Şarık Arıyak (3 March 1930 – 17 December 1980) was a Turkish diplomat killed by an organization named Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia.

Early life

Şarık Arıyak was born on 3 March 1930 in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey. After finishing

Sivas Sivas is a city in central Turkey. It is the seat of Sivas Province and Sivas District.İl Beledi ...

High School and

Faculty of Political Science A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

Ankara University Ankara University () is a public university, public research university in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the History of the Republic of Turkey, formation of the Turkish republ ...

he traveled to

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

for further studies at the

University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne (UNIL; ) in Lausanne, Switzerland, was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second-oldest in Switzerland, and one of the oldest universities ...

. He served in the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

and then he transferred to the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

in 1959. In 1969, he married Demet Gülöz. During his youth he played football in

Gençlerbirliği S.K. Gençlerbirliği Spor Kulübü (pronounced ), commonly known as Gençlerbirliği, is a Turkish sports club based in Ankara. Formed in 1923, Gençlerbirliği are nicknamed ''Ankara Rüzgârı'' (The Wind of Ankara) or simply ''Gençler'' (The Yo ...

He was also a

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

track runner.

Professional life

In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs he served in the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

department. Later he served in the embassies in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. Next he was appointed as the chief secretary of

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embassy. In 1975 he returned home to serve in the Culture department of the ministry. On 30 November 1978 he was appointed as the consul general in

.Bilal Şimşir: ''Şehit Diplomatlarımız'', Bilgi yayınevi, Istanbul, Vol 1, pp. 359–360

Assassination

On 17 December 1980 at 9:45am local time, Arıyak was assassinated by two unknown men in Portland Street,

Dover Heights Dover Heights is a cliffside Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Dover Heights is 9 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local ...

, while he was about to leave his home for his office. (Originally published 18 December 1980) Arıyak and his bodyguard, Engin Sever, were leaving the residence in separate vehicles when they were attacked by two men on a motorcycle, who were wearing motorcycle helmets. One kept the engine running as the other shot at close range Sever, and then Arıyak. Arıyak died on the scene and Sever died soon after at a hospital. A woman with heavy accent rang Australian news organisations to claim the responsibility for the attack on behalf of the Justice Commandos of the Armenian genocide, which is also responsible for several attacks against Turks across the world. Arıyak was survived by his wife and his 8-year-old daughter, who both were the witnesses to the assassination. The killers were not apprehended.

Re-investigation

On 17 December 2019, it was announced that

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Joint Counter Terrorism Team established Strike Force Esslemont to re-investigate the murders. The reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction was increased from $250,000 to $1 million, which is the first ever million-dollar reward offered in Australia for an act of terrorism. The investigators released computer-generated images of the suspects, based on witness descriptions. In August 2020 Joint Counter Terrorism Team revealed that information gathered since the 2019 announcement of the reward resulted in investigators retrieving a number of items of interest from the bottom of Sydney Harbour, which would undergo forensic examination. On 3 August 2022, NSW police released the audio recording of the woman, who had rung the Herald Sun to claim the attack.

Legacy

A street in Istanbul was named after Şarık Arıyak.

References