Turkish FM to attend unveiling of Altikat memorial kept secret from Armenian community
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will help unveil a Canadian memorial to honor Col. Atilla Altikat, who was killed in Ottawa in 1982 by ASALA, Hurriyet Daily News reported.
Davutoğlu will pay a two-day working visit to Canada today and tomorrow at the invitation of his Canadian counterpart, John Baird, Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
In addition to meeting Baird, Davutoglu will also “attend the opening ceremony of the memorial which was built in honor of late Col. Atilla Altıkat,” the statement said. Ministry officials said the memorial would be opened on the second day of the visit.
The Turkish Embassy secretly erected the monument at the intersection of two major roads in Ottawa, Canada’s capital.
Rafet Akgunay, Turkish ambassador to Canada, approached the government of Canada, the city of Ottawa, and the National Capital Commission (NCC) for permission to erect a monument in Canada’s capital. The application, lobbying and permission were undertaken secretly so as “to prevent possible interventions by the Armenian lobby,” Hurriyet Daily News said.
After receiving permission, Akgunay commissioned Turkish sculptor Necmettin Yagri to create the monument. Six months later, he approved Yagri’s concept. It took another six months for the semi-circular steel-and-wood monument to be built. It’s a huge, semi-circular structure, measuring six metres. The pieces [40 crates] were flown to Canada in July by the Turkish Airlines gratis and were assembled on site, under white tarp, by Turkish workers.