[3][4] The 1985 attack was the third assault on Turkish diplomatic personnel in Ottawa by Armenian gunmen in three years:[5] in April 1982, the embassy's commercial counsellor, Kani Güngör, was shot and critically injured in a parking garage.

[3][4] Using a powerful homemade bomb, the gunmen blasted open the heavy front door of the two-storey, Tudor-style home and embassy office.

Once inside, they began rounding up hostages, including the wife of the Turkish ambassador, his teenage daughter and embassy staff members[2]—at least 12 people.

Four hours later, the gunmen released all hostages and surrendered[5]—they tossed out their weapons and came out of the building with their hands up, asking only that they not be shot by police.

[2] The attackers—Kevork Marachelian, 35, of LaSalle, Quebec; Rafi Panos Titizian, 27, of Scarborough, Ontario; and Ohannes Noubarian, 30, of Montreal—were charged with first-degree murder of security officer Claude Brunelle during the assault on the Turkish Embassy.

[2] They also faced charges of attacking the premises of a diplomat, endangering the life and liberty of Ambassador Coskun Kirca, setting off an explosion to get into the embassy and possessing grenades, handguns and shotguns.

An Ontario Supreme Court jury deliberated for 8.5 hours before finding Noubarian, Marachelian, and Titizian guilty of first-degree murder.

[14] This need was ignored until the 12 March 1985 attack on the embassy: the event changed the Canadian government's attitude toward militants and led to the creation of the RCMP Special Emergency Response Team.