Right-wing and left-wing armed conflicts (Republic of Turkey)

Turkey was affected by violent clashes during the 1970s between far left and far right militant groups, which culminated in the 1980 military coup.

Being an important strategic ally of the United States and a NATO member which controlled the Turkish Straits that were vital for the Soviet Union, Turkey was at the time the focus of tight competition between the USA and the USSR, the two main rivals of the Cold War.

Origins

After the 1971 coup by memorandum, political tensions in Turkey rose to another level. In the 1960s, the Turkish Youth Movement was not different than any other movement around the world. However, with the turn of the 1970s, there were signs that security issues were changing. The state's diplomacy overlooked the developments in Libya, Iraq, Syria and Jordan; as it was mainly trying to control the problems related with Cyprus.

Right Wing Activities

During the Taksim Square massacre on May 1, 1977, snipers opened fire on a protest rally of 500,000 citizens, organized by trade unions, [...] 38 and injuring hundreds. According to Bülent Ecevit, the shooting lasted for twenty minutes, yet several thousand policemen on the scene did not intervene.

Seven university students, members of the Turkish Workers' Party, were assassinated by neo-fascists including the Grey Wolves leader Abdullah Çatlı and Haluk Kırcı, on March 16, 1978, in what became known as the Bahçelievler massacre.

On February 1, 1979 in Istanbul, Grey Wolves member Mehmet Ali Ağca murdered Abdi İpekçi, editor of the moderate left-wing newspaper Milliyet. He was caught due to an informant and was sentenced to life in prison. After serving six months, he escaped and fled to Bulgaria. Ağca later became famous for his failed May 13, 1981 assassination attempt on the Pope Jean Paul II in Rome.

External Factors

In March 1972, PFLP, IRA, RAF, Fedayeen, and at that time one of the biggest Turkish left-wing group which some of them will form the Dev-Genç held an agreement in cooperation . In 1972, fourteen armed militants caught by the "Coast Guard" in a boat which belonged to the Fatah signaled the beginning of rural and urban guerrilla warfare. In 1973, a Turkish national was captured in Lebanon, who gave the information that there were 400 Turkish militants in the camps . Between 1975 and 1980, there were 30,000 militants with different levels of skills from all sides, according to the 1980 tribunal reports . A big part of the PKK's core team had its origins in the Dev-Genç movement, which used catchy slogans such as "anti-imperialism", "neutralism", "anti-Americanism" and "rise against the control of foreign capital" . The PKK's ideology (Apocular) and initial activities (urban warfare) were shaped within this political context.

Political Dynamics

During the 1970s, the Turkish economy was badly affected by the 1973 oil crisis, and the international embargo following the Turkish military intervention in Cyprus (1974), which were the main factors in deteriorating living conditions. Politicians thought that it was the military's responsibility to secure the nation, in a continuation of Atatürk's ideas. Nearly all of the presidents had come from the military and they had maintained control over the security apparatus. From the politicians' point of view, in this design, the political system could not be guilty. At the end, no one in the state mechanism was trying to reach a national consensus on [...] issues. Following the 1980 military coup, all party leaders were imprisoned.

Problems in the Security Apparatus

The turning point for democracy in Turkey during the 1960s was not being able to handle the mass movements within the boundaries of the law. In the late 1960s, it was obvious that changes in the state's functioning were needed. However, performing these changes through a coup did not solve the internal problems of the state. In doing so, after the 1971 coup by memorandum, amendments to the Constitution were forced by an "above-party" government. These solutions, without the proper use of law (justice) created an environment that transformed mass movements (demonstrations) to militant movements ([...] acts).

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