On the 16th and 17th of April 1992, the districts of Ciftehavuzlar, Üstbostanci, Erenköy and Sarayi Cedit saw dreadful massacres which fascism committed out of fear and in panic, and they saw heroic resistance which ended in a political succes for the members of Devrimci Sol.
Those who committed the massacres were many, and their military and technical equipment was very good. But fear and panic determined their behaviour. They had no belief, no conviction.
They haven’t been able to obscure the heroic resistance of our comrades. The bourgeois press and television, as active tools of the counter- revolutionary propaganda of the oligarchy, has not been able to silence the shouts, the strong believe and the heroic resistance of our members who were killed in action in Ciftehavuzlar on the 16th and 17th of April, 1992. AND IN THE END WE WERE THE ONES WHO WON.
This booklet comprises the last words of the 11 members of Devrimci Sol who fell on the 16th and 17th of April, 1992. 30 minutes after the beginning of the encounter, they informed the the chairwoman of TAYAD, Fatma SESEN, about the operation and they kept her informed, hour after after, minute by minute.
We publish the complete calls and the biographies.
We proudly want to repeat the last words of our comrades SABO, EDA and TASKIN, in a call to their friends before they were killed in a 8 hour battle on the 17th of April, 1992 in their base in Ciftehavuzlar by the murderers and torturers.
We promise to carry out their words, spoken in a hail of bullets and bombs, which express the strength, the courage and the determination of the working people and revolutionaries.
The working people and the revolutionaries have the power to fulfill this promise. That is what we believe and we promise to do so …
THE LAST WORDS
0.20 a.m.:
A woman’s voice on the telephone (SABO):
Hello. They have surrounded our house. For half an hour. I’m in the flat with two comrades. We have held them in check since half an hour. We burnt all yhe documents in the bathroom. We didn’t forget anything. Soon they will start shooting. We are going to fight. We are going to meet Niyazi, Apo and Haydar (*). We are going to meet our comrades who were killed in action on the 12th of July (*). My comrade who stands besides me wants to talk to you.
EDA:
We are going to fall as fighters of Devrimci Sol, for the peoples of Turkey. We are very well. We’re calm. Also we will receive death, fighting with a smile on our lips, like our comrades of the 12th of July in Malatya (*) and Kizildere (*), we will resist and die.
LONG LIVE DEVRIMCI SOL!
LONG LIVE OUR LEADER DURSUN KARATAS!
LONG LIVE OUR REVOLUTIONARY UNITS!
Farewell. We love you and our peoples very much.
SABO:
We are calling you becausde you are the chairwoman of TAYAD (*). We want you to publish what you hear and what we have to say in your paper for the public of the world. Look for … Leave the flat and call … Leave this line free. Call at once. Have you heard any news about Sinan (*)? Ask for Sinan. Listen to the news. Try to finf out something. Wait a minute …
I repeat. Our house is surrounded. We have kept them in check for half an hour. We burnt all our documents, even our passports. The shooting will soon begin. We will fight. We are going to die like the comrades Hamiyet and Olcay (*) in the flats and on the streets, like the comrades in the hills near Malatya, with a smile on our lips. We are going to fight here, like it befits fighters od Devrimci Sol. You are ouw witnesses. We want you to tell this to the worlds’ public in yoyr paper. Everything you are going to hear now will be recorded, word by word, and it will be reported. We want to get buried nearby the fallen comrades of the 12th of July. Our coffins shall be covered with the flag of Devrimci Sol. Our people must take part. Help our families and inform them. I have to hang up now, I will call back soon. Keep the line free.
1.20 a.m.:
SABO:
Have you heard anything about Sinan? Have you called him? Have you heard the news? They are talking about him. Please keep this line free. If you have to phone, go outside.
(Shots can be heard through the telephone)
They have started, can you hear? Do you want me to hang up?
Answer:
– No.
SABO:
Well …
(Slogans can be heard:)
LONG LIVE DEVRIMCI SOL!
DOWN WITH FASCISM! LONG LIVE OUR STRUGGLE!
LONG LIVE THE MARTYRERS OF THE 12TH OF JULY!
LONG LIVE OUR MALATYA-RESISTANCE!
LONG LIVE KIZILDERE!
SABO:
Call … You have to reach them absolutely.
(Shots are heard incessantly)
I have to hang up now.
2.30 a.m.:
SABO:
Have you heard anything from Sinan? Have you found out anything? Did you reach … ? There are two numbers, they shall phone the. They say they have killed Sinan.
(Eda’s voice can be herad)
EDA: (shouting at the police):
You must not touch him!
SABO: The cops are swearing all the time. Especially me they’re swaering at. But the get the answer they deserve. You can probably hear. When they came, tehy said they were from the tax office. They would like to talk to “Madam Sabahat”.
(Shots and slogans can be heard, the doorbell is ringing and they are beating against the door)
LONG LIVE OUR ARMED REVOLUTIONARY UNITS!
LONG LIVE OUR LEADER DURSUN KARATAS!
LONG LIVE DEVRIMCI SOL!
SABO:
We looked through the spy-hole and saw policemen in bulletproof vests. They say, Sinan is dead. Give me news about him. And phone from outside. They’re actually above our base now, they ate trying to drill a hole through the ceiling.
(Shot, beating against the door, and one can hear the swearing: “You whores! Come out! To the right, to the right!” …
EDA’s voice:
Do come with your tanks and canons, do come in. After all, you even fear our bodies. We will haunt you in your dreams. You shiver from fear. Do come in! You don’t even dare to show your toes. Don’t think you can hide. You are wrong. If there is a single hole, we will come through it. You won’t escape from the people’s justice. Our comrades will punish you.
(Again swearing be the police)
SABO’s voice:
You have thousands of fathers and mothers. Your father is Bush and your mother is Manukyan (*). You sewer rats, you were born there, and grew up there.
(slogans)
LONG LIVE OUR REVOLUTIONARY POPULAR JUSTICE!
LONG LIVE OUR ARMED REVOLUTIONARY UNITS!
LONG LIVE DEVRIMCI SOL!
(a lot of shots can be heard, they are trying to break down the door. In the rest of the call, they constantly say: “Farewell”)
SABO:They are throwing gas through the chimney. We are on the 12th floor. The cops threaten to throw of from the 12th floor. They sey this flat belongs to the organisation, They try to break down the door, but they don’t manage. The door is made of steel. They made a big hole in the door.
(often shots are heard)
Farewell. I’m going to help my comrades.
(again shots and slogans:)
LONG LIVE DEVRIMCI SOL!
LONG LIVE OUR LEADER DURSUN KARATAS!
LONG LIVE THE COMRADESHIP BETWEEN THE KURDISH AND THE KURDISH PEOPLES!
THE STRUGGLE FORM THE KURDISH AND THE TURKISH PEOPLE WILL BEAT FASCISM!
SABO:
We have fortified the barricade, they can’t open the door. A comrade is wounded in the arm. They say they killed Sinan. Tell me how he is. Call … Ask for “Uncle”. The friends will understand. The cops are talking about an apartment and the mention the names of Sinan and Günes. They say they attacked a lot of flats. You have to get informations, and listen to the news.
(shots and slogans)
SABO:
Now the cops are preparing explosives. We are well, we are calm.
(it’s possible to hear the swearings by the police and answers of our comrades)
We will blossom like red pinks, all over the country.
EDA’s voice:The flag of Devrimci Sol will wave all over the country.
(words of the police about Sinan and swearings which are not exactly to understand)
The answers:
You must not touch Sinan! Our comrades will punish you. Nothing can save you!
SABO:
I’m thinking and I want to help my comrades. I force myself. I don’t know how they found us. I don’t know – but when I was outside ths morning, everything seemed all right. I passed … But I haven’t noticed there. It all happened today. I’m thinking and I’m trying to find out what could be the reason, but I have no idea. We have burnt all the documents. We have a can filled with oil here, anyway. We have burnt all the documents and the money as well. We don’t want to get them anything. Sorry. There stil something in our pockets, we didn’i check them. We have burnt everything, there’s nothing left. We want you to pass this through. There is nothing left now.
(shots and slogans)
Listen, I have to comrades here. Worthy comrades, they have fought very well.
(slogans and shots from MP-5’s and G-3’s)
EDA’s voice:My people – do not believe them, they just lie … (the rest is intelligible)
SABO: The people outside are on our side. Except one woman. We have giver her the appropriate answer. You have to inform the newspaper to send journalists here. I want to see my friends. Send the mothers from TAYAD here. Our address: near the Meteorological Institute in Göztepem parallel to the Bagdad Street, in the Karasy high-rise building. You will know because of the police contingent when you come here.
(at every interval in the speech she says “Farewell”, shots and slogans are heard)
I’m wounded at the arm, it’s a shot which went right through. But I can continue shooting. They are trying to blow up the bathroom- wall.
(explosions and slogans)
They only managed to blow a small hole into the wall. We are going to fortify it.
(it can be heard that furniture is carried)
They knew exactly that I was here. They say they have killed Sinan. They’re talking about an Ikizler-apartment. Right – that’s “Uncle”! Listen to the news and inform me. I’m thinking on how I can help my comrades. How it happened andhow it developed, I don’t know. This morning, I passed … I was “clean”. This morning everything was o.k., what happened later, I don’t know.
(her interlocutor says she has spoken to the press, but she couldn’t hear the police radio. She says, she found out that the police attacked two flats. In one of the flats, 3 people were killed, among them Sinan, in the other flat there was one dead.)
SABO: We are calm, we are well. We are going to fight till our last drop of blood.
(it can be heard that they are swearing at the police:)
EDA’s voice: Come on with your tanks and canons, you cowards!
(again swearing by the police and the answers:)
You sewer rats! You are only able to think with your prick!
(the shots become more frequent)
SABO: Like the comrades on the 12the of July and in teh hills near Malatya have greated death, we are going welcome it like Hamiyet and Olcay … I want to turn to my comrades.
(frequent shots and slogans)
LONG LIVE DEVRIMCI SOL!
LONG LIVE OUR 12th of JULY-RESISTANCE!
LONG LIVE KIZILDERE!
LONG LIVE DURSUN KARATAS!
LONG LIVE OUR RESISTANCE!
LONG LIVE OUR RESISTANCE! DOWN WITH FASCISM!
LONG LIVE DEVRIMCI SOL!
LONG LIVE OUR GÖZTEPE-RESISTANCE! (*)
6.45 a.m.:
(by this time they don’t come to the phone so often. To come to the phone, they have to creep across the floor. Later Sabo gets wounded at her leg. Nearly after an hour they are consluting with people on the street. Their voices are not well to understand, they sound far away)
(the last call:)
SABO: We are embracing death with our weapon in the hand and our slogans on our lips. Send a regard to my husband and leader, the leader of Devrimci Sol. I want you to send my regards to all comrades. Farewell…
(many horrifying shots and the sound of falling cartridges cases)
7.15 a.m.:
(the noice from the shots is terribly loud, it sounds as if a hundred people are shooting. Their voices aren’t heard any longer, there is onlu the noise from the shooting)
7.25 a.am.:
(the line is cut off…)
THEIR LIVES
SABAHAT KARATAS (SABO)
(1953 – …)
OF HER 22 YEARS AS A REVOLUTIONARY, SHE WORKED SUCCESFULLY FOR 14 YEARS IN THE UNDERGROUND
She was the daughter of a poor Kurdish family. She spend her childhood in Nusaybin an Diyarbakir. In 1970 she began to study philosophy at the literary faculty in Istanbul. She was an active member of DEV-GENÇ. She worked in a factory while studying. She was a leader of the workers. In every factory she worked, she got elected as a factory committee member. Until 1976 she worked at the IYÖD (Istanbul College Society). In these years she worked among the workers and tried to organize them. At the same time she was working together with the young persons at DEV-GENÇ. She was respected by all and very popular. In 1976 she founded the DKD (Revolutionary Womens Society) together with her friends and she worked in its committee. In the Gececondus (*) and in teh factories she organized the women.
After the founding of DEVRIMCI SOL, she went underground. From that time on she was an exemplary undergoudn fighter, named “SABO”.
After the coup of the 12th of Septemberthe fascist junta and its blows against the organization were not able to shake her resolution. Retreat, despair and fear were foreign to her nature. She continued to work withe the masses in the Gececondus and she became a leader of the people.
In 1982 she received new tasks because of her resolution and her consistent and untiring way of working. In 1983 she was elected in the central committee of Devrimci Sol. In that year the struggle had to be continued in spite of betrayal, resignation, despair en intimidations. But Sabo did not falter. Despite all difficulties she proved and teached to the people around her that the struggle had to be continued, if necessary with your life. It happened that she had to flee for the police. It happened that she had to stay the night outside, with documents of the organization in a bag. Some days she had to go armed to very dangerous meetings, on ather days she had to run around to organize several actions, to find people to deal with the many tasks. But she never thought only of herself, she never said: “That’s none of my business”.
She did not consider being sick and she gave her whole energy for the struggle, till the end. On some days she fainted on the street, but she never said: “I’m sick, I need a rest”. Her organization and her comrades have been the most important to her.
Yes, Sabo has been a worker for the revolution. To her, there was no difference between great and small tasks. To her, there was no other life as the work for the revolution. She was a person who took the revolutionary work of DEVRIMCI SOL very seriously and she identified herself with it.
She was a good organizer of the masses. She made an impression on everyone she talked with and she mobilied them for the struggle. The working people of the Gecekondus in Istanbul knew her very well. To them Sabo was a selfless friend and a hard-working revolutionary who had time for everyone. One night she she was with the comrades, the next night she was she spend with people in the Gecekondus and spoke with them as one of them about the political struggle.
The streets of Istanbul have known Sabo very well. And she knew the city like the back of her hand. Thus she was able to shake off the torturers who were behind her, again and again.
Comrade Sabo has been an underground fighter of DEVRIMCI SOL. She was a specialist in underground work. She was disciplined, always aboyed the necessary rules and fought each sloppiness. Also when she thought a decision to be wrong, she obeyed it. But she always critizised wrong decisions very sharply.
Our Sabo has been veru courageous. She cleaned many places and flats after the arrest of comrades, so that new arrests were prevented. In the coourse of this, she met the torturers many times, but thamks to her strong nerves she always managed to escape them. During the 22 years of her revolutionary life, she lived 14 years in illegality , and in spite of the difficulties and the great demands involved with this, she has been very succesfull at her work. The fact that she was never arrested, was not because she had shirked. She was always on the streets and carried out her tasks, but she always obeyed the conspiratorial rules. Because of this, she became a legend. If the fascist weren’t able to findout where she had been working until now, and weren’t able to identify her correctly after the 17th of April, this is because of her behaviour.
Sabo has been a consistent en disciplined comrade and a real friend to the persons who knew her. Dozens of people are proud to be educated be her. Many people went to Sabo with their problems because they trusted her. She ment everything to the persons who lived and worked together with her. She has been a leader of DEVRIMCI SOL.
Comrade Sabo was married. Also in that case she was exemplary. This relation, full of love and affection, was a part of her evolutionary life. She handled it very carefully and the people who worked with her didn’t know whom she had married until the bourgeois press wrote about it after her death.
She has lived like an example for the “New Human” of the society we are going to build.
A life like Sabo’s, always uncompromisingly fighting against betrayal, retreat and double standards, can only be ended in such a way: “Never, under no conditions will the get me without resistance”, she said. That was exactly like it has been. The whole world was able to see her under the flag of DEVRIMCI SOL, which symbolizes the revolutionary resolution in the believe belief in socialism, provoking the enemy, shouting against them, together with EDA and TASKIN: “Do come if you have the courage!”, with one arm in her hand and the other showing the victort sign. In a phone-call during teh fight, she told a friend: “We are calm, we are well. We are going to fight until our last drop of blood”. Doing so, Sabo, Eda en Taskin showed their courage en their resolution, which made the fascist afraid and panick-stricken,.
Comrade Sabo, they didn’ty have the courage to look oopenlu in your eyes. Until today no exploiting class had been able to find a weapon that could silence the slogans of DEVROMCI SOl. that can overcome tyour courage and which provoked the kilers. They didn’t find a weapon against your dignity, and it humiliated them. They hided and waited till the boms put you ouit of action. And when you had been killed already, they weren’t able to keep theri hand from their guns. With shooting your hands to pieces, they wanted to get over their fear.
Your last words, comrade Sabo, suffice to describe your whole life and your struggle: “We are embracing death with our weapons in our hands and our slogans on our lips. Send a regard to my husband and leader, the leader of DEVRIMCI SOL. I want you to send my regards to all comrades. Farewell!” When you said this, you were full of hope, confidence and belief. Farewell too, our brave heroine Sabo. Sleep well, if we were leaving the way of the revolution, we woukld be traitors. We became even stronger through your heroic resistance. For us and the people, you are now a unforgettable hero of the revolution. Well, comrade Sabo, you carried out you task succesfully, also this last time. You proved this bt thinking about the organization and the comrades first and leaving nothing to the enemies which they could have used against us. With your 22 years of revolutionary lifeand you examplary resistance you have left a great inheritance. You were an examplary revolutionary and a examplary wife. You were an examplary fighter of DEVRIMCI SOL. Your resistance together with the comrades EDA and TASKIN, with the weapons in hand and the victory sign have gone down in our consciousness as an important part of our history of revolution.
We will never forget and never shame comrade Sabo, member of the Central Committee of DEVRIMCI SOL, who fell on the 7th of April, 1992, at 7.25 a.m. in heroic resistance.
* Gecekondu: district of houses, built over one night on public ground. According to Turkish law, such unnoticed over night developed properties became private property.
SINAN KUKUL
(1956-….)
HE WAS A LEADER WHO COULD NOT BE INTIMIDATED BY PRISON AND TORTURE….
He was the son of a Laze (*) family from Trabzon/Besikdüzü. In 1974 he went to Istanbul were he got to know the revolutionary struggle and met DEV-GENÇ at the technical college. He became one of the leaders of DEV-GENÇ. At the time when the platform of DEV-GENÇ, IYÖD (Istanbul University Society), was legal, he was elected as its chairman. After the banning of IYÖD, he took part in constructing and founding a central youth organization, DEV-GENÇ Istanbul, and became its first chairman.
After 1974 he played an important part in the struggle of the developing and growing organization against opportunism and fascism. He was a leading cadre, who permanently developed new tactics and definitions to strengthen the organization. He was a teacher. Many times it was sufficient to end a discussion and to solve a problem by saying: “I’ve spoken with Kukul, he sees it like this”. He was a militant. He took part in all tasks of DEV-GENÇ. He didn’t learn his ability ti lead in a bureaucratic ivory tower. Many could see Sinan, fighting armed against the fascists in front of the schools and in the streets in the first lines. These abilities made him a leading cadre of DEV-GENÇ.
He took on important tasks in the fight against opportunism inside DEVRIMCI YOL and in the formation of DEVRIMCI SOL. He was one of the people who contributed most to the construction of a new structure which corresponds with the tradition of the THKP- C.
Comrade Sinan discussed, talked and convinced. With these abilities he bame a fright for the opposition forces and his enemies in every meetingh, every assembly.
He often met the torturers. During his time in DEV-GENÇ he took part in the squatting of boarding schools, societies, schools, in fights on the street etc. and he was arrested frequently. He left the prisons with the same strenght with which he was taken in. During one of the arrests he had documents and a lot of money with him. Although noting could ne proven against him, he was incarcerated. After three months arrest in the Alemdag-Military Prison he was set free for the coup of September 12. After the coup he became a member of the Central Committee, where he continued the struggle against the coup and fascism. In December 1980 he was arrested again. In spite of one month of torture he didn’t betray his comradees and his organization. He was imprisoned for ten years and also during this time he continued fighting. He had to spend his prison sentence in Davutpasa, in the military prison of Metris, in Sagmalcilar he was put in solitary confinement, and later he was in the closed section in Bayrampasa. Nevertheless, he stayed being part of the struggle and an organizer and leader.
During his time in prison he continued his education and he supported his co-detainess morally, helped them and educated them politically and ideologically.
After the coup of the 12the of September, our movement became stronger and was well receibed by the people.
In the struggle against fascism, revisionism, and reformism, Sinan took a very important task. Also in teh elaborating of of the political defence of the prisoners against fascism, “We are right, we will win”, he took an important and leading part. He completely committed himself to the preparation of his declaration for the case, from the discussions to the publication. His revolutionary behaviour against the departments and offices of oligarchy were examplary to the spirit of the organization. He acted like a proud revolutionary in front of the judges, the generals and the torturers and spoke like this. With his attitude he forced them to listen to him.
After his escape from prison on January 20, 1990, he started his work again in the Central Committee. In this time our struggle made very good progress and Sinan, as a leading cadre, contributed a lot to this. From the beginning he made a very important contribution to the organization. He was the “Kukul” of Devrimci Sol. He was warm-hearthed, loving, happy, and it was very important in his relations to convince people. Behind his good appearance he was a determined and consequent revolutionary. Those who thought they could take advantage of his good-naturedness, were always wrong and met with nasty surprises. Because he was obdurate, like it is said about the Lazes, and when he fought for the interests of the organization, he was able to crush everythingh so that his opponents had to look for a place to hide.
In the declaration “6 Years of Pride and Political Struggle for Identity” in front of the 2nd Military Court he said on March 6, 1986: “Many of our people have been killed, or crippled by the torturers (…), but we will not lament. We know we have to pay that price and we will have to pay it in the future. (…) Our resolute struggle, our resistance, our strength, are directed at a free and democratic Turkey, that’s the source of our pride.”
In the night of the 16th of April he proudly and examplary offered resistance to the fascist killers and was killed in the struggle. As a leading cadre of DEVRIMCI SOL he was aware that we paid the price for resistance and that we will always pay it. When he fell, he had the slogans of our organization and the revolution on his lips. Comrade Sinan gave fascism a slap with his resistance and with that he contributed to our strength. Comrade Sinan will take his place in teh history of revolution as a source of our pride.
NOW DEVRIMCI SOL HAS BECOME EVEN STRONGER. REST IN PEACE, COMRADE SINAN. MANY WILL TAKE YOUR PLACE….
A. FAZIL ERCUMENT OZDEMIR
(1954-….)
A FIGHTER WHO DID NOT KNOW WHAT TIREDNESS MEANS, A LEADER
Comrade Fazil, who registered in 1974 in the ITU (Technical University of Istanbul) and started the revolutionary struggle there, descended from a poor Georgian family from Adapazari. Because of his quality to lead, he became of the leaders of the Istanbul youth. He became a member of the first committee of the IYÖD (Istanbul Higher Education Assocation) which was founded in 1976. Comrade Fazil, who mastered all tasks inside the youth movement as an activist and functionary, also proved his qualities in leading the workers- and district organisations since 1977.
After the foundation of Devrimci Sol, he went underground and took on executive duties. Before the 12th of September he was also the responsible for the Aegian region. After the 12th September he was admitted to the Central Committee and became responsible for the military section. During the fight against the fascism of the 12th of September he was arrested in March 1981.
Fazil was one of the comrades of our organization who had a versatile personality. Comrade Fazil was a revolutionary who read a lot and researched to convince the people, and he was very capable at discussions. He never gave his weapon out of his hand. With this personality, which didn’t see the being of a revolutionary as only unilateral, he connected the qualities of a member of Devrimci Sol.
Numerous times he fell into the hands of the torturers. During the time he was wanted, he was caught in 1979 on suspicion of carrying a false ID. He served three months in the Salimiys Military Prison under this false identity, After his release he returned straight to his duties.
After his arrest in the wake of the 12 September-coup he was tried with five of his comrades in a trial which has become known as the ERIM-DIKLER-Trial (*). He and his five comrades were sentenced to death for the alleged “crime”. This trial, based on fabricated evidence and for political reasons, had absolutely nothing to do with the law and judicial procedures, and the junta never intended that it would. The junta wanted to have hostages by the hand against Devrimci Sol to use them as a vehicle in their politics of intimidation and threats. However, on the first day they had to realise what kind of rock they had struck. Comrade Fazil and his friends, in response to the method of the trial, kept their composure and made the courtroom resound with the slogans of DEVRIMCI SOL.
Like his comrades, Fazil lived for years in the dungeons with the hangman’s noose around his neck. But treats of execution nor calls for repentence could ever break him away from the struggle and the resistance. He already had decided what he was going to say and which slogans he would shout on the gallows, and for ten years he did not forget these for a moment. For ten years he never let out of sight a new set of underwear which he wanted to wea when going to the gallows. Going to the gallows was a revolutionary action for him, as it was for his comrades, and he knew he had t go there with the dignity of a member of Devrimci Sol. The junta took every opportunity to threaten our movement by saying: “If you don’t behave yourselves we will hang these hostages”. But neither did our movement postpone that which was necessary for the struggle, nor did Fazil and his comrades allow themselves to be put in the way of the struggle They gave the best answer a revolutionary could give to the threats of the junta: “We are ready to die for our people and our movement. But are you ready too (to kill us)?” They made all the threats of fascism come to nothing by their slogans whch they cried out in front of the bench.
Fazil was a member of Devrimci Sol who made resistance a way of life. With the noose around his neck, he lived like a revolutionary against every kind of attack, threats, calls for remorse, and banishment and he longed for the heated struggle.
After our action for freedom in the first days of 1991 his longing for this struggle was fullfilled. After receiving military training in the Middle East, he returned to the country in the autum of 1991 become commander of the Armed Revolutionary Units (SDB’s) of our organization. He planned, organized, and directed a good number of succesful actions. And he engraved the message “We shall succeed” into the mind of the organisation and worked with all his energy at the training, development and enlargement of the SDB’s. He continued his tasks succesfully until he fell. In the night of the 16th of April he displayed an examplary resistance against the enemy who had surrounded his base, and he embraced death with the slogans of Devrimci Sol. His death proved the last words he spoke during the trial, after the death sentence: “We feel honoured to give our lives this way. (…) Long live the liberation sruggle of the peoples of Turkey under the leadership of DEVRIMCI SOL, long live DEVRIMCI SOL!”
Comrade Fazil has finished his life as a member of Devrimci Sol, a life full of militancy, management, working with the people, military activities, resistance, also in the cells and in banishment, a life with dignity. This dignity belongs to all of us.
WITH YOU, WE ARE STRONGER IN OUR ACTIONS, OUR ARMED REVOLUTIONARY UNITS ARE MORE DETERMINED, MORE HEROIC.
RESTIN PEACE! WE SHALL MAKE YOUR MURDERERS FEEL SORRY…
* Erim: former prime-minister
* Dikler: former deputy chief of police in Istanbul, responsible for the political police. Both have been punished with death by DEVRIMCI SOL.
HAMIYET YILDIZ
(1969-….)
“I NEVER GAVE A STATEMENT”
On the 1st December 1989, the Press and Publications School of the University of Istanbul is raided by civil fascists (“Grey Wolves”). A member of DEV-GENÇ opposes the intention of the fascist to hang a poster in the cafetaria. So she manages a barrier against the fascist activities from the very beginning. The school is occupied on the same day to protest against the fascist attacks and the cooperation between fascists, police and administration.
This brave and determined member of DEV-GENÇ, who opposed the fascists alone, without hesitating for a moment, and who started the “1st December Resistance”, this person was Hamiyet.
All members of DEV-GENÇ knew Hamiyet, daughter of a peasant family from Adapazari/Kaynarca, as a pure, open, loveable and courageous personality. She was a exemplary revolutionary who formed her life according to the needs of the revolutionary struggle. The few words of Hamiyet: “My family, my friends, my feelings … my everything is DEVRIMCI SOL”, can summarize her life.
For Hamiyet every difficulty, every sacrifice and every effort had a meaning. Because she counted all of these towards the struggle, the revolutionary moment. Hamiyet stated that the revolutionary struggle in her eyes was “the expression of the liberation of the people, of courage and sacrifice, and of the persistent belief in socialism.”
Hamiyet was a revolutionary who had realized that the way to achieve the best and most important kind of self-control in the revolutionary struggle is by comparing one’s aims and the energy which is spend on it.
There were periods when she too said: I see that I’m not good enough, despite all my energy.” She realized this before all others and corrected it. Today she has left us a revolutionary life, which we honour and which we are proud of.
Hamiyet stayed steadfast at the several encountersa with the torturers. She continued her revolutionary life in prison, were she was twice, and participatedwith all her energy in the fight against the regime of those who had snatched her freedom. On the 9th of April, 1992, Hamiyet once more met the torturers in Izmir, and this time she made them flee. Hamiyet lost her short but honourable life during a revolutionary action, fighting for hours, down to the last bullet. She was an outstanding fighter for the revolution. She shall live on.
EDA YUKSEL
(1962-….)
DO COME WHEN YOU HAVE THE COURAGE!
Eda was the daughter of a civil servant in Borcka, Artvin. She completed high school and university in Istanbul. She came to know the revolutionary struggle during her years at high school and was a supporter of DEV-GENÇ for all of the years of her education. When she worked as an engineer after her school, she became even more close. She continued her revolutionary struggle in the Assocation of Electrical Engineers (EMO) and took a position on the management committee of the association. However, she did not confine her struggle to her immediate environment. In the years of ’89-’90 it was not uncommon to witness her someplace or the other, always in the pursuit of some activity.
When she was asked to go underground, she did without any hesitation. She took on the task of setting up a militia base for the movement. Nothing else could be expected from Eda. She wanted to be a revolutionary. She made no distinction between small tasks and big ones. It was a matter of concern to her to do every work in the best possible way.
She was far away from the petit-bourgeois understanding that always expects a reward for work done. In her report for the moment she wrote: “Even when I have no place to sleep, no clothes to wear, no bread to eat, I am able to live under all conditions and able to carry out my tasks.” Her practice was accordingly.
Comrade Edna was industrious, full of energy and continued to develop herself permanently. She was never seen idle. At every problem she faced, she never made a distinction between man and woman, she looked at it through the eyes of a revolutionary.
Those who knew here, were never surprised to see her repairing a broken door with a hammer, looking for a loose connection in a circuit with a volt-meter or caarying a huge package. She was a tender and compassionate woman who knew how to keep her enthusiasm up, she encouraged her comrades in the most difficult times. She fought every kind of pessimism. She shared everything with her comrades and insisted on this. She was quickly able to form relationships with people and was an excellent organizer with her trusting and open personality.
Eda carried out her tasks in the full knowledge that she was risking death, and that the militia base was never to be let to the enemy without resistance and struggle. She knew she had to defend the base against the enemy, and she has done so.
She fought togeteher with her comrades and made sure that nothing usefull fell into the hands of the enemy.
Her death has given an even greater importance to our fight, has strenghtened it even more.
She came to represent fear to her enemies, but to her friends she became a paragon.
Eda fought until morning against the fascist murderes as befitted her untiring, uncomplaining and insuppressible attitude and her determined personality.
Together with her comrades Sabo and Taskin she did not cease to wave our flag and cried out the slogans of DEVRIMCI SOL in the face of hundreds of murderers. At 7.25 a.m., on the 17th of April, she fell with her comrades Sabo and Taskin. We shal perpetuate and never forget comrade Eda, making the sign of victory in the face of dozens of weapons and shouting “Do come if you have the courage!”
TASKIN USTA
(1962-….)
AN UNCONQUERABLE REVOLUTIONARY HEART….
The child of a poor family from Gümüshane. From his chlidhood onwards he spent his whole life working and producing. After the 12th of September he begun to sympathize with DEVRIMCI SOL, although he had relations with a different political group in the area where he lived, and he finally became a member.
Taskin was a comrade who presented all opportunities he obtained to the movement, allotted all his material wealth tothe movement, was self-sacrificing and devoted to the cause. If he had wanted, he could have acquired a good position for himself in the capitalist system, but he chose the revolution.
He was assigned to an important militia base of the movement. He supplied all kind of needs to the base, some days he carried goods, some days he acted as a driver. He never hesitated to take great risks. He knew the importance of the base, and it took a life of great self-sacrifice and hard discipline for the base not to fall into the hands of the enemy. He worked with stoicism, untiringly and persistently in the face of the discipline and hardship of protecting the base.
He was devoted to the people and the revolution by burning all secret documents which the organization entrusted to him and crying out the socialist slogans into the face of the enemy.
While his comrades Sabo and Edna burned the documents, he cooly continued the fight against the fascists. He raised barricades and closed all gaps which opened. They fell after hours of fighting, resistance and their last messages to our people and with peace in their mind that they had fulfilled their tasks as revolutionaries.
Taskin was one of the heroes of the unshakeable resistance at Ciftehavuzlar. We shall follow in the tracks of his honourable life, full of resistance.
We shall never forget him!
SATI TAS (KILIC)
(1963-….)
EVER SELF-SACRIFICING, EVER HEROIC
Comrade Sati, daughter of a poor family from Corum, was a revolutionary who defende the honour of the nursing profession and who tried to solve its problems. She did not separate the problems of her profession from the economic, political and social structure in Turkey and she tried to win the health workers for the revolutionary struggle. Together with the nurses and her friends, she succesfully worked to turn the Istanbul branch of the Turkish Nurses Association (which was a bourgeois women’s club), into a revolutionary one. She was elected to the management committee of the Turkish Nurses Association and took the position of assistant chair-woman.
On the 1st of May, 1989, Sati was amongst those who were in the streets and squares. The ones who killed Mehmet Akif Dalci, arrested and tortured her as well. Comrade Sati, who conquered the torture and got to know the revolutionaries still better in prison, worked towards removing her deficiencies during that period. She also defended the 1st May resistance in court. In her speech for the defence she said agaisnt the agressive fascism and it misanthropic character: “Which policeman is able to bind the wounds I bind? They only injure, they attend the wounds with electric shocks. (…) Who will give medicins to my patients? Who will give them their injections and put on the infusions? Will the proscutor do this himself? I am not sure wether the same prosecutors who demand the death sentence for so many persons are able to tell the difference between a serum set and an oiled rope.” When she left prison, she was a different Sati.
Sati, who developped herslf permanently, had an oustanding personality and carried out all tasks without hesitation, broke with her ordinary life and went underground together with her husband when they were asked to do so. She took a position in establishing one of our important militaia bases. In the night of the 16th of April she fell, fighting the attack against the base of our organization, together with her husband Hüseyin Kilic and comrade A. Fazil Özdemir.
She joines the heroines of the people.
HÜSEYIN KILIC
(1961-….)
A FREEDOM FIGHTER FOR THE KURDISH AND THE TURKISH PEOPLES
Hüseyin was the son of a Kurdish family from Tunceli. After getting to know the revolutionary ideas, he realized that the liberation of the Kurdish people is one of the inseparable aspects of the revolution. Because of that fact he took his place in the ranks of DEVRIMCI SOL.
Comrade Hüseyin, who was married with comrade Sati, realized the gained meaning of their marrigae and tried to make their married relationship as beneficial as possible to the struggle. Therefore he took on the duty of setting up a militia base together with his wife.
Comrade Hüseyin completed every task he started with succes. He was self sacrificing and did not know what the word “tired” means. Befor his last task, he worked in a committee of local area organizers and proved that he was a stable and detemined revolutionary.
The shanty town people and the youth of the areas Caglayan, Gültepe, Okmeydani and Kasimpasa of Sisli knew him well. His every moment was spent on the problems of the people and finding solutions for them. When necessary he was a fighting militant or a good organizer. He had to change his area of responsiblity when his cover was blown by a traitor. He was one of one of our comrades, who without hesitation took on the responsiblity of setting up and protecting a base of the organization after he was instructed to do so.
Comrade Hüseyin never made a distinction between big and small, important and unimportant tasks. The only important thing for him was wether the work was beneficial to the revolutionary struggle or not.
Comrade Hüseyin fell togeteher with the comrades Fazil and Sati, fighting with the weapon in his hand, during the attack against the base in the night of the 16th of April. Hüseyin is an example to us all because of his modesty and industriousness.
The Kurdish people in Dersim, the inhabitants from the shanty town of Sisli and we form DEVRIMCI SOL will never forget him.
ARIF ONGEL
(1963-….)
TO BE A REVOLUTIONARY MEANS NOT TO DO ALL THE WORK THE EASIEST WAY
Comrade Arif, a poor families son, was a high school teacher. He came to know the revolutionary struggle in the years of 1988/89. Afterwards his life clarified and improved by the struggle.
Comrade Arif, a determined activist of the teachers association Egit-Der and the revolutionary teacher movement, made himself loved with his characteristics of modesty, seriousness, and speaking little and to the point. He also made himself accepted as a leading functionary. Comrade Arif, who had become a leading functionary of the revolutionary civil servants and teachers movement a year ago, became wanted as a result of a statement by a grass and he went undergound without hesitating for even a moment. There he continued his revolutionary struggle as a man with important tasks.
His marriage, which took place before his professional work as a revolutionary, was a ordianry one, but also with this he did not choose the easiest way. He made great and untiring efforst with his determined attitude to turn his wife and his marriage and join them in the struggle and he achieved this.
His final rtask was to set up a militia base for the organization as well as logistic things. Also in this he proved to be a man of the cause who did not allow the attitude of the petit bourgeois of making distinctions between large and small tasks to take over, he tried his best and he succeeded.
We shall continue the honourable resistance of comrade Arif, who fell fighting alongside comrades Sinan and Sadan in their base, which was attacked on the night of the 16th of April.
SADAN ONGEL
(1966-….)
FROM AIRLESS ROOMS TO THE WIDE OPEN SPACE OF REVOLUTION
Sadan was the daughter of a retired policeman. She got to know the revolutionary struggle as a house wife.
She was the wife of our comrade Arif. When her husband chose the revolutionary life, she didn’t distance herself and did nopt try to stop him, but she treid to understand him and his ideas.
She thought, she read, and she discussed with her husband for days on end, and she showed hesitation in taking her place in the struggle along with him. She took part in many activities on the legal platform, developed herself as a revolutionary and became a determined member of our organization…
She didn’t think twice about struggling in a new field when they had to go undergorund because of her husband’s situation, on the contrary, she felt enthusiasm. She said: “We shall succeed”, and they did.
When their base was attacked on the night of the 16th April, comrade Sadan fell alongside the comrades Sinan and Arif. With her lovable, open character and her marriage, which was filled with love and togetherness under all conditions, she was an example for the revolutionary women of our country. There will always be woman fighters of our people and our country.
They are all heroines, they all are brave.
AYSE NIL ERGEN
(1968-….)
IF STRUGGLE IS AN ART, NIL WAS MULTI-TALENTED ARTIST…
Comrade Nil was a city planner and an architect. After various activities in engineering and architectural societies she became a professional revolutionary and took on selflessly the difficulties of a revolutionary life.
Despite the fact that her family treid to keep her from it and threatened to expel her, Nil threw herself into this new life without hesitation. Nil knew she had found her real family.
Nil was an artist and her connections with the artistic and cultural world never broke off. Thfrough her thoughts and activities she tried to strenghten the consciousness that art and struggle have to be on the side of the people.
On the 1st of May she was caught by the torturers and taken into custody after she expressed her enthusiasm about Labour Day in the streets and the squares. Nil resisted all torture at the 1st Division, where she was held for 15 days, and she left there as it is expected from a member of Devrimci Sol.
Her tasks in the revolutionary movement were very exhausting and required great attention. She was awrae of her responsibility for that work.
Comrade Nil was shot on the night of the 16th of April in the home of a supporter of our organization. She was a warm, intelligent and hard-working person who continued her education permanently, was full of life and very engaged. Although Nil and our supporter were unarmed, they were killed by the fascist murderers.
By doing so, they neither proved their courage nor strenght, but they showed their cowardice and weakness.
We will never forget the smile and her enthusiasm for her work from comrade Nil, who embraced her death without complains.
From the foundation of our organization until today, our women have played an important role. Nil fell while continuing the tradition of the resistance.
Her memory shalllive forever.
AYSE GÜLEN
(1964-….)
AN HONOURABLE LIFE, A REVOLUTIONARY DEATH…
Ayse was a daughter from a family in Rize. Her parents work abroad. Despite all the opportunities presented by her family, she had choosen to be part of the revolutionary struggle. Ayse, who took her place as a theatre player in the revolutionary cultural and artistic activities. She was not an ordinary actress, but a thinking and creative artist who carried her class consciousness to the masses.
She was a Laze (*) girl in every respect, open, direct and brave. She wanted to become a member of Devrimci Sol, in fact a good one.
Ayse was a supporter who did not place limits on her energy and intelligence and who prepared and educated herself for great deeds. When she embraced death, heroically, on the night of the 16th of April, she proved that the promises she gave were not in vain and that she would have become a very good member of DEVRIMCI SOL.
Heroines shall never be eliminated.
Our women have found their real identity in our movement and have exalted it there.
* Laze: People at the Black Sea.
Explanations:
Apo and Haydar:illed in death hunger strike
12th of July: Massacre in 1991, where 12 members of Devrimci Sol were killed in Istanbul, among them also Niyzaui
Malatya: 5 members of Devrimci Sol were killed here in March 1992
TAYAD: Society of the relatives of political prisoners, nanned in 1991
Sinan:Leader of Devrimci Sol, killed on the 17th of April
Mamiyet a. Olcay: Members of Devrimci Sol, killed in Izmir
Kizildere: Village where leading cadres of the THKP-C were killed
Manukyan: Owner of a brothel, very famous in Turkey, she pays the highest taxes
Göztepe: District in Istanbul where the appartement is situated
A video footage captured the last moments of Sabahat Karatas and Eda Yuksel. Eda says: “DO COME WHEN YOU HAVE THE COURAGE!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUIMJIRvPyI
A video footage captured after the raid in house where Sabo, Eda and Taskin resisted to the dead squads of the oligrachy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO-onoMg3_k
