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The honorary Turkish consul general to New England was...

By ANNE FLAHERTY

SOMERVILLE, Mass. -- The honorary Turkish consul general to New England was shot to death as he sat behind the wheel of his car Tuesday night by two men posing as joggers, police said. An Armenian group claimed responsibility.

The bullet-riddled body of Orhan Gunduz, a Turkish-American community leader whose gift shop in nearby Cambridge was the target of a terrorist bomb on March 22, was found slumped in the car's front seat in a quiet residential section of Somerville, a suburb just north of Boston.

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It was the second assassination of a Turkish leader in the United States this year, the first occurring on Jan. 28 in Los Angeles. State Department figures showed the Los Angeles incident was the 21st slaying since 1973 in Western Europe and the United States of prominent Turks or their family members.

A man telephoned United Press International shortly after Tuesday's shooting and said: 'This is the Justice Commandos of Armenian Genocide. We have just assassinated the Turkish ambassador in Boston.' He then hung up.

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Armenian groups also called UPI offices in Washington and Los Angeles with similar messages.

Police said Gunduz' late-model white Ford LTD was riddled by as many as 12 bullets through the windshield and on the driver's side. Gunduz held the honorary title of Turkish consul general to New England, although there is no formal Turkish consulate in the region.

Gunduz, dressed in a plaid sports jacket and tie, was driving alone in his car to his home in nearby Nahant. Police believe two men posed as joggers and were waiting on a streetcorner for the car to make a turn. They escaped on foot.

'We heard the gunshots. I said 'bullets' and my friend said 'no, just kids,'' said Domingos Vieire, 18, who worked across the street in a used car lot.

'I ran over to the corner and I saw this guy in a blue (jogging) suit and I saw all this smoke,' he said. 'I didn't know if they were really gunshots until I got over there.'

'I rushed over and saw this guy all shot up,' Vieire said. 'I ran back into the shop and started screaming and I called the police.'

Authorities recovered a blue sweatshirt believed to belong to one of the joggers, and two handguns near the car -- one a 9mm and the other a .38-caliber weapon.

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Somerville Police Chief Arthur Pino said police had only sketchy descriptions of the joggers, but they were interviewing several eyewitnesses to the slaying.

A woman who lived in a nearby home said she thought the shots were firecrackers at first. 'I heard several shots, but I didn't see a thing,' she said.

Police cordoned off a two-block area at the intersection of Webster and Newton Streets in a residential area of the city.

Police who saw diplomatic license plates on the car at first would not disclose the victim's identity, saying the case had 'international complications.'

On March 22, Gonduz' storefront was bombed out in Central Square in Cambridge and the same group called UPI claiming responsibility. No one was injured in the explosion, which occurred after the store had closed.

The blast narrowly missed injuring two women who were passing by. Gonduz arrived at the scene with his son a short time later and, in an interview, said he had no intention of closing the store because of what he termed a few scattered terrorists.

His store, which specialized in imported goods, had also been picketed by Armenian rights groups in the past.

Gunduz was active in Turkish-American affairs from his office next to the store in Cambridge.

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Attacks on Turkish officials by Armenian groups -- in revenge for what they claim is the 1915 massacre of 1.5 million Armenians living in Turkey and the deportation of another 1 million -- have been frequent in recent years.

Turkish groups deny the claims, saying many of their own people died at the hands of the Armenians.

Armenia is now divided among Turkey, the Soviet Union and Iran, but there are large concentrations of Armenian exiles in Lebanon and United States.

The string of slayings began in 1973 when an elderly Armenian gunned down Turkey's Los Angeles consul and consul general in Santa Barbara, Calif.

A young Armenian currently is on trial in Los Angeles, charged with the 1980 firebombing of the home of Turkish diplomat Harout Arikan, who was assassinated earlier this year.

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