People's Liberation Army of Turkey
| Türkiye Halk Kurtuluş Ordusu People's Liberation Army of Turkey |
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| founding | 1970 by Deniz Gezmiş , Hüseyin İnan , Yusuf Aslan , Sinan Cemgil and Cihan Alptekin |
| resolution | 1974 |
| Headquarters | Ankara |
| Alignment | Marxist-Leninist |
| Website | www.thko.wordpress.com (blog only) |
The People's Liberation Army of Turkey ( Turkish Türkiye Halk Kurtuluş Ordusu , abbreviated THKO ) was an armed Marxist-Leninist underground organization in Turkey . It was founded in 1970 by the students of the ODTÜ in Ankara Hüseyin İnan , Yusuf Aslan , Sinan Cemgil , Deniz Gezmiş and Cihan Alptekin .
aims
The THKO took the view that it had become impossible to fight for independence and democracy within the legal framework and by peaceful means. The organization advocated a national democratic revolution . One of their main goals was to de-Americanize Turkey . The main theses of the THKO were:
- The revolution with the goal of a fully independent and truly democratic Turkey should be realized through struggle in the rural areas and a politics of power under the command of the national front.
- The people's war should be waged on the basis of an alliance of the proletariat , the peasantry and the petty bourgeoisie .
- The party of the working class and the people's army should be the two basic organizations of the people's war.
- These two organizations were to be built with the participation of the masses during wartime.
- The THKO was a unique organization that performed the functions of both organizations simultaneously.
activities
The organization's activities began in January 1971. The THKO carried out several attacks. On March 27, 1972, THKO was involved in the kidnapping of three NATO engineers (two British, one Canadian) who were working at a radar station in Ünye . The action, led by Mahir Çayans from the Turkish People's Liberation Party Front, in cooperation with the THKO, Dev-Genç and civilians from Fatsa , aimed to get Deniz Gezmiş, Hüseyin İnan and Yusuf Aslan, who had been sentenced to death as leaders of the THKO, to press free. The kidnappers tried in the village Kızıldere ( province of Tokat to hide), but were surrounded by the authorities. In the shooting that followed, the hostages and all the hostage-takers except Ertuğrul Kürkçü were killed.
On October 22, 1972, four members of the THKO hijacked a Turkish passenger plane with 69 passengers after taking off from Ankara. The pilots were forced to change course and eventually landed in Sofia . One passenger and one pilot were injured during the hijacking. They were allowed to leave the plane with two women with children. The four kidnappers demanded the release of all political prisoners in Turkey, but surrendered to the Bulgarian authorities after just one day.
cleavage
THKO suffered a severe blow from the death of its leadership. Cihan Alptekin and Ömer Ayna were killed in shootings near Kizildere, Sinan Cemgil, Kadir Manga and Alpaslan Özdogan near Nurhak. Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin Inan were after a trial on May 6, 1972 at the Central Prison Ankara in Ankara executed. Nonetheless, THKO remained active during the 1970s.
Some arrested members benefited from the political amnesty in 1974 and the rest of the THKO cadres had formed a temporary central committee . After the formation of the Central Committee, internal differences arose. A group that had a similar position as the Chinese Communist Party and the Communist Party of Albania founded the Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey (tr: Türkiye Devrimci Komünist Partisi). Another group that had similarities to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union founded the Communist Labor Party of Turkey (tr: Türkiye Komünist Emek Partisi). A third group founded the People's Liberation Army of Turkey - Revolutionary Path of Turkey (tr: Türkiye Halk Kurtulus Ordusu-Türkiye Devriminin Yolu) in 1975.
Web link
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Glossary of People: Ge
- ^ A b Turkish People's Liberation Army
- ↑ Current 1973 . KG Bertmarks förlag, 1973, ISSN 0343-6993 .