Bomb attack on the Alfortville Genocide Memorial

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The bombing of the Alfortville Genocide Memorial was an attack by members of the Gray Wolves led by the Turkish right-wing extremist Abdullah Çatlı and funded by the Turkish National Intelligence Service (MİT). It took place on May 3, 1984 in a district of Alfortville (suburb of Paris ) inhabited by Armenians . Observers rated the attack as an act of revenge for the attacks by the Asala and the justice squads of the Armenian genocide on Turkish diplomats.

The target was a memorial to the victims of the Armenian Genocide on Rue Etienne Dolet, which was inaugurated on April 24, 1984, the 69th anniversary of the 1915 genocide in the Ottoman Empire . The Turkish press insulted the memorial as a "monument of hatred". More than a week after the inauguration, three bombs were reported to have exploded on May 3, leaving 13 people injured, two of them serious. The monument, made of Khachkar stones, was irreparably damaged in the detonation. The then mayor of Alfortville, Joseph Franceschi , who was also France's State Secretary for Public Security, condemned the attack. Jean Poperen , National Secretary of the Socialist Party of France, also condemned the attack and expressed his solidarity with the Armenians of France .

The investigation began immediately after the attack. It was later reported that the attack was carried out by the National Security Organization of Turkey ( MİT ). The bombing of the memorial was in a row with several serious bombings against Armenian institutions and monuments across France, like the bombing of the Armenian Cultural Center in Alfortville in 1983.

A second attack occurred during the evening of April 13, 2002; three unknown attackers threw three Molotov cocktails each at the monument, which was destroyed again. The attack took place during the days marking the 87th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, commemorating the mass arrests of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. An investigation was opened by the local Alfortville Police Department, but the attackers were never caught.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Stephen E. Atkins: Encyclopedia of modern worldwide extremists and extremist groups / ec Stephen E. Atkins . Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn. [u. a.] 2004, ISBN 978-0-313-32485-7 , pp. 110 .
  2. ↑ a b Beau Grosscup: The new explosion of terrorism . New Horizon Pr., Far Hills, NJ 1991, ISBN 978-0-88282-074-3 , pp. 297 ( online [accessed December 22, 2012]).
  3. ↑ a b c Ergenekon document reveals MİT's assassination secrets ( Memento from February 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Today's Zaman , August 19, 2008
  4. ↑ a b c d Gerard Libaridian (Ed.): A Crime of silence: the Armenian genocide . Zed Books, London 1985, ISBN 978-0-86232-423-0 (the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal; preface by Pierre Vidal-Naquet).
  5. ^ A b c British Broadcasting Corporation. Monitoring Service (Ed.): Summary of World Broadcasts: Non-Arab Africa, Issues 7631-7657 . 1984 ( online [accessed December 22, 2012]).
  6. ↑ compiled by David Davidian: Addressing Turkish genocide apologists: on UNIX UseNet World Wide Computer Network . Ed .: published by the Social Democratic Party of Armenia. Cambridge, Mass. 1989, ISBN 978-1-877935-01-5 .
  7. ^ The Middle East, Issues 111-122 . IC Publications, 1984 ( online ).
  8. ↑ United States. Foreign Broadcast Information Service, United States. Joint Publications Research Service (Ed.): Near East / South Asia Report, Issue 84094 .
  9. ↑ Beau Grosscup: The new explosion of terrorism . New Horizon Pr., Far Hills, NJ 1991, ISBN 978-0-88282-074-3 , pp. 297 ( online [accessed December 22, 2012]).
  10. ^ Armenian Genocide Monument in French City Damaged. In: Asbarez. Retrieved December 26, 2012 .