Right-wing and left-wing armed conflicts (Republic of Turkey)

Turkey was affected by violent clashes during the 1970s between far left and far right militant groups, which culminated in the 1980 military coup.

Being an important strategic ally of the United States and a NATO member which controlled the Turkish Straits that were vital for the Soviet Union, Turkey was at the time the focus of tight competition between the USA and the USSR, the two main rivals of the Cold War.

Origins

In the 1960s, the Turkish Youth Movement was not different than any other movement around the world. However, with the turn of the 1970s, there were signs that security issues were changing. During late 60s the state's diplomacy overlooked the developments in Libya, Iraq, Syria and Jordan which could give clues about what should be expected in late 70s; as the state was mainly trying to control the problems related with Cyprus. The turning point for Turkey during the 1960s was not being able to handle the mass movements within the boundaries of the law. In the late 1960s, it was obvious that changes in the state's functioning were needed. However, performing these changes through the 1971 coup by memorandum did not solve the internal problems of the state. "above-party" government forced amendments to the Constitution. These amendments (solutions), without the proper use of law created an environment that transformed mass movements in the form of 60's demonstrations into terrorist acts of militant movements of the 70s. After the coup, political tensions in Turkey rose to another level.

Right wing activities

During "Bloody Sunday" on February 16th, 1969, right wing groups broke up a protest march on Taksim Square, killing 2 and injuring 150.

During the Taksim Square massacre on May 1, 1977, snipers opened fire on a protest rally of 500,000 citizens, organized by trade unions, killing 38 and injuring hundreds. According to Bülent Ecevit, the shooting lasted for twenty minutes, yet several thousand policemen on the scene did not intervene.

Seven university students, members of the Turkish Workers' Party, were assassinated by neo-fascists including the Grey Wolves leader Abdullah Çatlı and Haluk Kırcı, on March 16, 1978, in what became known as the Bahçelievler massacre.

On February 1, 1979 in Istanbul, Grey Wolves member Mehmet Ali Ağca murdered Abdi İpekçi, editor of the moderate left-wing newspaper "Milliyet". He was caught due to an informant and was sentenced to life in prison. After serving six months, he escaped and fled to Bulgaria. Ağca later became famous for his failed May 13, 1981 assassination attempt on the Pope Jean Paul II in Rome.

Left wing activities

In March 1972, PFLP, IRA, RAF, Fedayeen, and at that time one of the biggest Turkish left-wing group which some of them will form the Dev-Genç held an agreement in cooperation Fact|date=February 2007. In 1972, fourteen armed militants caught by the "Coast Guard" in a boat which belonged to the Fatah signaled the beginning of rural and urban guerrilla warfare. In 1973, a Turkish national was captured in Lebanon, who gave the information that there were 400 Turkish militants in the camps Fact|date=February 2007. Between 1975 and 1980, there were 30,000 militants with different levels of skills from all sides, according to the 1980 tribunal reports Fact|date=February 2007.

Establishment of PKK as APOCUS also coincides to this period. The establishment of PKK in 1978, and its subsequent guerrilla warfare, were only part of a larger picture of Marxist inspired terrorist movements. [Michael M. Gunter, "The Kurds in Turkey: A Political Dilemma". 1990. Westview Press.] page number Abdullah Ocalan, the founder and leader of the PKK was a sympathiziser with the THKP and its leader Mahir Cayan until 1973.cite book
author = Özcan, Ali Kemal
year = 2005
title = Turkey's Kurds: A Theoretical Analysis of the PKK and Abdullah Öcalan
publisher = Routledge
isbn = 0415366879
page = 88
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=DosRqg0ZCM4C&pg=PT100&lpg=PT101&vq=mahir+cayan&dq=0415366879&lr=&sig=ACfU3U05OeOjFYJUAeaJfkN6Lms_HyF_ew] A big part of the PKK's core team had its origins in the Devrimci Gençlik which was the youth branch of THKP-C, which used catchy slogans such as "anti-imperialism", "neutralism", "anti-Americanism" and "rise against the control of foreign capital" modified along the ethnic lines. Ocalan explains his position as a 'symbathizer' as being cause of his escape from the 1971 coup. The PKK's ideology (APOCUS) and initial activities (urban warfare) were shaped within this political context.

Political Dynamics

During the 1970s, the Turkish economy was badly affected by the 1973 oil crisis, and the international embargo following the Turkish military intervention in Cyprus (1974), which were the main factors in deteriorating living conditions. Politicians thought that it was the military's responsibility to secure the nation, in a continuation of Atatürk's ideas. Nearly all of the presidents had come from the military and they had maintained control over the security apparatus. From the politicians' point of view, in this design, the political system could not be guilty. At the end, no one in the state mechanism was trying to reach a national consensus on terrorism issues. Following the 1980 military coup, all party leaders were imprisoned.

References