Turkey in the 1970's

[bcbm]

Anybody know of any good books, websites, zines or what have you that cover this topic? I'd like to find out more.

[Leo]

I know some stuff, just ask me what you specificly want to know.

[bcbm]

I was just looking for a general history of what went down.

[Leo]

Well, ok. I'll do my best to give a sense of how things were.

The first left-wing organization in Turkey was the Turkish Communist Party (TCP) which was formed in twenties and was a member of the Comintern. But the leaders of this party were killed and the party was mostly suppressed soon, and it was, always, illegal. In the sixties, some members of the party split from the party, and uniting with existing Union leaders, they formed the Turkish Workers Party (TWP). TWP was not only legal but they were also appealing to Kurds who were denied by the government. TWP did well in the elections and managed to enter the National Assembly. (It was a MAJOR thing in Turkey.) TWP had a close line to the Communist Party of Soviet Union, but with its strong youth organization RevYouth (Revolutionary Youth) and wide support coming from Kurdish villages to university campuses; it was a front full of different views. Approaching the end of sixties, TWP was made illegal because it publicly accepted the existence of the Kurds. After being made illegal, TWP went through series of divisions.

Maoists left the organization and formed their own illegal party. Another splinter faction left the Maoist party led by Ibrahim Kaypakkaya and formed Turkish Communist Party/ Marxist-Leninist. This party was the first organization that criticized the founding father of the country Ataturk. The Turkish government went after this organization. Its leader, Kaypakkaya was captured and he was tortured for long months. He died under torture without saying a word to the torturers.

RevYouth also became a splinter faction accusing it for being revisionist and inefficient. Two student leaders from this organization, Deniz Gezmis and Mahir Cayan formed two organizations with close ties: Turkish Peoples Liberation Army (TPLA) and Turkish Peoples Liberation Party/Front (TPLP/F). In 1972, Gezmis was captured by the government forces among with his comrades, and the court decided that they should be hanged. Cayan and other leaders of TPLP/F captured hostages and demanded the release of Gezmis and his comrades, but security forces bombed Cayan and his comrades, among with hostages in the village they took shelter. Remnants of TPLA formed a group called People's Liberation in the line of Albanian Labor Party, Remnants of TPLP/F formed a group called RevPath (Revolutionary Path) which became the biggest of existing groups. RevPath divided a year before 1980, the splinter faction was called RevLeft (Revolutionary Left) which exists nowadays and is called Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Party/Front (RPLP/F).

Against the rising left-wing groups, the Turkish Government and Military organized ultra-nationalist reactionary paramilitaries. This pack of murderers was called Gray Wolves and their leaders were leading a political party called National Movement Party.

Almost all left-wing groups fought against Gray Wolves in the streets. Grey Wolves were a united group which was much stronger than each individual left-wing group, but because it was fighting with each left-wing group, left was able to stand even though it was not united.

Despite all the divisions, left was rising in Turkey in seventies. The peak of the movement was Mayday 1977. According to independent sources, over million people came to demonstrations in Constantinople (Istanbul), but the government was getting ready for its first blow to the Turkish left. The square where demonstrators met was not big and only possible exists were narrow streets. Government employed provocateurs fired shots at the people, over thirty demonstrators died because they were crushed because of the panic.

Mayday 1977 was a hard hit on the Turkish left, but the main blow was still on the way. In September 12th, around five A.M. military tanks were passing streets all around the country and generals were declaring that the military had taken over the government. Military, which had always been the dominant ruling force in Turkey, posed as a neutral force which was trying to solve the conflict between left and right groups, and they threw rightists they supported in prisons, but the main target was the left.

The military coup targeted the Turkish leftists, and it managed to kill them. All of major left-wing groups were Leninists in Turkey, and after 1980, decline of Leninism was apparent. Turkish left did not manage to regain its strength. There weren't any Anarchists or Ultra-Leftists in Turkey. Even Trotskyites were harshly suppressed by other Leninists, but even that Leninism was the best thing Turkish people had ever seen.

However, the attempt to suppress the Kurdish identity was not as successful. Kurds went through the worst tortures in prisons. Torturers applied the most disgusting forms of tortures to suppress Kurds, but they failed. In fact, after Military's withdrawal from power, the PKK emerged as a Kurdish mass movement.