18 replies to this topic

[HyeFedayis]

Gurgen Mıgırdich Yanikyan Գուրգեն Մկրտիչ Յանիկյան, 24 Aralık 1895 - 27 Mart 1984

 

 

"...In 1973, a lone gunman, Genocide survivor Gourgen Yanikian, assassinated the Turkish Consul and Vice-Consul in Los Angeles. Several others, particularly Armenians from the Middle East who were influenced by leftist organisations such as the PLO, followed Yanikian's example. Over the next decade a number of different Armenian terrorist organisations were formed. The best known of these were the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), the Armenian Revolutionary Army (ARA), the Justice Commandos for the Armenian Genocide, New Armenian Resistance. The articles of prominent journalist, Levon Yergat, appeared in American-Armenian journal Nor Seround (New Generation) in 1979, in which the acts of these assassins was explained in the light of the cautiousness and inactivity of the political parties and their apparent reliance on the world powers to solve the Armenian Question. Lectures, demonstrations, and appeals to world powers had proven futile, argued Yergat..."

To read more:
http://www.realchang....com.au/ch3.htm
http://www.atmg.org/...nTerrorism.html
http://www.armenians...ala/index1.html

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Gurgen Yanikian

http://www.youtube.c...re=channel_page

[MosJan]

amen tary indz xostanum em or pit @gnam ir gerezmanin / etpes el chi statsvum /////

[MosJan]

amen tary indz xostanum em or pit @gnam ir gerezmanin / etpes el chi statsvum /////

che chem moratsel, skayn im p@ntrumner@ apardyun antsan, chem gtnum.......

[MosJan]

[MosJan]

[MosJan]

Remembering Gourgen Yanikian: Genocide survivor and avenger
Remembering Gourgen Yanikian: Genocide survivor and avenger
December 26, 2013 - 15:46 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - December 24 (in some sources December 25 or 26)marked the 118th birth anniversary of Gourgen Yanikian, an Armenian American author, engineer and an Armenian Genocide survivor, best known for the assassination of two Turkish consular officials (Los Angeles Consul General Mehmet Baydar and Consul Bahadır Demir) in California in 1973.

Sentenced to life imprisonment, Yanikian was released on parole in January 1984.

Yanikian was born in Erzurum in 1895, at the height of the anti-Armenian massacres that had taken hold of the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire. His family was able to flee to a safer location, but when they returned to Erzurum eight years later to retrieve personal possessions they had hidden in a barn, his elder brother Hagop was killed by two Turkish men.

Yanikian was studying to be an engineer at the University of Moscow when World War I broke out. After learning of the Turkish persecution of Armenians during the genocide of 1915-23, he traveled to the Caucasus in the spring of 1915 and joined a volunteer regiment of the Russian Army to find out the fate of his family members, whom he had not heard from since the outbreak of the war and who were living in the Ottoman Empire. He was assigned to an engineering unit that was tasked with mapping out the geography of the terrain ahead of the regular troops.

Upon his arrival in Erzurum, he found his father's business in ruins and recognized the bodies of two of his relatives. In the genocide, he lost twenty-six members of his extended family.

Yanikian went on to complete his education in Russia and in 1930 moved to Iran together with his wife Suzanna.

He emigrated to the United States in 1946, where he published several novels including The Triumph of Judas Iscariot, (1950), Harem Cross (1953) and The Voice of an American (1960).

As his wife fell ill and expensive medical bills forced him into insolvency, he became despondent.

Memories of the genocide lingered in his mind and visions of his dead brother haunted him for years. Turkey's continual denial of the genocide remained a source of anguish and pain. Eventually, Yanikian, believing he had little left to live for, resolved to avenge the deaths of his family members and bring greater awareness to the genocide by organizing the assassination of the perpetrator country's agents, an act that took its cue from the example set by Soghomon Tehlirian fifty years earlier.

On January 27, 1973, the 77-year-old Yanikian lured the Turkish consul general Mehmet Baydar, 47, and vice-consul Bahadır Demir, 30, to a cottage at the Biltmore Hotel in Santa Barbara, promising to make a gift to the nation of Turkey of a bank note and a painting stolen from the palace of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire more than a century earlier. Yanikian had contacted the consul general three months earlier, and insisted that the consul general personally accept the painting, and since Baydar did not drive, Demir was asked to accompany him to provide transportation. Baydar, married and the father of two daughters, was a career diplomat, who had previously served in Paris and Washington. Demir was on his first foreign assignment.

Yanikian handed them the bank note, for which he was given a receipt, and the three men began to converse over lunch. It was during this time that Yanikian revealed to them that he was not Iranian, as he had told the consulate when he first contacted them, but Armenian. Baydar dropped the bank note in anger and a heated exchange took place. It was at this point that Yanikian yelled "I will kill you," pulled a Luger pistol from a hollowed-out book and emptied nine rounds at them, hitting them in the shoulders and chest, though none of the wounds were lethal. As Baydar and Demir lay on the ground Yanikian pulled out a Browning pistol from a drawer and fired two rounds into the head of each man, "what he considered mercy shots." He phoned the front desk of the hotel from his room and requested that the sheriff be contacted, because "I have just killed two men."

Yanikian pleaded not guilty to two charges of first degree murder. Although over the course of the trial he openly conceded that he had caused the deaths of the men, he insisted that he was not guilty of any crime. Yanikian insisted that what he did was "destroy two evils," as the victims were "not human" for him.

It is believed that Yanikian's act set off the string of assassinations and targeted attacks against Turkish diplomats by ASALA and JCAG in the 1970s and 1980s.

[MosJan]

Վանաձորում բացվեց ԱՍԱԼԱ-ի հուշակոթողը Հունվար 27, 2014 | 15:40

Հունվարի 26-ին, Վանաձորի Ղարաքիլիսայի վանքի բակում, 1915թ. Հայոց Ցեղասպանության ու Սպիտակի 1988թ. դեկտեմբերի 7-ի երկրաշարժի հուշարձանների կողքին բացվեց Հայաստանի ազատագրության հայ գաղտնի բանակի նահատակներին նվիրված հուշակոթող:

Հուշակոթողի ստեղծման մտահաղացումը ծնվել է Վանաձորի  երկրապահ կամավորական ջոկատի հրամանատար Ռազմիկ Մանդարյանի, վանաձորցի հայրենանվեր երիտասարդ Պողոս Ստեփանյանի  և  քանդակագործ    Արա Հովհաննիսյանի մոտ: Սա ԱՍԱԼԱ-ի նահատակ հայորդիների հիշատակն ու սխրագործությունները հավերժացնող թվով երկրորդ հուշակոթողն է: Առաջինը տեղադրվել է 2000 թվականին`  Եռաբլուրում:

Մինչ հուշակոթողի բացումը եկեղեցում Տեր  Ոսկան արքեպիսկոպոս Գալփակյանի ձեռամբ կատարվեց հոգեհանգստյան արարողություն` նվիրված ԱՍԱԼԱ-ի նահատակների հիշատակին:

Ինքնատիպ ու յուրահատուկ կոթողն արժանացավ բազմաթիվ ներկաների ծափահարություններին:

Բացմանը ներկա էին  Հայաստանի Հանրապետության  Պաշտպանության Նախարարության N զորամասի թվով 40 զինվորներ, Վանաձորի Երկրապահ կամավորական ջոկատի ներկայացուցիչներ, պատանի երկրապահներ, ԱՍԱԼԱ-ի համակիրներ, բազմաթիվ վանաձորցիներ, նաև մարտիկներ`Մարտիրոս Ժամկոչյանը, «Վան» ջոկատի հրամանատար Վազգեն Սիսլյանը, Հակոբ Ջուլֆայանը, Սիմոն Նայիրին, մտավորականներ և այլք:

Իր բացման խոսքում արքեպիսկոպոս  Ոսկան Գալփակյանն հակիրճ ներկայացրեց ԱՍԱԼԱ-ի պատմությունն ու անցած ուղին: «Վան» ջոկատի հրամանատար, «Ուխտ Արարատի» կազմակերպության ներկայացուցիչ Վազգեն Սիսլյանը նշեց, որ այս օրը նվիրվում է Հակոբ Տարակճյանի հիշատակին, իսկ հուշակոթողը՝ ԱՍԱԼԱ-ի  բոլոր նահատակներին:

Հայ ժողովրդական շարժման գրասենյակի անունից խոսեց Ալֆրեդ Նավասարդյանը. նա շնորհակալություն հայտնեց բոլոր նախաձեռնողներից ու նշեց, որ միջոցառումն ունի պահանջատիրական նպատակ:

Նշենք, որ Վանաձորի թիվ 18 միջնակարգ դպրոցում, զինղեկ կապիտան Մարտուն Սահրադյանի նախաձեռնությամբ 2001 թվականին բացվել է նահատակ տղաների հիշատակը հավերժացնող անկյուն, որը նրա խոսքով մատաղ սերնդին սովորեցնելու է  մոտիկից ճանաչել ԱՍԱԼԱ-ի հերոսներին ու ավելի լավ իմանալ բանակի դերն ու նշանակությունը պատմության մեջ:

[MosJan]

http://www.armversio...շակոթող/

[MosJan]

[Yervant1]

HEROES OR VILLAINS?

ELECTION | FEBRUARY 13, 2014 1:33 PM

By Edmond Y. Azadian

When Osama bin Laden was shooting Soviet Mig fighter planes in
Afghanistan using shoulder-launched heat-seeking rockets supplied
by the US, he was hailed as a hero, a freedom fighter struggling to
defeat an atheist power occupying the Moslem land of Afghanistan. And
when Brezhnev's army left Afghanistan, tails between their legs, bin
Laden turned the muzzle of his gun against his US allies, eventually
bringing his violence to the American shores and destroying the World
Trade Center, the same voice which had credited him with heroism
branded him overnight as a terrorist.

There is an Armenian saying, fire burns where it falls.

Indeed, more than 3,000 families were burnt and they will never
forgive nor forget the acts which took the lives of their loved one.

But, in addition to the pain of the victims and the survivors, the
story has a moral. The moral of this story is that the definition of
a hero or a terrorist depends mostly on the perspective of the person
defining the act of violence and the actor.

If an act of terror is in line with the party's interest, then the
perpetrator is a hero. Conversely, if the violence is against that
party's interest, the perpetrator becomes a vile terrorist.

Acquisition and use of power can never be viewed neutrally since
the 16th century when Niccolo Machiavelli published his seminal
book on political philosophy, The Prince. Ever since, the word
"Machiavellian" has become synonymous with deceit, despotism and
political manipulation, although the author -- a poet and a playwright
at the same time -- was objectively describing the power of the rulers
and the exercise of governing people.

Armenians being at the receiving end of that power throughout their
history can better understand being the underdog under a hostile rule.

Armenians, in their turn, have sometimes resorted to violence only
to defend themselves.

This year marks the 41st anniversary of the beginning of such violence,
which shook the powerful state of Turkey and once again promoted the
forgotten issue of the Genocide on the world political agenda after
it lay seemingly forgotten in history's waste basket.

It began on January 27, 1973, when Gourgen Yanikian assassinated two
Turkish consular officers, Mehmet Baydar and Baladir Demir, in a Santa
Barbara hotel room in California. On the occasion of this anniversary,
the Assembly of the Turkish American Associations (ATAA), which
seems to be the propaganda arm of the Turkish government, issued a
statement reminding the Armenian public the "evil deeds of Marxist
Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) and neo-Fascist
Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide [JCAG]."

According to the statement, these groups, who took over for Yanikian
in the ensuing years, carried out 300 attacks killing 77 diplomats
and civilians and wounding more than 700 people, including non-Turks.

The ATAA has also published 48 pictures of the victims, mostly
Turkish diplomats.

Looking at these pictures, a bystander may sincerely empathize with
these victims and their families, none of whom directly had a hand
in the Armenian Genocide.

But the perpetrators of those acts of violence were motivated and
propelled by a deep wound and a never-ending sense of anger. Yanikian
himself was troubled throughout his life by the murder of his family
members and the murder of an entire nation. Also, the youth who
followed suit had a selfless dedication to a cause that they deemed
justified putting their own lives in harms' way to carry the mission.

The victims of the political violence had their own personal dreams,
dreams for their families and for their nation. That is one side of
the equation. On the other side of the equation, a million and a half
Armenians had their dreams, they deserved to live their personal lives
and enjoy a free and independent sovereign homeland. Since the Turks
have reduced all the perished lives to a debate about statistics,
then we may forgo the human aspect of the body count and conclude that
the pain and loss of the Armenians outweigh the Turkish losses. Don't
forget that in addition to the loss of human lives, Armenians lost
their homeland of 3,000 years.

One may be for or against political violence but the truth of the
matter is that Turkey's political establishment -- long assuming the
Genocide to be forgotten -- only reacted to those acts and Turkey's
foreign minister at the time, Ihsan Sabri Caglayangil, invited the
leaders of the three political parties to Geneva, Switzerland --
the ARF, Hunchak and ADL -- to explore the means of stopping the acts
of terror.

The negotiations which began in Geneva were supposed to continue in
New York, when the foreign minister planned to attend the UN General
Assembly session.

But the Turkish government had in the meantime done its homework and
found out that the Armenian political parties no longer enjoyed their
erstwhile organizational discipline which had brought to justice the
perpetrators of the Genocide earlier in the century. The movement had
gotten out from the hands of the Armenian political parties and the
young generation had joined the worldwide political action movement.

Therefore, the Turkish Foreign Ministry even did not bother to
disinvite the party leaders. Instead, they chose a more serious
course; they approached the Israelis and made a common cause with
them as Armenian groups had made an alliance with the Palestinians
with whom they were training in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.

When Ariel Sharon invaded Lebanon in 1982, his mission was to destroy
the power structure of the Palestinians. That mission also included
turning over the Armenian youth caught in the camps and all related
documents to Ankara, so that the Turkish "Deep State" could do its
job and bring a halt to political violence.

The ADL, as a conservative organization, has not espoused political
violence outside historic Armenia. But it looks like the facts of life
sometimes defy ideologies. The 1970s and 1980s brought the issue of
the Armenian Genocide to the world political focus, whether positive
or negative -- that is an undeniable fact.

After four decades, in hindsight, some people may applaud the deeds of
the Armenian youth, others may blame them and say they tarnished our
reputation. To objectively assess those events, one has to go outside
the parameter of the Armenian thinking and find out the impact of
those times on non-Armenians. One case in point is the prominent
Turkish writer Elif Shafak, who is an established and outspoken
Turkish author and columnist. The Free Encyclopedia qualifies her
"as Turkey's bestselling female writer. Shafak is a brave champion of
cosmopolitanism, a sophisticated feminist and an ambitious novelist
who infuses her magical realist fiction with big, important ideas ....

Critics have named her as one of the most distinctive voices in
contemporary Turkish and world literature."

She was born in 1971, the period when Armenian political violence
began. She was the daughter of a Turkish diplomat and throughout her
formative years, the word "Armenians" sent shivers down the backs of
her and her family.

As she grew up, she was curious to find out the source of the
Armenians' anger. And when she read history -- the real one and not
the one taught in her homeland -- she became one of the most ardent
sympathizers of the Genocide victims and in one of her novels, The
Bastard of Istanbul, she dealt with the issue of Genocide only to
find herself in front of a Turkish court, being accused of "insulting
Turkishness."

Another compelling case is the story of a Spanish journalist, Jose
Antonio Gurriaran. On December 30, 1980, he left the building of the
newspaper Pueblo in Madrid and entered a telephone booth to talk to
his wife. When he put down the receiver, two bombs exploded in the
nearby headquarters of Swissair and TWA. Nobody died but among the
nine injured was Jose Antonio. While still in the hospital, when he
struggled to save both legs, he started to read books and materials
about the case and the history of the Armenians. He also interviewed
ASALA members. Soon after the incident, his book, titled La Bomba,
was released, giving the first-hand account of a Spanish journalist
and the tragic story of the survival of a whole nation.

When asked whether it was worthwhile so much sacrifice and bloodshed,
and were the fighters heroes or terrorists, Armenians may never come
up with an objective answer. It is a burning issue and we will always
have a subjective answer.

Therefore the best way is to leave the answer to a prominent Turkish
writer and a Spanish journalist.

- See more at:
http://www.mirrorspe...h.UD7pmgbo.dpuf
 

[onjig]

I don't look at Yanikian as a villain. I remember when this happened and was in the newspapers. He, as a child was hidden by his mother, as the turks were cutting off his brothers head in their home. His mother held her hand over his mouth, to keep him from yelling to his brother, he was biting her hand yet she kept him quiet, saving their life. His mother's hand was deformed from that day on. 

 

You know, how you and I suffer the denial, having knowledge of what was done to our families, can you imagine how he was tortured by daily recall from that day. As I remember only two survived out of that large, extended family.

Edited by onjig, 14 February 2014 - 03:21 PM.

[Yervant1]

ARMENIAN CULTURAL CENTRE
13 Kilkis Street
Larnaca 6015
Cyprus
Web: http://www.armenianculturalcentre.org/

A special made-for-television production about Gourgen Yanikian entitled
"In My Defence" and starring acclaimed English actor Edward Woodward is now
available for viewing online. The half-hour programme is a monologue in
which Woodward, appearing as Gourgen Yanikian, describes his life
experiences and explains the reasons why he assassinated two Turkish
diplomats in Santa Barbara, California, in 1973, a double killing that
caused shockwaves around the world.

The programme was written and devised by Jack Emery, a renowned British
film producer and director, and was broadcast on BBC2 in 1991.

The film can be viewed by clicking on:

https://www.youtube....h?v=d2EdUfCMMaY

Armenian Cultural Centre
13 Kilkis Street
Larnaca 6015
Cyprus

[MosJan]

thank you !!!

[Yervant1]

thank you !!!

[onjig]

Thankyou.

[Yervant1]

Thankyou.

[MosJan]

only if i could  find  his  graveside

[Yervant1]

News.am, Armenia

Jan 27 2018

 

 

Former attorney regrets he made wrong decision in Armenian Genocide case

00:42, 28.01.2018

                  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Former district attorney from California David Minier wrote an article describing a trial of Gourgen Yanikian who assassinated two Turkish diplomats in Santa Barbara to avenge the genocide.

“Yanikian, age 78 and a former Fresno resident, was charged with murder, and I was his prosecutor,” Minier wrote in the article published by Fresno Bee.

“The aging Armenian had lured the diplomats to a cottage at Santa Barbara’s exclusive Biltmore Hotel, promising gifts of art treasures for their government. Instead, he pulled a Luger pistol from a hollowed out book and emptied it at them. He then called the reception desk, announced he had killed “two evils,” and sat calmly on the patio awaiting arrest.”

Minier says Yanikian’s purpose was to create an “Armenian Nuremberg” – a show trial to call world attention to the Armenian Genocide.

In contrast two Soghoman Tehlirian  who murdered Talaat Pasha and was acquitted by a Germany jury, Yanikian was sentenced to life in prison.

“Yanikian’s attorneys told the judge they wanted to call as witnesses eminent historians and elderly Armenians who had survived the genocide.”

“He commanded the witness stand for six days and described in detail, without objection, the Armenian genocide.

Yanikian told how, as a boy of 8, he watched marauding Turks slit his brother’s throat, and of the slaughter of 26 other family members. He testified in Armenian, translated by Aram Saroyan, former Fresno grape shipper, San Francisco attorney, and uncle of author William Saroyan.”

Although the jury were moved to tears, the man was sentenced. Hewas granted compassionate release to a care home in 1984, over objection of the Turkish government, and died of cancer two months later.

However, former attorney regrets he had not the courage to allow such evidence. David Minier slams U.S. government for failure to recognize the Armenian Genocide, admitting that chances for genocide resolution passage are remote.

“The House will doubtless take the safer path, as I did in the Yanikian trial.

And once again, truth will fall victim to expedience.”

https://news.am/eng/news/433386.html