Three Turkish revolutionary student leaders remembered on 46th anniversary of execution

ANKARA

People gathered on May 6 in Ankara’s Karşıyaka Cemetery to commemorate Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan, three student leaders executed in 1972 for attempting to overthrow the constitutional order, on the 46th anniversary of their death.

Representatives from NGOs and labor unions as well as officials from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) visited the student leader’s graves, Doğan News Agency reported.

The group chanted slogans and laid carnations on their graves.

Commemoration ceremonies were also planned in several other provinces, including Istanbul, İzmir and Adana.

Gezmiş, İnan and Aslan were found guilty of “attempting to change all or part of the Turkish constitution” as the founders of the People’s Liberation Army of Turkey (THKO).

They were executed at dawn on May 6, 1972 at Ulucanlar Penitentiary in Ankara, after the March 12, 1971 military coup.

Gezmiş and his colleagues have become important figures for the Turkish left. 

Mahir Çayan, the leader of another revolutionary group, and his eight comrades were killed in a clash with security forces on March 30, 1972 after abducting two NATO technicians in the Central Anatolian province of Tokat, where they demanded the executions of the three be cancelled in exchange for the NATO staffers’ return.

The posters of Gezmiş, Çayan and their comrades have become a common sight at protest rallies.