Who is Deniz Gezmis?
Deniz Gezmis is one of the most loved and Deniz Gezmi? (27 February 1947, Ankara Province, Turkey – 6 May 1972, Ankara, Turkey) was a Turkish Marxist-Leninist revolutionary and political activist in the Turkey in the late 1960s. He was one of the founding members of the People’s Liberation Army of Turkey (THKO).
He was born to an inspector of primary education and a syndicalist Cemil Gezmi? and a primary school teacher Mukaddes Gezmi?. He was educated in various Turkish cities.
He spent most of his childhood in Sivas, where his father grew up. He graduated from high school in Istanbul where he first encountered left wing ideas. After joining the Workers Party of Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye ??çi Partisi), he studied law at ?stanbul University in 1966. In 1968, he founded the Revolutionary Jurists Organisation (Turkish: Devrimci Hukukçular Kurulu?u) and the Revolutionary Student Union (Turkish: Devrimci Ö?renci Birli?i).
He became increasingly politically active, and led the student-organised occupation of ?stanbul University on June 12, 1968. After the occupation was forcibly ended by the law, he spearheaded protests against the arrival of the US 6th Fleet in Istanbul. Deniz Gezmi? was arrested for these actions on July 30, 1968, to be released on October 20 of the same year.
As he increased his involvement with the Worker’s Party of Turkey, and began to advocate a National Democratic Revolution, his ideas started to circulate and inspire a growing revolutionary student base. On November 28, 1968, he was arrested again after protesting US ambassador Robert Komer’s visit to Turkey, but was later released.
On March 16, 1969 he was arrested again for participating in right-wing and left-wing armed conflicts and imprisoned until April 3. Gezmi? was re-arrested after leading Istanbul University Law Faculty students on a protest of the reformation bill[clarification needed] on May 31, 1969. The university was temporarily closed, and Gezmi? was injured in the conflict. Although Gezmi? was under surveillance, he escaped from hospital and went to Palestine Liberation Organization camps in Jordan to receive guerrilla training.
During the 60s, Gezmi? crossed paths with the infamous American double agent Aldrich Ames. While scouting for information on Soviet intelligence, Ames recruited one of Gezmi?’ roommates, who gave him information about the membership and activities of Devrimci Gençlik (DEV-GENÇ), a Marxist youth group. On January 11, 1971, Deniz Gezmi? took part in the robbery of Emek branch of ?? Bank/?? Bankasi(TR) in Ankara . On March 4 that year, he kidnapped four U.S. privates from TUSLOG/The United States Logistics Group headquartered in Balgat, Ankara. After releasing the hostages, he and Yusuf Aslan were captured live between Gemerek-Yeniçubuk, ?ark??la and Sivas following an armed stand-off with law enforcement officers.
Their trial began on July 16, 1971. Gezmi? was sentenced to death on October 9 for violating the Turkish Criminal Code’s 146th article, which concerns attempts to “overthrow Constitutional order”. According to legal procedure, a death sentence must be endorsed by Parliament before being sent to the President of the Republic for final assent. In March and April 1972 the sentence was placed before Parliament and in both readings the sentence was overwhelmingly approved. Some politicians such as ?smet ?nönü and Bülent Ecevit opposed the sentence, but Süleyman Demirel voted in favor of it. He and his friends said “Three for three”.
On May 4, President Cevdet Sunay, after officially consulting the Minister of Justice and Prime Minister Nihat Erim, refused to grant Gezmi? a pardon. He was executed by hanging on May 6, 1972 in Ankara Central Prison along with Hüseyin ?nan and Yusuf Aslan. His last request was to drink tea and listen to Concierto de Aranjuez, Joaquín Rodrigo’s guitar concerto.
