Devrimci Yol
Encyclopedia
Devrimci Yol was a movement rather than a tightly structured organization, with many supporters in trade unions and other professional institutions. Its ideology was based on Marxism-Leninism
but rejected both the Soviet and the Chinese model
. Devrimci Yol entered the political scene in Turkey
on 1 May 1977 with its manifesto called bildirge. The roots can be seen in a movement that called itself Devrimci Gençlik (Revolutionary Youth, short Dev-Genç). Dev-Yol followed the thesis of the People's Liberation Party-Front of Turkey (short, THKP-C expressed by Mahir Çayan
Military Court included the following lines:
The brochure published in Hamburg in November 1980 carried the emblem of the organization (fist on top of a star) and therefore the views expressed there reflect the attitude of the organization:
wrote in June 1988:
In April 1997 the Swiss Refugee Support Organization (in German called :de:Wikipedia:Schweizerische Flüchtlingshilfe, (SFH) published a report simply called "Türkei - Turquie". The report included detailed information on many legal and illegal Turkish and Kurdish organization. On Devrimci Yol it stated inter alias:
s of production. In Fatsa, for instance, a hazelnut cooperative was founded.
Yet, militants of Devrimci Yol were not only engaged in bitter fightings against right wing militants but also clashed with other left groups. In these fights some 5,000 people lost their lives until the military coup of September 1980. Actually the defence in the central trial against Devrimci Yol presented more detailed figures. According to these figures among the total of 5,388 victims 2,109 had been left-wingers, 1,286 had been right-wingers and 268 had belonged to other groups. Besides 94 children killed in these fightings 281 members of the security forces had been killed. In 1,350 cases it had been impossible to determine the background.
in July 1980. Just like the conflict in Kahramanmaraş
in December 1978 the clashes in Çorum seemed to emerge from religious tensions between the dominant Sunnites
and the minority of Alevi
tes, but at the same time were a battle between right and left wing groups for domination in the town. Talking about fascist aggression the committees in the quarters erected barricades trying to avoid further losses.
Although a curfew
was announced and the military intervened some 50 people were killed. While the conflict in Çorum was still continuing Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel
intervened by saying Çorum'u bırak, Fatsa'ya bak (Leave Çorum and look at Fatsa
). He was referring to the district town at the Black Sea
of (at the time some 20,000 inhabitants) who in 1979 had elected Fikri Sönmez, known as terzi Fikri ("Tailor Fikri") as mayor with 62% of the votes. The words of Demirel resulted in the so called "point operation" (nokta operasyonu), a military operation that destroyed the project of self-administration in Fatsa (in German :de:Wikipedia:Selbstverwaltung in Fatsa). More than 1,000 people were detained. The military operation in Fatsa was often termed rehearsal for the coup.
(Özgürlük ve Dayanışma Partisi, ÖDP). Some people tried to revive Devrimci Yol. Attempts can be seen around journals such as Yön (Direction), Devrim (Revolution), Devrimci Gençlik (Revolutionary Youth), Liseli Genç Umut (Hope for Youth at School) or Halkın Sesi (Voice of the people). Other attempts of reorganizing the group have remained at a low level.
Marxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
but rejected both the Soviet and the Chinese model
Maoism
Maoism, also known as the Mao Zedong Thought , is claimed by Maoists as an anti-Revisionist form of Marxist communist theory, derived from the teachings of the Chinese political leader Mao Zedong . Developed during the 1950s and 1960s, it was widely applied as the political and military guiding...
. Devrimci Yol entered the political scene in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
on 1 May 1977 with its manifesto called bildirge. The roots can be seen in a movement that called itself Devrimci Gençlik (Revolutionary Youth, short Dev-Genç). Dev-Yol followed the thesis of the People's Liberation Party-Front of Turkey (short, THKP-C expressed by Mahir Çayan
Self Portrayal
The defence in the central trial against members of Devrimci Yol at AnkaraAnkara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
Military Court included the following lines:
- "In many areas of life and many cities in Turkey Devrimci Yolcu's (follower of Devrimci Yol) can be found. They carry the name because they defend a common political view on the fight against fascism and the general problems of the revolutionary fight in our country."
The brochure published in Hamburg in November 1980 carried the emblem of the organization (fist on top of a star) and therefore the views expressed there reflect the attitude of the organization:
- "Devrimci Yol calls the current regime in Turkey fascism of a colonialist type... We have seen that the anti-fascist fight is closely related to the fight against imperialism... The armed struggle merely means to systematize and extend the scattered resistance against fascism." (page 25)
External sources
In a report on the central trial against Devrimci Yol in Ankara Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
wrote in June 1988:
- Dev-Yol had no formal membership and gathered its supporters among people sharing the views expressed in a journal under the same name. Until the military coup in September 1980 this journal was legal like many other political publications."
In April 1997 the Swiss Refugee Support Organization (in German called :de:Wikipedia:Schweizerische Flüchtlingshilfe, (SFH) published a report simply called "Türkei - Turquie". The report included detailed information on many legal and illegal Turkish and Kurdish organization. On Devrimci Yol it stated inter alias:
- "The organization was led by a collective. In the indictments against Dev-Yol the members of the central committee were named as : Oğuzhan Müftüoğlu, Nasuh Mitap, Ali Başpınar, Mehmet Ali Yılmaz, Akın Dirik, Melih Pekdemir, Ali Alfatlı, Taner AkçamTaner AkçamAltuğ Taner Akçam is a Turkish historian and sociologist. He is one of the first Turkish academics to acknowledge and openly discuss the Armenian Genocide, and is recognized as a "leading international authority" on the subject....
... Devrimci Yol quickly developed to a mass movement and had tens of thousands followers in a short time. Before the military coup its publication had a circulation of 115,000."
The Question of Violence
"The journal and supporters of Dev-Yol were not opposed to violence, but tried to put into practice a defence policy centred around the idea of 'committees of resistance', which were to counter attacks against the population by right-wing militants known as the 'Grey Wolves." The first resistance committees (direniş komiteleri) were formed since Devrimci Yol believed that there was a civil war in Turkey. Arms should be used in defence. One of the main goals of the committees was the establishment of cooperativeCooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
s of production. In Fatsa, for instance, a hazelnut cooperative was founded.
Yet, militants of Devrimci Yol were not only engaged in bitter fightings against right wing militants but also clashed with other left groups. In these fights some 5,000 people lost their lives until the military coup of September 1980. Actually the defence in the central trial against Devrimci Yol presented more detailed figures. According to these figures among the total of 5,388 victims 2,109 had been left-wingers, 1,286 had been right-wingers and 268 had belonged to other groups. Besides 94 children killed in these fightings 281 members of the security forces had been killed. In 1,350 cases it had been impossible to determine the background.
Resistance Committees in Practice
The resistance committees (organized in factories or quarters) were put to the test during the incidents in ÇorumÇorum
Çorum is a landlocked northern Anatolian city that is the capital of the Çorum Province of Turkey. Çorum is located inland in the central Black Sea Region of Turkey, and is approximately from Ankara and from Istanbul...
in July 1980. Just like the conflict in Kahramanmaraş
Kahramanmaras
-Industry:Kahramanmaraş's industry is mainly based on textile and ice cream. Kahramanmaraş is one of the biggest textile industry cities of Turkey. Companies like Kipaş, İskur, Arsan and Bozkurt are one of the richest companies in the city...
in December 1978 the clashes in Çorum seemed to emerge from religious tensions between the dominant Sunnites
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
and the minority of Alevi
Alevi
The Alevi are a religious and cultural community, primarily in Turkey, constituting probably more than 15 million people....
tes, but at the same time were a battle between right and left wing groups for domination in the town. Talking about fascist aggression the committees in the quarters erected barricades trying to avoid further losses.
Although a curfew
Curfew
A curfew is an order specifying a time after which certain regulations apply. Examples:# An order by a government for certain persons to return home daily before a certain time...
was announced and the military intervened some 50 people were killed. While the conflict in Çorum was still continuing Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel
Süleyman Demirel
Sami Süleyman Gündoğdu Demirel, better known as Süleyman Demirel , is a Turkish politician who served as Prime Minister seven times and was the ninth President of Turkey.-Life:Demirel was born in İslamköy, a town in Isparta Province...
intervened by saying Çorum'u bırak, Fatsa'ya bak (Leave Çorum and look at Fatsa
Fatsa
Fatsa is a town and a large district of Ordu Province in the central Black Sea region of Turkey.-Etymology:The name Fatsa derives from Fanizan daughter of King Pharnaces II of Pontus and has since mutated through Fanise, Phadsane, Pytane, Facha and today's Fatsa. In the Ottoman Empire records the...
). He was referring to the district town at the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
of (at the time some 20,000 inhabitants) who in 1979 had elected Fikri Sönmez, known as terzi Fikri ("Tailor Fikri") as mayor with 62% of the votes. The words of Demirel resulted in the so called "point operation" (nokta operasyonu), a military operation that destroyed the project of self-administration in Fatsa (in German :de:Wikipedia:Selbstverwaltung in Fatsa). More than 1,000 people were detained. The military operation in Fatsa was often termed rehearsal for the coup.
Persecution of Devrimci Yol members
After the military coup of 12 September 1980 tens of thousands of men and women were taken into custody. More than 30,000 were jailed in the first four months after the coup. Alleged members of Devrimci Yol were detained in many parts of the country and tried at military courts. Many of these trials involved several hundred defendants.Mass trials
The list of mass trials against alleged members of Devrimci Yol and the number of death penalties passed in these trials is based on press reports collected by the alternative türkeihilfe| Place | Date | Defendants | Death penalties |
|---|---|---|---|
| Izmir | 30.07.1981 | 18 | 3 |
| Adana | 10.11.1981 | 57 | 7 |
| Gölcük | 21.04.1983 | 49 | 2 |
| Iskenderun | 15.09.1983 | 150 | 5 |
| Izmir | 19.11.1983 | 115 | 4 |
| Giresun | 25.01.1984 | 291 | 8 |
| Ünye | 22.04.1984 | 64 | 5 |
| Usak | 22.05.1984 | 107 | 13 |
| Elazig | 29.01.1985 | 41 | 3 |
| Merzifon | 16.05.1985 | 901 | 1 |
| Artvin | --.11.1985 | 939 | 11 |
| Samsun | 05.04.1986 | 47 | 2 |
| Gölköy | 06.06.1986 | 101 | 3 |
| Adana | 18.06.1986 | 331 | 19 |
| Fatsa | --.08.1988 | 811 | 8 |
| Ankara | 17.07.1989 | 723 | 7 |
Executions
Between 1980 and 1984 a total of 50 people including 27 political prisoners were executed in Turkey. Executed for violent activities as members of Devrimci Yol were:- Veysel Güney in Gaziantep on 11 June 1981
- Mustafa Özenç in Adana on 20 August 1981
- İlyas Has in İzmir on 7 October 1984
- Hıdır Aslan in Burdur on 25 October 1984
Deaths in Custody
After the military coup of September 1980 the number of deaths in custody increased decisively. Many of them were alleged to be the result of torture. The victims included persons who had been detained on suspicion of being members of Devrimci Yol. They included:- Zeynel Abidin Ceylan in Ankara on 26 September 1980
- Cemil Kırbayır in Kars on 9 October 1980
- Behçet Dinlerer in Ankara on 15 October 1980
- Himmet Uysal in Uşak on 30 October 1980
- Cengiz Aksakal in Artvin on 12 November 1980
- Zafer Müctebaoğlu in Ankara on 15 October 1982
- Şerafettin Tırıç in Fatsa on 10 August 1985
Current Situation
Some cadres of Devrimci Yol, who managed to leave the country formed an organization in Europe called Devrimci İşçi (Revolutionary Worker) and for some time published a paper called Demokrat Türkiye, but later dissolved. In April 1991 the Law to Fight Terrorism (Law 3713) entered into force in Turkey. Temporary Article 1 of this law provided that all death sentences would be commuted to 10 years' imprisonment. Subsequently most long-term prisoners including the leading members of Devrimci Yol were released. Most of them joined the Freedom and Solidarity PartyFreedom and Solidarity Party
Freedom and Solidarity Party is a left-wing party in Turkey. The party has had limited electoral success, although it controls a number of town halls and is influential in some unions of public employees...
(Özgürlük ve Dayanışma Partisi, ÖDP). Some people tried to revive Devrimci Yol. Attempts can be seen around journals such as Yön (Direction), Devrim (Revolution), Devrimci Gençlik (Revolutionary Youth), Liseli Genç Umut (Hope for Youth at School) or Halkın Sesi (Voice of the people). Other attempts of reorganizing the group have remained at a low level.