Senior members of DHKP/C arrested in Greece: Report

Yorgo KIRBAKİ ATHENS/Hürriyet

One of four Turkish men wearing a white bulletproof vest, is escorted by anti-terror police officers to the court, in Athens, Feb 11. AP photo

The leader of the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) and the fugitive suspect of an assasination were among four Turkish citizens arrested in an anti-terror operation on Feb. 10, the Greek media has reported.

The Greek police did not release the names of the suspects, who are 25, 33, 41 and 49 years old, but the local media said Hüseyin Fevzi Tekin, who became the leader of the group last year, was one of the arrested individuals. 

Tekin, 49, became the leader of the armed wing of the DHKP/C after the death of the group’s founder Dursun Karataş in 2008, according to media reports.

According to a report on the website of Greek daily To Vima, it is suspected that the unnamed 41-year-old detainee was involved in the murder of Turkish businessman Özdemir Sabancı in 1996. İsmail Akkol, who is wanted by Turkish authorities for his alleged involvement in the murder, is believed to have been living in Greece since 2007.

The raid was triggered by an anonymous informer and organized Feb. 10 by the Greek anti-terrorist unit on residences in the Gizi neighborhood of the greater Athens area. In the operation several weapons were seized, including a Kalashnikov assault rifle and an Uzi submachine gun, as well as explosives. 

The political asylum document of the 33-year-old suspect and the residence permit of the 41-year-old suspect were revealed as fabricated by the police, according to the Greek media. 

Tekin, who was reportedly holding a fake Bulgarian passport when arrested, was allegedly involved in an incident in October 2011, when a DHKP/C member was killed while producing a bomb at his house in Salonika. 

It has also been reported that Tekin’s fingerprint was discovered on the light anti-tank weapon (LAW) seized in a raid on Chios island last year. Greek police are now investigating the claims that the weaponry for DHKP/C attacks in Turkey have been supplied through Crete.

In July 2013, Greek officials intercepted an inflatable boat loaded with ammunition near the shores of Chios, a Greek island located off the coast of the Çeşme peninsula in Turkey’s İzmir province. Two Turkish and two Greek citizens were detained.

Originally founded in the late 1970s as Dev Sol, the Marxist-Leninist DHKP/C has been deemed a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. It is believed to be responsible for a string of assassinations and bombings in Turkey, including a suicide bomb attack on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara last year.