Sarkis Soghanalian
Sarkis Garabet Soghanalian ( Armenian Սարգիս Սողանալեան , February 6, 1929 near İskenderun - October 5, 2011 ) was a Syrian arms dealer nicknamed the Merchant of Death . His life story, along with other arms dealers, was the basis for the film Lord of War . Soghanalian was named the largest arms dealer during the Cold War by the television program Frontline . He was also the main arms seller to the former Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein .
Life
Soghanalian was the son of an Armenian family. He was born in the area of İskenderun (then Sanjak Alexandrette , now Turkey). His family moved to Lebanon in 1939 to avoid arrest by the Turks. Due to the poor conditions in which his family lived, he left school early and joined the French military . He served in a tank unit. He later worked as a ski instructor in Lebanon.
He came into contact with the arms trade in the early 1970s when he sold the first batch of firearms in 1973 . The delivery consisted mainly of American weapons. Later he mainly procured small arms and infantry weapons from various Eastern Bloc countries, including Bulgaria , Hungary and Poland .
After the Lebanese civil war , he began to supply other conflict areas. These were:
- the Christian Kata'ib movement in Lebanon
- various groups in Ecuador , Mauritania and Nicaragua
- the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Mobutu Sese Seko
- Muammar al-Gaddafi
- the Argentine military during the Falklands War .
With the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980, Soghanalian began selling arms to Iraq. This happened with the knowledge and tolerance of the USA.
“The Americans knew what I was doing, every minute, every hour. If I drank a glass of water, they were aware of it and what kind of water it was. "
“The Americans knew what I was doing, every minute, every hour. When I drank a glass of water, they knew that and they also knew which water it was. "
Soghanalian had a good relationship with the United States of America since American forces landed in Lebanon in 1958 . He was officially identified as a good and trustworthy source, which made him an ideal candidate for arms trade with Iraq. During the embargo in the Iran-Iraq war, he transported the weapons to Iraq via third countries. His most important business was the sale of French tank artillery .
Web links
- Telepolis: Dead Merchant of Death , February 25, 2015
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b " Sarkis Soghanalian: The Cold War's Largest Arms Merchant ." Frontline / World (March 2001). Retrieved April 10, 2007
- ^ Silverstein, Ken and Daniel Burton-Rose. Private warriors . New York: Verso, 2000, pp. 60-61. ISBN 1-85984-325-5 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Soghanalian, Sarkis |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Soghanalian, Sarkis Garabet (full name); Merchant of Death (nickname) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Syrian arms dealer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 6, 1929 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | at İskenderun |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 5, 2011 |