Deniz Gezmiş

Deniz Gezmiş was a Marxist-Leninist political activist in the Republic of Turkey in the late 1960s. He was one of the founding members of the People's Liberation Army of Turkey (THKO).

The son of a teacher, educated in various Turkish cities, he spent most of his childhood in Sivas, where his father also grew up. Gezmiş graduated from high school in Istanbul, where he first encountered left wing ideas

Political life

After joining the Workers Party of Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye İşçi Partisi), he studied law at İstanbul University in 1966. In 1968, he founded the Revolutionary Jurists Organisation (Turkish: Devrimci Hukukçular Örgütü) and Revolutionary Student Union (Turkish: Devrimci Öğrenci Birliği).

Becoming increasingly politically active, he led the student-organised occupation of İstanbul University on June 12, 1968. After the occupation was forcibly repelled by the law, he spearheaded protests against the arrival of the US 6th Fleet in Istanbul. Deniz Gezmiş was arrested for these actions on July 30, 1968, to be released on October 20 of the same year.

Intensifying his involvement within the Worker's Party of Turkey, and advocating a National Democratic Revolution, his ideas circulated and inspired a growing revolutionary student base. On November 28, 1968, he was arrested again after protesting US ambassador Robert Komer's visit to Turkey, but was later released. On March 16, 1969, for participating in conflicts between left and right wing students, he was arrested again and imprisoned until April 3. Gezmiş was injured and arrested after leading Istanbul University Law Faculty students on a protest of the reformation bill^[clarify] on May 31, 1969. The university was temporarily closed. Although Gezmiş was under surveillance, he escaped from the hospital and went to Palestine Liberation Organization camps in Jordan to receive guerrilla training.

During the 60s, Gezmiş crossed paths with the infamous American double agent, Aldrich Ames. While scouting for information on Soviet intelligence, Ames recruited a roommate of Gezmiş, who gave him information about the membership and activities of Devrimci Gençlik, a Marxist youth group.

Arrest and Trial

On January 11, 1971, he took part in the robbery of an İş Bank branch in Ankara. On March 4 that year, he kidnapped four U.S. privates in Balgat, Ankara. After releasing the hostages, he was captured alive and arrested in Şarkışla, Sivas with Yusuf Aslan following an armed stand-off with law enforcers.

On May 4, President Cevdet Sunay refused to grant a pardon, after officially consulting the Minister of Justice and Prime Minister Nihat Erim. The death sentence was carried out by hanging on May 6, 1972, along with the death sentences of Hüseyin İnan and Yusuf Aslan, in the central prison in Ankara.

His last request was to drink tea and listen to Concierto de Aranjuez, Joaquin Rodrigo's guitar concerto.

“	Long live the people of Turkey's independence. Long live the great ideology of Marxist-Leninism. Long live the brotherhood of Turkish and Kurdish people. Damn imperialism.	„
—Last words of Deniz Gezmiş.

Aftermath