BANNEDTHOUGHT.NET

Suppression of Publications and
Arrests of Journalists in Turkey

      Turkey is a country where despite official claims that there is “democracy” and “a free press”, people are often arrested for their political beliefs and publications are often harrassed or suppressed.

      We are also posting news here (which is generally suppressed in Turkey and internationally) of the revolutionary movement and related struggles such as in support of the huge number of political prisoners being held in Turkey’s notorious prisons.

      Contact us at: freespeech@bannedthought.net

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Press Freedom Issues:

• “Mass Arrests of Journalists Aimed at Suppressing Pro-Kurdish Information and Voices”, by Alliance for Kurdish Rights, Dec. 21, 2011, 2 pages.   PDF Version (92 KB);   MS Word (60 KB)
• “Press Freedom in Turkey: A Dangerous Place to be a Journalist”, The Economist, March 12, 2011, p. 61, 2 pages. Showing that even the mildest forms of exposures and criticisms within the ruling establishment itself are often being suppressed in a fascist manner.   PDF Version (122 KB);   MS Word (103 KB)
• “More than 100 Journalists Face the Threat of Imprisonment”, Hürriyet Daily News, Nov. 5, 2010, 2 pages.   PDF Version (111 KB);   MS Word (87 KB)
• “Two Kurdish Newspapers Suspended; Magazine Copies Seized”, IPS Communication Foundation, Sept. 7, 2010, 2 pages.   PDF Version (92 KB);   MS Word (68 KB)
• Suzan Zengin Case:
  • “Revolutionary Journalist Suzan Zengin has Passed Away”, two news articles posted on the Frontlines of Revolutionary Struggle website, Oct. 17, 2011, 3 pages.   PDF Version (116 KB);   MS Word (191 KB)
  • “For the Release of Suzan Zengin, Journalist and Political Prisoner”, statement from the International Association of People's Lawyers, c. Sept. 5, 2010, 2 pages.   PDF Version (128 KB);   MS Word (38 KB)
  • “Imprisonment Against Journalist of Progressive Revolutionary Socialist Paper ISCI KOYLU!”, statement about the arrest of Suzan Zengin, Sept. 1, 2009.   PDF Version (151 KB);   MS Word (45 KB)

Prisons and Prison Solidarity Movement:

• “Prisoners Punished for Singing Political Slogans”, from the Weekly Freedom of Expression Bulletin, #25, 2011, 1 page.   PDF Version (50 KB);   MS Word (31 KB)
• “Inside, Outside Tear Down the Prisons!”, by the Solidarity Committee with Revolutionary Prisoners (Detudak), Dec. 6, 2009.   PDF Version (153 KB);   MS Word (32 KB)
• “Turkey: Prison Massacre [of December 2000]”, by the Revolutionary Communist Group (Britain), Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!, Feb./March 2001, 4 pages.   PDF Version (106 KB);   MS Word (41 KB)

Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist (TKP/ML), and its military
      wing TIKKO (Liberation Army of Workers and Peasants of Turkey)

• Documents:

  • 2013:
    • “His Name is Our Pride, His Party is Our Honor, His Doctrine is Our Guide”, by the TKP/ML, International Bureau, April 2013, 15 pages. Document issued on the 40th anniversary of the murder of Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, the founding leader of the TKP/ML.   PDF Version (227 KB);   MS Word (108 KB)
  • 2012:
    • “The Nepalese Revolution in the Clasp of Reformism and Revisionism”, by the TKP/ML. This is the revised and improved English translation of this important paper, dated October 2012, 14 pages.   PDF Version (400 KB);   MS Word (40 KB)
  • 2011:
    • “Five Martyrs of TKP/ML-TIKKO Died in Dersim”, statement by the TKP/ML International Relations Office, April 20, 2011, 4 pages. About the death of 5 women guerrillas in an avalanche on Feb. 2, 2011.   PDF Version (190 KB);   MS Word (96 KB)
  • 2010:
    • “The Crisis of the Imperialist System, the Consequences and the Tasks of the Class Movement”, by the TKP/ML, October 2010, 15 pages.   PDF Version (358 KB);   MS Word (603 KB)
    • “The Situation in the World and People’s War”, by the TKP/ML, an essay published in the illegal journal Komünist, no. 64, after the 3rd CC meeting of the TCP/ML in February 2010, 5 pages.   PDF Version (287 KB);   MS Word (57 KB)
  • 2007:
    • “Either we Carry the Life to the Dead Stars or the Death will Come Down to Our World”, statement by the TKP/ML from the 8th Party Conference and on the 35th anniversary of the founding of the party, April 2007, 3 pages.   PDF Version (172 KB);   MS Word (42 KB)
  • 2002:
    • “To the Turkish, Kurdish and Different Minorities in Turkey, To Our People”, statement by the TKP/ML on the 30th anniversary of the founding of the party, April 2002, 6 pages.   PDF Version (82 KB);   MS Word (43 KB)
  • 1999:
    • Statement on the Izmit Earthquake, “This Many Casualties is Out of the Common; the State is Responsible for It!”, Aug. 20, 1999. This earthquake needlessly caused the deaths of well over 20,000 people, and injured another 50,000 people. [HTML format.]
    • May Day Statement: “Intensify the Struggle Against the Imperialist Offensive on the Occasion of May 1^st”, by the TKP/ML, May 1, 1999. [HTML format.]
  • 1998:
    • “Contemporary Marxism-Leninism-Maoism”, by the TKP/ML, Summer 1998, 39 pages. This is an extensive and important presentation of the views of the TKP/ML and a polemic against Enver Hoxha, Trotskyists, and other trends.   PDF Version (367 KB);   MS Word (159 KB)
    • “The Strategy of ‘Low Intensity Warfare’ means blockade, embargo, force immigration, massacre, torture and exploitation! The People’s War Strategy means People’s Democratic Power!”, by the TKP/ML, Summer 1998, 16 pages.   PDF Version (217 KB);   MS Word (85 KB)
    • “Imperialism: The Problem of the Balkans and Kosovo”, by the TKP/ML, 1998, 10 pages.   PDF Version (162 KB);   MS Word (69 KB)
  • 1997:
    • “Imperialism: Petrol, the Middle East and the Caucasus”, by the TKP/ML, Autumn 1997, 12 pages.   PDF Version (304 KB);   MS Word (75 KB)
    • “There is No Death for Us! We have our revenge oaths and war cries”, 1997, 8 pages. This is a lament on the murders of Mehmet Demirdag and the Black Sea Martyrs. (It appears that this document was issued by the leadership of the Party, though it may have been issued by a faction. It promotes what it calls “Party restructuring”.)   PDF Version (85 KB);   MS Word (49 KB)
    • “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and its Teachings (Summary)”, by the TKP/ML, 1997, 15 pages. About the Cultural Revolution in China and its lessons for the world.   PDF Version (202 KB);   MS Word (115 KB)
  • Mid-1990s:
    • “The General Characteristics of Imperialism”, by the TKP/ML, mid 1990s. [HTML format.]
  • Early Documents:
    • “On Mao Tsetung”, by the TKP/ML, Sept. 1979, on the 3rd anniversary of the death of Mao, 2 pages. From Revolution, Vol. 4, #10-11 (Oct.-Nov. 1979), published by the RCP,USA.   Searchable PDF photo format (526 KB)
    • “Ibrahim Kaypakkaya on the Kurdish National Question”, 1972, 15 pages.   PDF Version (245 KB);   MS Word (86 KB)

• Videos:

  • TKP/ML-TIKKO in winter and summer camps, with short statements by guerillas (circa 1995) [6:00 minutes]   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfZVLcOhlEo&feature=related
  • TKP/ML-TIKKO units (undated) [4:15 minutes]   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfF6C_pPnhg&NR=1
  • TKP/ML-TIKKO in the mountains of Kurdistan (2008) [1:35 minutes]   http://technorati.com/videos/youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dxnpdk_6CA_c
  • TKP/ML-TIKKO unit (2008) [1 minute]   http://technorati.com/videos/youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DLWjhjAXAY-Y
  • Video on the martyrs of the revolution in Turkey, produced by the TKP/ML and the MKP [7:30 minutes]   http://technorati.com/videos/youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DDToL1OTkWMU

• Criticisms of the TKP/ML:

  • “Maoism Versus Opportunism in Turkey”, a polemic against the line of the TKP/ML by the Committee of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (CoRIM), mid-2001, 16 pages. [This is the excerpted version as published in RIM’s magazine, A World To Win, #28, 2002. We will also post a response to this criticism by the TKP/ML if it becomes available.]   PDF Version (352 KB);   MS Word (99 KB)
  • “On the Occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Foundation of the TKP ML”, statement of the Committee of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (CoRIM), A World To Win, #23, 1998, 3 pages.   PDF Version (131 KB);   MS Word (38 KB)
  • “On the Occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of the Founder of the of the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist, Ibrahim Kaypakkaya”, statement of the Committee of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (CoRIM), May 1993, 3 pages. In A World To Win, #19, 1993.   PDF Version (18 KB);   MS Word (36 KB)

[Note that the TKP/ML (above) and the TKP(ML) (below) are different parties, even though their names differ only in the punctuation!]

Communist Party of Turkey (Marxist-Leninist) [TKP(ML)]

• Documents:

  • “Maoism—Lives, Fights, Wins and Keeps Winning!”, by the TKP(ML), from A World To Win, #24, 1997, 16 pages.   PDF Version (189 KB);   MS Word (82 KB)

Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist (Maoist Party Centre)

        [Split off from the TKP/ML in 1987.]

• Documents:

  • “The Rabid Yankee Dogs and Their Allies Are Asking For It: Let’s Turn Every Inch of Land in the Region and the Gulf into their Graves!”, by the TKP/ML (Maoist Party Centre), Aug. 19, 1990, 4 pages.   PDF Version (18 KB);   MS Word (38 KB)

Maoist Communist Party (MKP) of Turkey and North Kurdistan and its military wing HKO:

• Videos:

  • Video dedicated to the l7 leaders and members of the MKP massacred by the Turkish Army in 2005 [6:30 minutes]   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6Wbwup6fpk&NR=1
  • Video of MKP and affiliated contingents in urban areas [0:50 minute]   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-SZ4FQOE7A&feature=related
  • Video of MKP-HKO meeting in the mountains of Kurdistan [3:15 minutes]   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaE0hz-RWso&feature=related

• News Reports:

  • “On the Massacre of 17 Revolutionary Leaders and Fighters in Turkey”, news report in the RIM magazine A World To Win, #32, 2006, about a massacre of MKP leaders and fighters which occurred on June 16, 2005. 2 pages.   PDF Version (68 KB);   MS Word (33 KB)

Workers Party of Kurdistan [Parti Karkerani Kurdistan] (PKK) & its military wing HPG (People’s Defense Force)

        [No longer a Marxist party since its leader Abdullah Öcalan was imprisoned in 1999 and then abandoned Marxism.]

• Videos:

  • Video of PKK-HPG camps (some of the footage is from 2004) [3:30 minutes]   http://technorati.com/videos/youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DCN0mL3-qKeY   [Note: It appears this video has now been deleted or moved.]

• News Reports:

  • “PKK Revokes Cease-Fire in Turkey”, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 28, 2011, 2 pages.   PDF Version (72 KB);   MS Word (29 KB)
  • “Mass Violent Protests Rock Turkish Kurdistan”, A World To Win News Service, April 19, 2006, 2 pages.   PDF Version (72 KB);   MS Word (33 KB)

• Articles:

  • “Turkey and Kurdistan: In the Cauldron of the Iraq War”, by B. Bahrumi & G. Malik, A World To Win, #30, 2004, 10 pages.   PDF Version (46 KB);   MS Word (63 KB)
  • “Abdullah Ocalan Must Be Freed!”, statement by the Committee of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (CoRIM), Feb. 18, 1999, from A World To Win, #25, 1999, 2 pages.   PDF Version (11 KB);   MS Word (30 KB)

Other Revolutionary Movement News and Information:

• [To be added...]

— NOTICE —       Due to the repressive legislation and judicial decisions in the United States, we at BANNEDTHOUGHT.NET want to make it completely clear that we do not have any connection with any political party or organization in Turkey, or in any other country for that matter. We do not aid, promote, assist, support, coordinate with, or provide any sort of services or advice to any Turkish political party or organization, nor to any other party. However, we do support the right of free speech, and the right of the people in both Turkey and internationally to read the views and publications of these and all other parties and organizations. For this reason we do object to the suppression of the views and ideas put forward by revolutionary parties in Turkey by the Turkish government. And for this reason alone we are making copies of many of their documents available on this site, documents which the authorities in Turkey wish to suppress and keep from the people.       Also, we ask visitors to this site to please don’t ask us to try to contact any Turkish political parties for them. We have no way of doing that. Thank you.

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