During his diplomatic career he had been ambassador of Turkey to Jordan, Yugoslavia, the Netherlands and finally Austria.

At noon, on 22 October 1975, three gunmen bearing automatic weapons ambushed the Turkish Embassy in Vienna, killing the security guards and entering the Ambassador's office.

Receiving an affirmative answer, they shot him with British and Israeli made submachine guns.

[3] Tunalıgil died on the spot and the militants quickly left the scene by an automobile.

[6][7] It was the first assassination perpetrated by JCAG, and by 1984 it would have claimed the lives of 20 Turkish diplomats and members of their immediate families.