Hüseyin Daniş Tunalıgil (1915 – 22 October 1975) was a Turkish diplomat. He was assassinated by JCAG in 1975 during his duty as the Turkish ambassador to Austria.[1]
At noon, on 22 October 1975, three gunmen bearing automatic weapons ambushed the Turkish Embassy in Vienna, killing the security guards and entering the Ambassador's office. Once face to face with the ambassador, the militants asked if he was the Turkish ambassador. Receiving an affirmative answer, they shot him with British and Israeli made submachine guns.[3] Tunalıgil died on the spot and the militants quickly left the scene by an automobile.[4]
The attack was followed by another planned attack against the ambassador of Turkey to France, Ismail Erez on October 24, 1975 killing him and his chauffeur.[5]
The 3 militants were never identified and caught.[6][7] It was the first assassination perpetrated by JCAG, and by 1984 it would have claimed the lives of 20 Turkish diplomats and members of their immediate families.[8]
An ornamental tablet in commemoration of Tunalıgil in front of the Turkish Embassy in Vienna
^Michael M. Gunter, "Pursuing the Just Cause of their People. A Study of Contemporary Armenian Terrorism, Westport-New York-London, Greenwood Press, 1986, p. 68
^Baron Max, Beloff Beloff, "Beyond the Soviet Union: the fragmentation of power, Ashgate, 1997, p. 42
