1983 Orly Airport attack: Difference between revisions
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The '''Orly Airport attack''' was a bombing of the [[Turkish Airlines]] check-in counter at the [[Paris-Orly Airport|Orly Airport]] in [[Paris]], [[France]], carried out by the [[Armenia]]n militant organization [[ASALA]] on 15 July 1983. The bombing killed eight people and injured 55.<ref name="nytimes1">[http://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/09/world/around-the-world-french-hold-armenians-in-orly-airport-bombing.html The New York Times, October 9, 1983. French Hold Armenians in Orly Airport Bombing]</ref> The bombers aim was the recognition of and reparations for the [[Armenian Genocide]].<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/24/weekinreview/the-world-sympathy-won-t-help.html?sec=health&&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/P/Police The New York Times. Sympathy Won't Help]</ref> |
The '''Orly Airport attack''' was a bombing of the [[Turkish Airlines]] check-in counter at the [[Paris-Orly Airport|Orly Airport]] in [[Paris]], [[France]], carried out by the [[Armenia]]n militant organization [[ASALA]] on 15 July 1983. The bombing killed eight people and injured 55.<ref name="nytimes1">[http://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/09/world/around-the-world-french-hold-armenians-in-orly-airport-bombing.html The New York Times, October 9, 1983. French Hold Armenians in Orly Airport Bombing]</ref> The bombers' aim was the recognition of and reparations for the [[Armenian Genocide]].<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/24/weekinreview/the-world-sympathy-won-t-help.html?sec=health&&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/P/Police The New York Times. Sympathy Won't Help]</ref> |
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The bomb exploded in a suitcase at the Turkish Airlines check-in desk in the airport's crowded southern [[Airport terminal|terminal]]. 3 people were killed immediately in the blast and another 5 died in hospital. Among the victims there were 4 French, 2 Turks, 1 American and 1 Swede. The bomb consisted of only half a kilo of [[Semtex]] explosive, but it was connected to three portable gas bottles which explained the extensive burns among the victims.<ref>M. H. Syed. Islamic terrorism: myth or reality. Gyan Publishing House, 2002. ISBN 8178351404, 9788178351407, p. 43</ref> ASALA claimed responsibility for the attack. |
The bomb exploded in a suitcase at the Turkish Airlines check-in desk in the airport's crowded southern [[Airport terminal|terminal]]. 3 people were killed immediately in the blast and another 5 died in hospital. Among the victims there were 4 French, 2 Turks, 1 American and 1 Swede. The bomb consisted of only half a kilo of [[Semtex]] explosive, but it was connected to three portable gas bottles which explained the extensive burns among the victims.<ref>M. H. Syed. Islamic terrorism: myth or reality. Gyan Publishing House, 2002. ISBN 8178351404, 9788178351407, p. 43</ref> ASALA claimed responsibility for the attack. |
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Revision as of 14:12, 11 May 2009
| Orly Airport attack | |
|---|---|
| Location | Paris-Orly Airport, Paris, France |
| Date | 15 July 1983 |
Attack type | Bombing |
| Deaths | 8 |
| Injured | 55 |
| Perpetrators | Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia |
The Orly Airport attack was a bombing of the Turkish Airlines check-in counter at the Orly Airport in Paris, France, carried out by the Armenian militant organization ASALA on 15 July 1983. The bombing killed eight people and injured 55.[1] The bombers' aim was the recognition of and reparations for the Armenian Genocide.[2]
The bomb exploded in a suitcase at the Turkish Airlines check-in desk in the airport's crowded southern terminal. 3 people were killed immediately in the blast and another 5 died in hospital. Among the victims there were 4 French, 2 Turks, 1 American and 1 Swede. The bomb consisted of only half a kilo of Semtex explosive, but it was connected to three portable gas bottles which explained the extensive burns among the victims.[3] ASALA claimed responsibility for the attack.
The French police detained 29-year old Varoujan Garabedian (Varadjian Garbidjian), a Syrian national of Armenian extraction, who confessed to planting the bomb at Orly Airport. Garabedian said he was the head of the French branch of ASALA. At the airport, Garabedian said he had too much luggage and gave a passenger $65 to check the bag for him. The bomb was meant to go off aboard a Turkish Airways plane while it was en route from Paris to Istanbul, but it exploded prematurely on a baggage ramp.[4][5]
According to Garabedian:
The action at the Orly airport was carried out in response to the execution (by hanging) of Levon Ekmekjian in Istanbul in 1982. We planned to blow up the Turkish Airlines plane, which was to transport high-ranking representatives of the Turkish secret services, as well as generals and diplomats. As a result of the action that we carried out 10 Turks were killed and 60 were injured.[6]
Garabedian confessed that the bomb was assembled at the home of an Armenian of Turkish nationality, Ohannes Semerci, in Villiers-le-Bel.[4] Later police arrested in Marseilles another Turkish citizen of Armenian extraction, 22 years old Nayir Soner, an electronics specialist, who was suspected to be the one who made the bomb out of gas bottles.[7][1]
French and international press alleged that the French Socialist government had struck a secret deal with ASALA in January 1982, in which there would be no further attacks on French soil in return for French recognition that the Turks had attempted genocide against the Armenians in 1915. Under the terms of the deal ASALA members supposedly were also granted unrestricted use of French airports, and four ASALA members charged with the takeover of the Turkish consulate in Paris, in which a security guard was killed, were given light sentences. Garabedian told French investigators that the violation of the secret pact by ASALA was an accident, and that the suitcase bomb was supposed to detonate on board a Turkish airliner, not on French soil. But the Orly airport attack forced the French government to crack down on ASALA.[8][9]
During the 11-day jury trial in suburban Créteil Garabedian denied his earlier confession of having planted the bomb hidden in a suitcase at the airline check-in counter. However he was found guilty and given a life sentence on 3 March 1985. Nayir Soner, accused of buying bottles of gas used to make the bomb, was given a 15-year sentence, and Ohannes Semerci, in whose apartment ammunition and dynamite were found, received a 10-year sentence.[10]
In 2001, after serving 17 years in jail, Garabedian was freed and deported to Armenia.[11][12]
References
- ^ a b The New York Times, October 9, 1983. French Hold Armenians in Orly Airport Bombing
- ^ The New York Times. Sympathy Won't Help
- ^ M. H. Syed. Islamic terrorism: myth or reality. Gyan Publishing House, 2002. ISBN 8178351404, 9788178351407, p. 43
- ^ a b The New York Times. Paris says suspect confesses attack
- ^ The New York Times. Sympathy Won't Help
- ^ Айоц Ашхар. Похитители чужой славы
- ^ The Washington Post, July 24, 1983. Dutch Hold Suspect in Brussels Killing
- ^ Jack Anderson, Dale Van Atta. Lebanese Is Key To Bombings Rocking France. Newsday, October 29, 1986, p. 80.
- ^ Christian Science Monitor, July 19, 1983. Armenian bombing at Orly ends pact between Socialists and terrorists
- ^ United Press International. Foreign News Briefs. March 4, 1985.
- ^ Agence France Presse, April 24, 2001. Armenian terrorist freed and deported from France.
- ^ "Armenian premier meets with released ASALA member". Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Newsline. May 7, 2001.