Balkar's death brought to 26 the number of Turks slain in the previous 10 years. More than 300 people had been wounded and 35 others killed since the mid-70s. Only days prior to the shooting, Greek Armenians were quoted in the Athenian newspaper "Akropolis" as saying, "we are going to bring Turkey to her knees by shooting her best diplomats.” Turkey called on Western governments for help in preventing attacks on Turkish diplomats by radical Armenian groups. On 14 April 1983, the Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul appealed to Armenians around the world to fight against "those Armenians who have made a black stain on the race." Patriarch Shnork Kaloustian and other Armenian religious and lay leaders took part in a march to the central Taksim Square, where they observed a minute's silence in memory of the 26 Turkish diplomats and aides killed by Armenian extremists in the previous decade. On March 17, 1983, by order of the Presidency of Yugoslavia, Galip Balkar was posthumously awarded the Order of the Yugoslav Flag with Ribbon. The decision to award the decoration stated that "Ambassador Balkar, in his short diplomatic mission to Yugoslavia, made an important contribution to the development and advancement of friendly relations between Turkey and Yugoslavia." The Belgrade Public Prosecutor charged Harutyun Krikor Levonian (23) and Rafi Alexander Elbekian (21), of Beirut, with assassination of Balkar and attempt to kill Kaya Necet. In addition to this, the bill of indictment charged Levonian with having, after the assassination of the Turkish ambassador, tried to kill retired Colonel of the Yugoslav People's Army Brajović, who was blocking his escape. It also charged Elbekian with the murder of Milivojević, who tried to capture the assassin. It was established that Levonian and Elbekian arrived in Belgrade with the task set by JCAG. In view of the fact that the first accused, Levonian, was in a special health condition as a consequence of his wound and that Elbekian was a junior adult, the two were not sentenced to death. They were defended by Srđa Popović, a leading Yugoslav lawyer who worked in Belgrade. Levonian and Elbekian were sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment each on 9 March 1984, exactly one year after the incident. The Court ruled that after they have served the sentences they would be expelled from Yugoslavia. It was established that Levonian killed the ambassador and seriously wounded Brajović, while Elbekian seriously wounded the driver, and trying to escape from the scene of the crime, killed Milivojević.