deep indignation evoked throughout Yugoslavia by the assassination attempt and Yugoslavia's condemnation of terrorism.
Balkar's death brought to 26 the number of Turks slain in the previous 10 years. More than 300 people had been wounded and 35 others killed since the mid-70s. Only days prior to the shooting, Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
Armenians were quoted in the Athenian newspaper Acropolis
Acropolis
Acropolis means "high city" in Greek, literally city on the extremity and is usually translated into English as Citadel . For purposes of defense, early people naturally chose elevated ground to build a new settlement, frequently a hill with precipitous sides...
as saying, "we are going to bring Turkey to her knees by shooting her best diplomats.” Turkey called on Western governments for help in preventing attacks on Turkish diplomats by radical Armenian groups.
On April 14, 1983 the Armenian Patriarch
Patriarch
Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a compound of πατριά , "lineage, descent", esp...
of Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
appealed to Armenians around the world to fight against "those Armenians who have made a black stain on the race." Patriarch Shnork Kaloustian and other Armenian religious and lay leaders took part in a march to the central Taksim Square
Taksim Square
Taksim Square situated in the European part of Istanbul, Turkey, is a major shopping, tourist and leisure district famed for its restaurants, shops and hotels. It is considered the heart of modern Istanbul, with the central station of the Istanbul Metro network...
, where they observed a minute's silence in memory of the 26 Turkish diplomats and aides killed by Armenian extremists in the previous decade.
Trial and sentence
The Belgrade Public Prosecutor charged Harutyun Krikor Levonian, 23, and Rafi Alexander Elbekian, 21, of Beirut, with assassinationAssassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
of Turkish Ambassador to Yugoslavia Galip Balkar and attempt to kill his driver Kaya Necet. In addition to this, the bill of indictment charged Levonian with having, after the assassination of the Turkish ambassador, tried to kill retired Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
of the Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
Slobodan Brajovic, who was blocking his escape. It also charged Elbakian with the murder of Yugoslav student Zeljko Milivojevic, who tried to capture the assassin. It was established that Levonian and Elbakian arrived in Belgrade with the task set by JCAG. In view of the fact that the first accused, Levonian, was in a special health condition as a consequence of his wound and that Elbakian was a junior adult, the two were not sentenced to death. They were defended by Srdja Popovic, a leading Yugoslav lawyer who worked in Belgrade.
Terrorists Kirkor Levonian and Raffi Alexander were sentenced each to 20 years of imprisonment
Imprisonment
Imprisonment is a legal term.The book Termes de la Ley contains the following definition:This passage was approved by Atkin and Duke LJJ in Meering v Grahame White Aviation Co....
on 9 March 1984, exactly one year after the incident. The Court ruled that after they have served the sentences they would be expelled from Yugoslavia. It was established that Levonian killed the Turkish Ambassador and seriously wounded the Yugoslav Slobodan Brajovic, while Elbekian seriously wounded the Ambassador's driver Necat Kaya, and trying to escape from the scene of the crime, killed the Yugoslav student Zeljko Milivojevic. Stojan Miletic, Deputy Republican Public Prosecutor of Serbia, stressed that the harshness of the sentences corresponded to the gravity of the criminal acts.
Yugoslavia's posthumous award for Turkish Ambassador
On March 17, 1983, by order of the Presidency of Yugoslav Republic, the Turkish Ambassador to Yugoslavia, Galip Balkar, who was assassinated as a victim of international terrorism, was posthumously awarded the "Order of the Yugoslav Flag with Ribbon". The decision to award the decoration stated that Ambassador Balkar, in his short diplomatic mission to Yugoslavia, made an important contribution to the development and advancement of friendly relations between Turkey and Yugoslavia.According to a statement from the "Central Committee of Solidarity with Armenian Prisoners" in Athens, the Armenian terrorist Harutyan Levonian, was set free by the Yugoslav authorities in June 1987. Although the statement did not elaborate on the reasons for his release, officials in the Greek capital had hinted that he might have been released on medical grounds: he was wounded when security guards returned the fire and subsequently became paralyzed after a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
.