In mid-September we issued the statement below to a number of lists as a guide to the revolutionary groups in the prisons of Turkey. With the hunger strike by prisoners from three organisations (including our own) in progress since October 20, we have decided to re-issue the statement, with some corrections and additional information. It is not an exhaustive list but the most important groups of prisoners are included. An asterisk is placed next to the name of the organisations on hunger strike as of today, October 30. DHKC London Information Bureau * DHKP-C - Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front. Sometimes referred to as the Party-Front (Parti-Cephe) or the Front (Cephe). Marxist-Leninist, followers of the revolutionary Mahir Cayan (martyred 1972). * TKP(ML), and TKP/ML - Communist Party of Turkey Marxist-Leninist. These are the principal Maoist organisations, though they are separate from one another. Both have armed wings called TIKKO (Workers' and Peasants' Liberation Army of Turkey). TIKKO was founded by Ibrahim Kaypakkaya (martyred 1973). TIKB - Union of Revolutionary Communists of Turkey. Marxist-Leninist, pro-Hoxha. Descended from organisation founded by Deniz Gezmis (martyred 1972). (Most of the revolutionary left parties and groups in Turkey ultimately claim descent from the organisations founded by Cayan, Gezmis and Kaypakkaya in the early 1970s.) MLKP - Marxist-Leninist Communist Party. Pro-Hoxha. Result of merger of several organisations in 1994-95. * TKIP - Communist Workers' Party of Turkey. Marxist-Leninist, pro-Hoxha. Formerly known as Ekim (October). Prisoners from all six of the organisations cited above were murdered by state forces at Ulucanlar on September 26, 1999. Here are some of the smaller organisations in the prisons whose names will also come up from time to time. There are Direnis Hareketi (Resistance Movement) and the TDP (Revolution Party of Turkey). The first organisation has been called "autonomous", though we do not know if this means it has anything to do with the "Autonomen" in Germany. We do not know much about the TDP's ideology, though it probably describes itself as Marxist-Leninist. Certainly it uses the hammer and sickle as a symbol. The TKEP-L (Communist Labour Party of Turkey-Leninist) was pro-Hoxha, at least in the past. All three of these organisations took part in the 1996 Death Fast. There are many left-wing prisoners who have been in jail since the 1980 military coup. Some have been on Death Row for nearly two decades. Some of these prisoners belong to organisations which have dissolved or changed form outside the prisons. One example of this is Devrimci Yol or Dev-Yol (Revolutionary Path). It was a large, somewhat loose organisation in the 1970s. In 1978 Devrimci Sol (Revolutionary Left), the predecessor of the DHKP-C, was founded by people who left Dev-Yol. The 1980 military coup hit all left groups, including Dev-Yol. Former followers of Dev-Yol went on to found the legal party ODP (Freedom and Solidarity Party) in the 1990s. The ODP is hostile to armed struggle. But there are still Dev-Yol prisoners in Turkey's jails in the year 2000, and they have been there for many years. A small organisation called Dev-Yol still apparently exists outside the jails, consisting of those did not accept the move to the ODP. DHKC London Information Bureau
