Posted in GRAPO, PCE(R) | Tagged GRAPO. PCE(r) | Leave a comment DEVRIMCI SOL / DHKP-C Posted on April 19, 2018 by armthespiritforrevolutionaryresistance … here are a couple of pieces about Turkish guerrilla organization Devrimici Sol (Revolutionary Left), later renamed DKHP-C (Revolutionary People’s Liberation Army – Front) that pertain particularly to their 1996 hunger strike … the first piece was written by Arm The Spirit and the second piece, published in Arm The Spirit No. 17, was, I think, translated by Arm The Spirit … we did publish a fair bit of info by and about Devrimci Sol / DHKP-C, especially on our Kurd-L list … hoping to get more of it up on this blog shortly … DevSol2 United Resistance Brings Victory 12 Political Prisoners Gave Their Lives In A Death Fast In Turkey By Arm The Spirit / December 1996 (ATS Note: The following article was written for “Prison News Service”, a North American prison journal. They can be reached at: PNS, P.O. Box 5052, Stn. A, Toronto, Ont., M5W 1W4 Canada. E-mail: pns@pathcom.com) DevSol14A.jpgWhen Aygun Ugur, an imprisoned militant from the outlawed Turkish Communist Party/Marxist-Leninist (TKP/ML), died on the 63rd day of a hunger strike, Turkey was shocked. In a nation which is continually rocked by political crises and rebellion, this summer’s death fast by left-wing political prisoners posed the greatest threat to the Turkish government in recent years. Weeks of public denial and fierce repression could not stop the prisoners, and in the days after Ugur’s death, 11 more martyrs were to fall in Europe’s most serious political hunger strike since 10 Irish POW’s died in the 1981 IRA/INLA hunger strike.DevSol3 This summer’s hunger strike, the climax of more than a year of continued prison resistance in Turkey and Kurdistan, began on May 19, 1996. At the outset, more than 1,500 political prisoners took part, most from militant communist organizations such as the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), the TKP/ML, and others. Kurdish political prisoners, mostly from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), soon joined in as well, and the resistance displayed a great deal of unity among Turkey’s fractured radical-left and leftist Kurdish groups as well. The main impetus for this latest hunger strike was the order which was issued on May 6, 1996 by the new Turkish Justice Minister Mehmet Agar. Ever since inconclusive parliamentary elections in December 1995 had left Turkey in a state of political stalemate, a shaky coalition government was eventually formed by the two main secular conservative parties, the True Path Party (DYP) and the Motherland Party (ANAP). Mehmet Agar was well known to leftists in Turkey, especially the prisoners, and his career as a policeman and politician was one marked by torture, murder, and bloodshed. Agar had served as police chief in Ankara following the September 9, 1980 military coup, and his tenure there was marked by the death of scores of revolutionaries. In 1990, Agar became police chief in Istanbul, where he continued his reign of terror. According the the DHKC Information Office in Amsterdam, police raids directed by Agar resulted in the deaths of 124 left-wing militants with another 22 tortured to death. Agar was also responsible for the murder of 8 left-wing journalists and the imprisonment of 55 others. DEVSOLLOGOMehmet Agar’s May 6th order announced the establishment of several new special isolation prisons in Eskisehir and other cities, and the planned dispersal of political prisoners to remote areas far away from their families and lawyers. This order marked the highpoint of increased repression against political prisoners in Turkey and Kurdistan. Turkey has a long history of militant left-wing struggle, especially since the 1970s, and prison resistance has always been an integral part of movement activity. Following the 1980 military coup, when thousands of militants were imprisoned and tortured, there were several waves of hunger strikes and prison resistance, organized mainly by the urban guerrilla organization Devrimci Sol (now known as the DHKP-C) and the PKK. But the return of “democracy” to Turkey in the 1980s did not mean that prison conditions became any better. Indeed, following the launching of the PKK’s armed struggle offensive in Kurdistan in 1984 and the hanging of martial law over all Kurdish provinces in 1987, the repression in the prisons became much worse as the number of political prisoners began to rise. In the 1990s, prison resistance continued, and one of the largest hunger strikes in Turkish history began on July 14, 1995, when nearly 10,000 Kurdish political prisoners and prisoners of war began a hunger strike to demand better prison conditions and to call for an end to the dirty war in Kurdistan. [ PLN Oct. 1995] July 14th is a significant date in history for the PKK movement. It recalls the hunger strike launched on July 14, 1982 by PKK cadre Hayri Durmus, Kemal Pir, Ali Cicek, and Akif Yilmaz, all of whom fell as martyrs in their resistance. A wave of solidarity hunger strikes by Kurds across Europe and even in America, including clashes with riot police in London and several German cities, helped draw international attention to the war in Kurdistan and to the plight of political prisoners in Turkey. But this hunger strike ended without achieving any results after 35 days. Four people were martyred in this hunger strike: Fesih Beyazcicek, Remzi Altinas, Latifa Kaya, and Gulnaz Baghistani; Gulnaz died in Berlin, Germany following a police attack on Kurdish solidarity hunger strikers.DevSol70sPoster Prison resistance spread from Kurdistan during the summer of 1995, particularly following the dramatic escape from prison on July 17, 1995 of four DHKC prisoners. Their escape led to a wave of repression against other prisoners and prisoners’ families, and resistance to state terror in the prisons eventually took the form of a nationwide prison uprising on September 12, 1995. Both Kurdish and Turkish political prisoners from several left-wing organizations acted together during this resistance. The state responded with heavy force, however, attacking Buca prison in Izmir on September 21, 1995. A raid by soldiers and police on the prison left 3 DHKC prisoners dead and another 60 prisoners seriously wounded. Resistance and repression continued, however, and soon Urmaniye prison in Istanbul became the focus. On December 13, 1995, the police and army attacked rebellious inmates, even using helicopters, leaving 1 dead and scores more wounded. But prisoners successfully barricaded themselves and held off the state forces until another, more deadly state attack on January 4, 1996 left yet another 3 DHKC prisoners dead. By this point, a rather large movement outside the prisons had formed and began taking to the streets to demand an end to torture and death in Turkish prisons. Following the January 4th massacre, Turkish targets across Germany were firebombed, and thousands of people in Turkey took to the streets in protest. At the funeral for two of the DHKC martyrs, riot police in Istanbul made some 4,000 arrests, injuring scores of people. World-wide attention became focused on the situation in Turkey’s prisons following this, largely due to the murder by police of Emin Goktepe. Emin, a journalist for the leftist daily “Evrensel,” was dragged away by police during the funeral procession in Istanbul. DevSolHis battered corpse was found in a ditch a few days later. Turkish police at first denied they had any knowledge of Emin’s murder, but overwhelming evidence soon proved to the world that Emin was the latest in a series of “disappearances” and murders of leftist journalists in Turkey. Bowing to pressure from the European Parliament, several Istanbul police officers were indicted for Emin’s murder this spring. It was against this background of continued intense repression that the May 19th hunger strike was launched. Prisoners demanded that the May 6th order be rescinded, that all special isolation prisons be closed down, and they also demanded an end to the attacks on family members and lawyers which have become so routine in Turkey and Kurdistan. The collapse of the DYP-ANAP right-wing coalition in May changed the situation slightly, however. A new coalition, made up of former Prime Minister Tansu Ciller’s DYP party and the Islamic Refah Party, removed Agar and named Refah member Sevket Kazan to be the new Justice Minister. At this point, PKK prisoners halted their hunger strike, apparently fooled by promises of reform. But the prisoners from the Turkish left continued and indeed escalated their resistance. The analysis by the DHKC and others proved correct, as Kazan promised to continue with the state attacks on revolutionary prisoners and to push through the new restrictions and special prisons. The hunger strike became a death fast, with hundreds of prisoners vowing to perish before they would cease their resistance. State repression was heightened, and a media black-out was ordered by the Refah government, reminiscent of the German state’s repressive measures during the RAF hunger strike in the autumn of 1977. But Turkey’s political prisoners are very well-organized and DevSol7resourceful, and they managed to smuggle a video tape of the prison conditions and the death fast to the outside. When these images were broadcast to Turkey and the world, the government could no longer deny the resistance which was underway. Rallies by prisoners’ families and supporters grew. Riots broke out in the Gazi district of Istanbul and other areas as well. The state vowed never to negotiate with “terrorists,” but when Aygun Ugur fell on July 21st, the situation changed. In the following days, more prisoners died, and y...
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