Mourad Topalian
Encyclopedia
Mourad Topalian also known as "Moose" is a prominent Armenian-American
political activist, former chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America
(ANCA), who visited the White House
several times. In 1999, Topalian was charged by the United States government with conspiracy acts, possession and storage of weapons and explosives. In 2001, he was convicted of storing stolen explosives and owning two machine guns, sentenced to 37 months in prison and three years of supervised release. When Turkey
sent an official letter on the sentencing of Mourad Topalian to the United Nations
, the government of Armenia
presented a letter in his defense regarding the language used.
. His involvement with ANCA began in 1976.
Topalian visited the White House on a number of occasions to discuss Armenian related issues. According to US News, "tall and charismatic", Topalian "was well known in the halls of Congress and had met with President Bill Clinton
a half-dozen times."
In 1999, Mourad Topalian moved to Cleveland and took a job as vice president of Cuyahoga Community College
.
The federal charges against him were filed in 1999, under United States v. Mourad Topalian, Case No. 1:99 CR 35. Topalian resigned from his post at the ANCA. For many of Topalian's "alleged" compatriots he was not to be charged because of the expired statute of limitations. This was not applicable for the crimes of "holding the explosives," which Topalian was initially charged with.
self storage
facility. The storage unit was opened after rent went unpaid for six months (Topalian had been renting that space since 1980). Inside, police found guns and 100 pounds of decaying explosives in the storage facility. Several evidentiary hair fragments were collected from the locker. DNA analysis of the fragments in 1999 matched their profile to that of the leader of a militant group, Mourad Topalian. At the time of his arrest, Topalian was accused as a suspected leader of the Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide and a participant of 1980 bombing of the Turkish Mission in New York City
.
He received recognition from ANCA for driving forward and promoting Armenian history and the cause of the Armenian nation
.
, against the Orange County Convention Center
in Anaheim and the Turkish consulate in Beverly Hills. Between 1976 and 1996, Topalian allegedly ordered or was involved directly in bombings in New York and Anaheim and Beverly Hills, Calif., the robbery of munitions factories, and the illegal purchase of numerous high-powered weapons. Overall, the indictment alleged that Topalian was "a part of the conspiracy that the defendant and others both known and unknown formed an 'elite group' of individuals in order to bring publicity and attention to the Armenian genocide of 1915, commonly referred to as 'the Cause,' " prosecutors said in court papers. Key evidence against Topalian, came from two of his former allies.
According to the indictment
, Topalian recruited bombers and assassins from Armenian American youth, and provided weapons demonstrations at Armenian Youth Federation summer camps in Franklin, Massachusetts
. According to federal authorities in Ohio, a prominent Armenian-American once used the camp as a training ground for terrorism aimed at the Turkish government. Mourad "Moose" Topalian showed others how to use submachine guns and built and exploded booby traps - one went off prematurely, injuring a person - in 1976 and 1977. He also sent Armenian youth to Beirut
to train in weapons and explosive tactics.
But the most serious charge against Topalian was that of involvement in a car bombing that injured three people outside the Turkish Mission to the United Nations
in New York City
in October 1980. Police suspect that he helped arrange the bombing and directed a group that stole weapons and explosives used for the attack. Between 1979 and 1980, Topalian directed various individuals to travel to Manhattan
, NY, for surveillance of the building in which the Turkish Mission to the UN was located. Topalian himself traveled to New York on 11 October 1980 to transport explosives to bomb the Turkish Mission to the UN. Finally on 12 October 1980 Topalian and two other persons detonated the bombs causing damage to a stolen car they were using and to the Turkish Mission at the UN destroying property belonging to Turkey. In this act three innocent by passers were injured. Topalian was questioned about the New York bombing and denied he was a terrorist but agreed to plead guilty to storing the weapons, which prosecutors said were used in the Turkish Mission bombing.
Topalian also was accused of ordering a California man to bring five sticks of dynamite
and blasting caps to Boston
in 1982 that were to be used in a bombing in Philadelphia. FBI agents intercepted the explosives and said the suspect, Steven John Dadian, may have had ties to the Justice Commandos.
The Assembly of Turkish American Associations
presented a file during the sentencing hearing, including "a chronology of Armenian terrorist acts, in USA and elsewhere, and affidavit of Armenian terrorism's victims".
Center, an operating gas station, and an office complex. The storage was less than 300 feet from a public highway with a daily traffic volume of 3,000 vehicles. The charges of terrorism were dropped by the US Government after the plea-bargaining and his admission of some of the charges. Topalian denied he was a terrorist, and agreed to plead guilty only to storing the weapons. Topalian reached an agreement with prosecutors in 2001, pleading guilty to charges of storing illegal explosives and owning two machine guns, and was sentenced to 37 months in prison.
Armenian-American
Armenian Americans are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Armenia. During the United States 2000 Census, 385,488 respondents indicated either full or partial Armenian ancestry...
political activist, former chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America
Armenian National Committee of America
The Armenian National Committee of America is the largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters and supporters throughout the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA actively...
(ANCA), who visited the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
several times. In 1999, Topalian was charged by the United States government with conspiracy acts, possession and storage of weapons and explosives. In 2001, he was convicted of storing stolen explosives and owning two machine guns, sentenced to 37 months in prison and three years of supervised release. When 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...
sent an official letter on the sentencing of Mourad Topalian to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, the government of Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
presented a letter in his defense regarding the language used.
Biography
Mourad Topalian is known as a prominent member of the Armenian community in the USA. He was the president of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), which is an organization with an office in Washington that serves as an advocate on Armenian issues and is an affiliate of Armenian Revolutionary FederationArmenian Revolutionary Federation
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation is an Armenian political party founded in Tiflis in 1890 by Christapor Mikaelian, Stepan Zorian, and Simon Zavarian...
. His involvement with ANCA began in 1976.
Topalian visited the White House on a number of occasions to discuss Armenian related issues. According to US News, "tall and charismatic", Topalian "was well known in the halls of Congress and had met with President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
a half-dozen times."
In 1999, Mourad Topalian moved to Cleveland and took a job as vice president of Cuyahoga Community College
Cuyahoga Community College
Cuyahoga Community College is a two-year college in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Founded in 1962, Cuyahoga Community College is the oldest, and largest community college in Ohio with a Fall 2009 enrollment of 31,024. * http://www.tri-c.edu/news/Pages/20100823a.aspxIn August of 2010, the college reported...
.
The federal charges against him were filed in 1999, under United States v. Mourad Topalian, Case No. 1:99 CR 35. Topalian resigned from his post at the ANCA. For many of Topalian's "alleged" compatriots he was not to be charged because of the expired statute of limitations. This was not applicable for the crimes of "holding the explosives," which Topalian was initially charged with.
US vs. Mourad Topalian
The investigation against Topalian began with the 1996 discovery of weapons and explosives in a suburban Bedford, OhioBedford, Ohio
Bedford is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. The population was 13,074 at the 2010 census. It is an eastern suburb of Cleveland.-Geography:Bedford is located at ....
self storage
Self storage
Self storage is an industry in which storage space is rented to tenants, usually on a monthly basis. A self storage business provides rooms, lockers, containers, and/or outdoor space in which tenants can store and access their goods. Self storage tenants include businesses and individuals...
facility. The storage unit was opened after rent went unpaid for six months (Topalian had been renting that space since 1980). Inside, police found guns and 100 pounds of decaying explosives in the storage facility. Several evidentiary hair fragments were collected from the locker. DNA analysis of the fragments in 1999 matched their profile to that of the leader of a militant group, Mourad Topalian. At the time of his arrest, Topalian was accused as a suspected leader of the Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide and a participant of 1980 bombing of the Turkish Mission in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
He received recognition from ANCA for driving forward and promoting Armenian history and the cause of the Armenian nation
Armenian nationalism
Armenian nationalism in the modern period has its roots in the romantic nationalism of Mikayel Chamchian and generally defined as the creation of a free, independent and united Armenia formulated as the Armenian Cause . Armenian national awakening developed in the 1880s in the context of the...
.
Indictment
In the 1970s, a wave of attacks fell upon Turkish officials, engineered by Armenian groups furious over Turkish denial of Armenian Genocide. The attacks included 160 bombings and assassinations of 32 Turkish diplomats (or members of their family/staff) worldwide. The attacks ebbed by the mid-1980s, but many of them went unsolved. Topalian was accused of plotting attacks against Turkish targets in the United States for two decades, and was suspected of links to two 1981 bombings in CaliforniaCalifornia
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...
, against the Orange County Convention Center
Orange County Convention Center
The Orange County Convention Center is the primary public convention center for the Central Florida region. The center currently ranks as the second largest convention center in the United States . The OCCC offers of total space, of which is exhibit space...
in Anaheim and the Turkish consulate in Beverly Hills. Between 1976 and 1996, Topalian allegedly ordered or was involved directly in bombings in New York and Anaheim and Beverly Hills, Calif., the robbery of munitions factories, and the illegal purchase of numerous high-powered weapons. Overall, the indictment alleged that Topalian was "a part of the conspiracy that the defendant and others both known and unknown formed an 'elite group' of individuals in order to bring publicity and attention to the Armenian genocide of 1915, commonly referred to as 'the Cause,' " prosecutors said in court papers. Key evidence against Topalian, came from two of his former allies.
According to the indictment
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
, Topalian recruited bombers and assassins from Armenian American youth, and provided weapons demonstrations at Armenian Youth Federation summer camps in Franklin, Massachusetts
Franklin, Massachusetts
The Town of Franklin is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,635 at the 2010 census.-History:Franklin was first settled by Europeans in 1660 and was officially incorporated during the American Revolution. The town was formed from the western part of the town...
. According to federal authorities in Ohio, a prominent Armenian-American once used the camp as a training ground for terrorism aimed at the Turkish government. Mourad "Moose" Topalian showed others how to use submachine guns and built and exploded booby traps - one went off prematurely, injuring a person - in 1976 and 1977. He also sent Armenian youth to 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...
to train in weapons and explosive tactics.
But the most serious charge against Topalian was that of involvement in a car bombing that injured three people outside the Turkish Mission to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in October 1980. Police suspect that he helped arrange the bombing and directed a group that stole weapons and explosives used for the attack. Between 1979 and 1980, Topalian directed various individuals to travel to Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, NY, for surveillance of the building in which the Turkish Mission to the UN was located. Topalian himself traveled to New York on 11 October 1980 to transport explosives to bomb the Turkish Mission to the UN. Finally on 12 October 1980 Topalian and two other persons detonated the bombs causing damage to a stolen car they were using and to the Turkish Mission at the UN destroying property belonging to Turkey. In this act three innocent by passers were injured. Topalian was questioned about the New York bombing and denied he was a terrorist but agreed to plead guilty to storing the weapons, which prosecutors said were used in the Turkish Mission bombing.
Topalian also was accused of ordering a California man to bring five sticks of dynamite
Dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive material based on nitroglycerin, initially using diatomaceous earth , or another absorbent substance such as powdered shells, clay, sawdust, or wood pulp. Dynamites using organic materials such as sawdust are less stable and such use has been generally discontinued...
and blasting caps to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in 1982 that were to be used in a bombing in Philadelphia. FBI agents intercepted the explosives and said the suspect, Steven John Dadian, may have had ties to the Justice Commandos.
The Assembly of Turkish American Associations
Assembly of Turkish American Associations
-Snapshot:Assembly of Turkish American Associations is the umbrella organization to create cohesion and cooperation between the large numbers of social/cultural Turkish American organizations around the United States. ATAA informs the Turkish American community on how to foster Turkish-American...
presented a file during the sentencing hearing, including "a chronology of Armenian terrorist acts, in USA and elsewhere, and affidavit of Armenian terrorism's victims".
Conviction
Mourad Topalian was charged in October 1999 with conspiracy acts, possession and storage of explosives and firearms (possession of machine guns and possession of firearms with defaced serial numbers), and transportation of them in interstate commerce. The Bedford storage facility used by him and his accomplices was within the vicinity of Childtime Children’s Day CareDay care
Child care or day care is care of a child during the day by a person other than the child's legal guardians, typically performed by someone outside the child's immediate family...
Center, an operating gas station, and an office complex. The storage was less than 300 feet from a public highway with a daily traffic volume of 3,000 vehicles. The charges of terrorism were dropped by the US Government after the plea-bargaining and his admission of some of the charges. Topalian denied he was a terrorist, and agreed to plead guilty only to storing the weapons. Topalian reached an agreement with prosecutors in 2001, pleading guilty to charges of storing illegal explosives and owning two machine guns, and was sentenced to 37 months in prison.
Awards
In 2000, ANCA presented Topalian with the "Freedom Award" for his "dedication to advancing the Armenian cause,” and his "unique brand of leadership in driving forward and promoting Armenian history and the cause of the Armenian nation."External links
- UN bomb attack suspect faces jail term. The Independent. 24 January 2001