The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front ( or DHKP-C) is a Marxist–Leninist communist party in Turkey. It was founded in 1978 as Revolutionary Left (Turkish: or ), and has been involved in a militant campaign against the Republic of Turkey since the 1980s. It was renamed in 1994 after factional infighting. It is classified as a terrorist group by Japan, Turkey, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union.
Structure
or DHKP-C refers to two related entities. "Party" refers to the group's political activities, while "Front" is a reference to the group's military operations.
The group espouses a Marxist–Leninist ideology and holds an anti-U.S., anti-NATO position. It considers that the Turkish state is under the control of Western imperialism and seeks to end this control by violent and democratic means.
It finances its activities chiefly through donations raised in Turkey and Europe.
The People's Front (Turkey), a mass organization, and the Revolutionary Youth Federation of Turkey, a youth organization, are connected to the DHKP-C.
History
Foundation
The organization was originally formed in 1978 by Dursun Karataş as Revolutionary Left (Turkish: Devrimci Sol or Dev Sol), a splinter faction of Devrimci Yol ("Revolutionary Way"), which splintered from the People's Liberation Party-Front of Turkey (THKP-C), which in its turn was a splinter of Revolutionary Youth Federation (commonly known in Turkish as Dev Genç). The group was relaunched with its current name in 1994.
During 1980s
Dev Sol has claimed responsibility for a number of assassinations, including those of Gün Sazak and Nihat Erim in 1980. Since the late 1980s, the group has mostly targeted current and retired Turkish security and military officials.
Insurgency (1990–present)
It began a new campaign against foreign interests in 1990, which included attacks against U.S. military and diplomatic personnel and facilities.
To protest what it describes as American imperialism during the Gulf War, the DHKP-C assassinated two U.S. military personnel, wounded an Air Force officer and bombed more than 20 U.S. and NATO military, commercial and cultural facilities.
It is significant that the only American killed by terrorists during the First Gulf War was a victim of Dev Sol. U.S. Halliburton subsidiary, Vinnell-Brown & Root (VBR) Regional Manager John Gandy was murdered in his Istanbul office in February 1991 by a well-trained Dev Sol hit team that gained access to the office building by wearing Turkish National Police (TNP) uniforms. After tying Gandy to a chair the Dev Sol operatives shot him multiple times in the head. The terrorists then wrote anti-US graffiti stating "Bush go home" on the office walls with the victim's blood. The secretary, Mary Senyuz and the accountant Ali Ferah and Canan, his assistant were tied up in a separate room whilst the murder of Mr. Gandy took place in his office. It was noted that Mr. Gandy's predecessor, Stephen Hubbard, was actually the targeted victim. However he had left for a directorship position at VBRs' headquarters in Ankara just a few months prior. Mr. Hubbard returned to Istanbul directly after the murder, and shut down this regional headquarters.
Although Dev Sol was under active investigation by the American, British, French, Austrian and Danish intelligence and security services, it posed a significant challenge for counter-terrorist agents because it was one of the few terrorist organizations (at that time) to employ professional operational and counterintelligence tradecraft. It used sophisticated surveillance and counter-surveillance techniques, it employed multi-layer assassination squads with surveillance, primary and secondary shooters, and it successfully exfiltrated its operatives back and forth between Western Europe and Turkey as needed. It skillfully employed professionally forged documents and disguise, and it has been claimed by opponents that it preyed on innocent Turks living in Europe, extorting money from them in exchange for "protection." However, the DHKP-C denies any involvement in extortion and it is not unknown for criminal gangs to use the name of the DHKP-C and other armed political groups as a cover for their activities without any authorization from or actual connection to those organizations.