Guard killed in Ottawa siege

Press, 14 March 1985, Page 6

Guard killed in Ottawa siege

NZPA-Reuter Ottawa Three gunmen who said they were Armenian revolutionaries killed a Canadian security guard and took 11 people hostage in the Turkish Embassy at Ottawa yesterday before surrendering to the police after a fourhour siege. The Turkish Ambassador, Mr Coskun Kirca, apparently jumped or was pushed from a second-floor embassy window during the early-morning attack and suffered a broken leg and arm.

The police said the security guard was killed in a shoot-out with the gunmen when they pushed into the embassy, blowing off the front door with explosives. The 11 hostages, including the ambassador’s wife and children, were released unharmed after the police negotiated by telephone with the attackers. “Negotiations took place with the gunmen, who have now surrendered voluntarily,” a police spokesman said. The gunmen, who said

they were members of a group calling itself the Armenian Revolutionary Army, had earlier told reporters in phone-calls that they wanted to avenge the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by Otoman Turks in 1915. They also asked for a return of Armenian lands. The group has taken responsibility for attacks on Turkish embassies and diplomats in Brussels, Vienna, and Lisbon. Ottawa was the scene in 1982 of two shooting attacks on Turkish diplomats. The

commercial attache was crippled in the first attack in April and then the military attache was shot and killed in August The gunmen arrived at the Tudor-style embassy early in the morning and climbed on to the roof of their rented truck to scale the gates and the compound. Gunfire followed, the security guard was shot and the gunmen rushed into the building. About 100 police, expecting a long siege, cordoned off all streets around the embassy after the attack.