Ibrahim Kaypakkaya

İbrahim Kaypakkaya was a Turkish Maoist, who founded the Communist Party of Turkey,Marxist-Leninist (TKP,ML) in 1972. He is revered by many today as a symbol of resistance and as an aggregator of the ideas of other major leaders and thinkers in Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. He was born in 1949 to a Turkish Alevi family in Karakaya, a village in Çorum Province. He studied physics at Istanbul University, where he was exposed to revolutionary ideas and joined the Federation of Idea Clubs. He became a member of the Revolutionary Workers and Peasants Party of Turkey and wrote articles for the magazines Aydınlık and Türksolu. He later split from Doğu Perinçek and his group, accusing them of being revisionist and opportunist. He formed the TKP,ML and its armed wing, the Workers' and Peasants' Liberation Army of Turkey (TİKKO), and carried out guerrilla activities in the cities of Tunceli, Malatya, and Gaziantep. He also participated in the struggle of the peasantry and showed solidarity with other revolutionary groups. He wrote several works on Marxist theory, criticizing Kemalism and defending the right of self-determination for the Kurdish people. He was captured by the Turkish military forces in January 1973, after being wounded in a clash in Tunceli. He was taken to Diyarbakır Prison, where he was tortured for four months. He refused to give any information to the enemy and was executed by firing squad on May 18, 1973. His body was never returned to his family and his resting place remains unknown. His writings and ideas have influenced many communist and revolutionary movements in Turkey and abroad.