The family, saying it wanted to take Ekmekjian’s body and perform its own religious funeral rites in France, had appealed to the Turkish Interior Ministry through its lawyer, Eren Keskin. His grave was subsequently identified in the Cebeci Cemetery in the Turkish capital Ankara, and the ministry’s approval was granted in late December 2015.
The grave was opened last week and Ekmekjian’s body was sent to France on a plane.
Ekmekjian was one of two ASALA members who attacked Ankara’s Esenboğa Airport with bombs and gunfire in August 1982. Nine people and Ekmekjian’s accomplice, Zahrab Sarkisyan, were killed while a 24-year-old Lebanese citizen of Armenian origin survived.
Ekmekjian was sentenced to death by Turkey’s military regime in September 1982 and was executed in January 1983 in Ankara’s Ulucanlar Prison.
Turkey sends body of executed ASALA member to France
08 January 2016
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The body of Levon Ekmekjian, a member of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) who was executed in Turkey in 1983, has been taken to France following an appeal from his family, Hurriyet Daily News reported.
