CIA declassified report: ASALA threat to US policy interests

Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 1

By Elmira Tariverdiyeva – Trend:

The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) poses a growing threat to a number of US policy interests, reads a declassified CIA document.

The US Central Intelligence Agency document RDP85T00283R000400030009-2, dated 1983, is one of the 13,000 documents declassified in January.

The document says ASALA’s development has ominous implications for international coopera­tion against terrorism.

“Recent fragmentation within ASALA and Armenian political groups, in our estimation, increases the risk of terrorist violence, particularly in Western Europe, as the various splinter groups vie for the attention of the Armenian community,” CIA said.

According to the document, Armenian terrorist groups ostensibly wanted to create an independent Armenian homeland.

The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) terrorist group operated actively in 1973-1985.

Forty-two Turkish diplomats were killed in ASALA attacks.