The Turkish embassy marked the 40th anniversary of the death of the Turkish ambassador in Belgrade, Galip Balkar, who was killed by members of the terrorist organization ASALA in 1983
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the murder of Ambassador Galip Balkar in Belgrade, the current ambassador of the Republic of Turkey in Belgrade, Hami Aksoy, reminded that terrorist attacks on Turkish diplomats and their families began in 1973 and continued until 1984.
– Terrorism has no nationality, religion or race, there are no good or bad terrorists, we must fight terrorism together whenever it threatens us, and Serbia stands firmly with Turkey in the fight against terrorism, and we respect the support of our friends – said Ambassador Aksoy.
After planting a tree in the central Belgrade Tašmajdan park in memory of Balkar, Aksoy reminded that Balkar was killed at the age of 47 after a cowardly terrorist ambush in one of the central Belgrade streets while he was going to a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He stated that the terrorists, right in the Tašmajdan park, also killed the twenty-five-year-old student Žarko Milivojević who “heroically tried to catch up with them” and added that the embassy driver and a policeman were seriously wounded in the attack.
– Ambassador Balkar had an outstanding reputation, a brilliant career in Turkish diplomacy, and was a talented diplomat who served his homeland with passion and honor and played an important role in the development of relations between Turkey and the then Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He was remembered as a friend, a fair man full of compassion – said Aksoy.
Attackers Kirkor Levonyan and Rafi Alexander were caught on March 9, 1984 and sentenced to 20 years in prison each.
