Kemal Arıkan


Kemal Arıkan was a Turkish diplomat assassinated by two US citizens of Armenian origin in Los Angeles, United States.

Early life

He was born on 1927 in İskilip, Çorum Province. After finishing the Ankara University, Law School and Harvard University, he began serving in governmental offices. In 1955 he transferred to Ministry of Foreign Affairs He was married and the father of two.

Professional life

In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in addition to various offices at home, he served in the embassies in Prague, Chicago, Canberra and Sydney. In 1978 he was appointed as the consul general in Los Angeles. Los Angeles was a critical point for Turkish representatives, for another consul general Mehmet Baydar and vice consul Bahadır Demir were assassinated in 1973. Thus Arıkan left his two children in Canberra, Australia which was one of his former places of duty. In an interview to Los Angeles Times "You take precaution" was his answer to a question about risks in Los Angeles.

Assassination

On 28 January 1982, at about 9.30, Arıkan drove from home to office. When he stopped at red stoplight, two armed men began shooting at him. He was hit 14 times. The two men were Harry Sassounian and Krikor Saliba. Although Saliba disappeared without a trace, Sassounian was arrested and in 1984, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
In 2002, prosecutors agreed to drop the so-called "national origin" special circumstance of the case, making Sassounian eligible for parole, in exchange for his admitting his guilt and formally apologizing. "I participated in the murder of Kemal Arikan," Sassounian read aloud from a letter detailing the plea bargain. "I renounce the use of terrorist tactics to achieve political goals. I regret the suffering of the Arıkan family." The California Prison Parole Board rejected Sassounian's demands of release in 2006, 2010 and 2013. California Board of Parole granted parole to Sassounian on 14 December 2016. Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the decision of his release and Turkish American groups urged the California Governor Jerry Brown to deny parole. Brown denied the parole in May 2017, vetoing the board's decision. In a statement, Brown said he believes Sassounian would still pose "an unreasonable danger to society if released," adding that "The killing was a deliberate, planned assassination of a diplomat, plotted at least two weeks in advance."

Legacy

Two streets one in Pozantı, Adana Province and one in Kuşadası, Aydın Province were named after Kemal Arıkan.