The HDP said in a written message: "Revolution in Turkey and the struggle for democracy are well represented by the modest personality of Ibrahim Kaypakkaya."

 

Reminding that "47 years passed since the murder of Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, on 18 May 1973, a revolutionary who didn't give up secrets and remained committed to revolution and freedom until his last breath", the HDP statement added: "The struggle of Kaypakkaya, who sacrificed his life at a very young age for the sake of freedom, guides us all today."

 

The statement then reminded the "conspiracy which targeted Haki Karer. That conspiracy is still being carried out in a multidimensional way to prevent the unity of the struggle of the oppressed and break up the social dynamics."

 

The HDP statement continued: "Attacks against revolutionary have never ended. These attacks continue unabated today through the policy of trustees, fascist pressures and methods, detention of politicians, and destruction policies. Against all these attacks, the spirit of Ibrahim, Hakki Karer, the Diyarbakir 4, and Deniz and the others imposes us to raise the struggle and believe in the revolution."

 

BACKGROUND

 

Ibrahim Kaypakkaya founded the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist Leninist (TKP/ML) in 1972. Kaypakkaya was an internationalist who was greatly interested in the Kurdish question. He published a thesis about this in 1972 where he directly connected the freedom of Kurdish and other minority peoples living within the borders of the Turkish state to the Freedom of the Turkish majority. Because of his ability to organise, Ibrahim Kaypakkaya was seen by the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation as extremely dangerous as he was someone who could almost single handedly bring communist ideas to Turkey.  Kaypakkaya fell martyr on 18 May 1973 after resisting torture in the notorious Diyarbakir (Amed no.5) prison for more than four months.  In one instance he was force to walk barefoot for 50km over snow and ice. 

 

Haki Karer was murdered on 18 May 1977 in a coffee house by Alaattin Kapan a member of ‘Sterka Sor’ an organisation that was designed to look like part of the Kurdish left, but was later found to be associated with the NATO counter-guerrilla operation, GLADIO.