Share :

Download PDF :

Turkish American National Steering Comittee - TASC (16 January 2019)

“Please devote a few minutes to read this letter of an old woman, who was widowed at a very young age and bereaved of love and affection. It has been more than forty years since I lost my husband to the barbarity of hatred. I believe I will carry this trauma unit the end of my life.”

Ms. Gulen Cirit

Widow of Turkish Embassy First Secretary, Oktar Cirit

Assassinated in Beirut, Lebanon on February 16, 1976

Go to www.StopTerroristParole.org to choose and email your letter of preference to Governor Gavin Newsom and Victims Services to stop the release of a terrorist, Hampig Sassounian.

"As his lifeless body lay on the morgue table, I rested my dear husband’s head in my hands and caressed his bullet wounds which the terrorist described as “mercy shots”. The prosecutor and judge agreed it was “cold blooded political assassination”, and the terrorist was handed a life sentence. Atrociously, California’s Armenian American governor of the time granted him early release. Horrifically, last year the Armenian state gave this terrorist a state ceremonial burial. What kind of justice is this? We were newly wed and so deeply in love. Bahadir was a kind, polite, hardworking, good man and civil servant, and a model representative of his country — and for this he was massacred by an Armenian terrorist. He was only 30 years old and never meant any harm to anyone."

Ms. Sina Baydur Demir, Ambassador Ret.

Widow of Turkish Consul in Los Angeles, Bahadir Demir,

Assassinated in Santa Barbara, California on January 27, 1973

On December 27, 2019, behind closed doors and without notice to the victims or public participation, two commissioners of the California Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) granted provisional parole to Armenian Justice Commandos terrorist, Hampig Sassounian in a fait acompli. 

The hearing was held without public participation which explains the extraordinary circumstances why the parole file did not include any objections to Sassounian’s early release.

In 2003, after serving 25 years of his life sentence for the 1982 assassination of the Turkish Consul General in Los Angeles Kemal Arikan, Sassounian became eligible to apply for early release, which he has insistently done in six prior parole hearings. Sassounian's efforts to escape full accountability have failed, thanks to the participation of the victims and the good advocacy of the Turkish American community at prior parole hearings. Please see Case Summary.

Only once before, on December 14, 2016, did BPH grant parole to Sassounian. Thankfully, however, on May 12, 2017, then-California Governor Jerry Brown properly overturned BPH's misguided decision and stopped the release of Sassounian. 

Similarly, California’s new governor, Honorable Gavin Newsom, will soon review Sassounian’s file of December 27, 2019. Please urge Governor Newsom to stop the release of Sassounian.

Thank you for standing for justice.

Respectfully,

Board of Directors

Turkish American National Steering Committee (TASC)