Ahmet Benler

Ahmet Benler's VW (1979)

Memorial at the Turkish embassy in The Hague, Prinsessegracht 28

Ahmet Benler was the son of Özdemir Benler, the Turkish ambassador to the Netherlands. He was assassinated on October 12, 1979 in The Hague.^[1] The responsibility for his assassination was claimed separately by ASALA and JCAG.^[2]

27 years old Ahmet Benler, the only son of the Turkish Ambassador to the Netherlands, was a post-graduate student at Delft University. According to the police, on the way to the University he stopped his Volkswagen for a traffic light when a gunman, who had been standing at a trolley stop, walked up and fired between four and six shots through the vehicle's closed window.^[3] Benler died on spot. Ahmet was my classmate at Polytechnic Institute of New York (now part of New York University) in 1976, 1977 and 1978, and my neighbor living in Brooklyn, NY. I was doing PhD in that institution. Ahmet was a Masters degree student at the time. We were both working with the same advisor. Ahmet was a wonderful and caring young man who would be everyone's dream to know as a friend and a colleague; he was a wonderful human being. I had received a card from him probably in late 1978 or early 1979 informing me that he was planning to get married in Netherlands where his father was stationed at the Turkish embassy. I planned to go to his wedding and informed him to that effect. But never heard back from him. The day that I learnt from our joint advisor that he had been assassinated, was among the worst days of my life. I am sure he is in heavens now.

Capture and trial of the alleged assassin

His alleged assassin Mustafa Hassan Ammar, as his Lebanese passport stated, was returned to Netherlands for the trial. However, he was discharged on the ground of insufficient evidence after a 7-hour hearing.^[4][5]

References