The Justice Commandos for the Armenian Genocide (JCAG) was founded in 1975.  The group was dedicated to establishing an independent Armenian state.  They also focused on their belief that Turkey (then, the Ottoman Empire) was responsible for genocide against the Armenian people in 1915.  The Ottoman Empire, in 1915, expelled vast numbers of Armenians from its territory of what is now Turkey.  Many crossed over into what later became the Soviet Republic of Armenia, while the majority formed communities abroad, the largest of which is in the United States.  Unlike other anti-Turkish Armenian groups, the JCAG relied on private funding  --  mainly from Armenian communities around the world  --  not from states opposing Turkey.  Turkish sources claim that the JCAG was a creation of the Tashnak Party   / Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), an Armenian political party exiled from the Soviet Union and committed to the reunification of a non-Communist Armenia. <P><br />The focus of the JCAG was solely on Turkey.  The majority of its actions were against Turkish diplomatic personnel and targets, although attacks also occurred on Turkish commercial and tourism interests.  Turkish diplomats were assassinated in Los Angeles and Boston, while embassies and Turkish Airlines offices were attacked both in the United States and Europe.  The JCAG remained sensitive to public opinion and did not target or ever harm non-Turkish interests, as opposed to the other principal Armenian terrorist group operating in the United States at the time, the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA).

The JCAG's terrorist activities in the United States officially ended in 1983, after which nothing was heard from the group going by that name.  However, most analysts agree that a new Armenian terrorist group that began operating at that time, the Armenian Revolutionary Army (ARA), was simply the JCAG with a new name.  Although the last attack by the ARA in North America was in 1985, Turkey claims that Armenian terrorism still represents a threat against Turkish diplomatic targets abroad, and has encouraged foreign governments to take action against possible threats. <P> Recent developments suggest that the JCAG/ARA has reconstituted itself with a new focus, Azerbaijan, which is now involved in a conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.  Nagorno-Karabakh is a region of Azerbaijan populated by ethnic Armenians where the government of Armenia has supported separatist movements.  The ARA has reportedly formed cells in order to attack Azerbaijani diplomatic corps in South America and the states of the former Soviet Union.