Turkish diplomat killed by Armenian terror group remembered in Vienna

Erdoğan Özen, a Turkish diplomat killed by an Armenian terror group in 1984, was remembered in the Austrian capital on Thursday.

A ceremony was held outside the Turkish Embassy to honor the deputy counsellor for labor as 40 year passed after he was assassinated by the Armenian terrorist organization ARA on June 20 in Vienna.

Speaking at the ceremony, Türkiye's Ambassador to Austria Ozan Ceyhun reminded that Turkish diplomats were targeted by Armenian terror groups during 1970s and 1980s.

They were targeted just because they were Turks and represented Türkiye, added Ceyhun.

Reminding that an Austrian police officer was also killed during the attack, the Turkish ambassador recalled that a total of 77 people-58 of them Turkish nationals, including 31 diplomats and members of their families-lost their lives in attacks carried out by these terrorist groups from 1973 to 1986.

Levent Eler, Türkiye's permanent representative to the UN's office in Vienna, Hatun Demirer, Türkiye's permanent representative at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the slain diplomat's wife Monika Ozer attended the ceremony.

The terror campaign started in 1973 when Türkiye's Consul General in Los Angeles Mehmet Baydar and diplomat Bahadır Demir were assassinated by a terrorist named Gourgen Yanikian.

ASALA (Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia) was the first Armenian terror group to launch a campaign against Türkiye. It targeted not only Türkiye but also other countries, and became infamous for a 1975 bomb attack on the Beirut office of the World Council of Churches.