Plot to Assassinate ARF Members Entering Turkey Exposed

National Assembly Member Ara Nranyan Was Probable Target

ANKARA, Turkey (A.W.)—Turkish security forces provided details of plots by a Turkish terrorist group planning to assassinate ARF members visiting Turkey and attack Kurdish targets, reported the Turkish daily newspaper Zaman.

The Turkish Revenge Brigades planned attacks on ARF members.

According to the police report, one such plot dated back to March 22, 2009, when members of the Turkish Revenge Brigades (Türk İntikam Birliği Teşkilatı) Mutlu Erdogan and Onur [full name not provided] discussed over the phone the entry of an ARF member into Turkey and his acquisition of a cell phone number. Responding to the information provided by Onur, Erdogan advised him to lay low for a few months because he suspected that security forces are following them. “Let a few months pass and we will slowly begin conducting operations; we won’t stand idly by,” he adds.

The Armenian Weekly was unable to independently confirm the identity of the ARF member mentioned in the March 22 conversation. In the phone conversation log, he is referred to as the head of the Tashnag Party’s (ARF) political committee (Taşnak Partisi’nin Siyasi Komite Başkanı). No one in the organization’s leadership holds such a title, and no member of the ARF’s top leadership has entered Turkey in recent years. It is likely that the target in March was member of the ARF parliamentary bloc in the Armenian National Assembly, Ara Nranyan, who was in Turkey for a meeting of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), according to the ARF Bureau press office.

The ARF Bureau press office expressed concern over the fact that information about Nranyan’s entry to Turkey was available to a terrorist organization, noting that such information could have only been provided by the Turkish state.

The only other ARF “heads” visiting Turkey are the editors/directors of ARF media, as well as reporters of the Yerevan-based Yergir Media, who visit Turkey several times a year to conduct interviews and prepare special reports and documentaries.

The police report notes the connection between Ergenekon and the Brigades, and also cites planned attacks against Kurdish and Christian targets.

Weekly correspondents in Turkey contributed to this report. Details to follow.

10 Comments

  1. So Turkey thought they could assassinate someone and then they could live happily ever after and feel like the untouchables,, THEY ARE DREAMING…

    SO TURKEY SHOULD NOT feel so special… what comes around goes around…take a mental note.

  2. Im sure Robert would also argue that 1.5 million Armenians deserved to be massacred for disobeying the Ottoman government and siding with invading Russian forces right?
    Your narrow-minded rationale lacks any sort of historical understanding of the Armed Struggle Era and tried to justify continued Turkish aggression by painting Armenians (speciafically the ARF) as aggressors who deserve to die.
    I dont know if your Armenian or not, frankly it doesnt matter, but you should grow up and open the door to the 21st century.
    Armenians hunted down Turkish diplomats who represented (and continue to represent) proactive Genocide denial. They actively sought (and seek to) erase Armenian existance and in that time period, NO ONE CARED.  Today, you dont see those same means pursued, because other means are available. But for you or anyone else to judge in hindsight is unfair, and shallow. Becuase there are no limits (and there should be no limits) to the means sought for any worthy cause.

  3. Marcus, there is no statute of limitations perhaps, but there are always limits to the actions taken in the pursuit of justice.  Moral compass, human compassion, these are (and should be) natural limiters.

  4. I just want to know why an ARF member would visit Turkey in the first place… isn’t the ARF calling everyone who does so a traitor? Why the double standards?

  5. “…but you should grow up and open the door to the 21st century.”

    Sounds like a good idea!

    Then this gem, from the very same person:

    “Armenians hunted down Turkish diplomats who represented (and continue to represent) proactive Genocide denial.”

    This is the face of the new century according to this enlightened soul!  See how easy it is to justify violence against innocent people, just becasue who they are? 

    • Quote: This is the face of the new century according to this enlightened soul! See how easy it is to justify violence against innocent people, just becasue who they are?

      No Murat – just because what they do and say(also an action).
      As far as your concern: Yes, Armenians killed just “becasue” “who they are”, regardless of old, new or super-new century. And this is also a fact.

  6. Robert,
    Goodness, you live in the biggest glass house of them all. Built by the Turkish government. And it has started to crack.
    Despite my response, the best thing to do is ignore Robert. He’s in denial and is spending his time on Armenian websites trying to keep his head in the sand.
    Marcus,
    “Armenians hunted down Turkish diplomats who represented (and continue to represent) proactive Genocide denial”
    I find this weak. We’re not talking about Taalat and his henchmen with blood on their hands. Were these diplomats involved in any way with deaths of Armenians that they themselves deserved death? They were the most accessible and prominent representatives of Turkey that could be targeted for violent protest of a buried injustice. The “other means” you mention were always available. Solid scholarly research is the foundation.

  7. Marcus you are dangerous for the humanity. How can you look for mercy while you mean “Turkish diplomats deserved to die”?
    Armenian patriotism is on its way, if you are a Turk and dont aggree with the armenians so you are out. You are brainwashed! Your history books are prewritten and fake!
    If you are Taner Akcam, Orhan Pamuk, than you are a good Turk!
    There is no Turkish race actually, it is a mixture of assyrians, greeks, armenians, arabs, persians, tatars, cherkezs, azeris, georgians, bulgarians.
    Turks are not real muslims, they are not welcomed in arab world.
    Turks dont even qualify to exist in this world!
    Summarized according to content of the comment pages..

  8. My friend you see a dream about Turks. You said that there is no Turkish race in the world. Is there any pure Arab, Azeri, Armenian race? Armenians look like Azeris and Georgians. Also they like Armenians.

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