DHKC: The vanguard of the revolution is in the mountains of the Aege

[ozgurluk at xs4all.nl]

DEVRIMCI HALK 
KURTULUS CEPHESI

Press Office
Date: December 2, 1998					Declaration: 78


THE VANGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION IS IN THE MOUNTAINS OF THE AEGEAN

Since the 1970s there has never been a time when the vanguard of the
revolution, the Party-Front's supporters, have been absent from the
cities and mountains of our country. At times when fascism least
expected it, hundreds of actions were carried out. While fascism tries
to convince itself that no revolutionaries can live here, they have
shown the entire world that the Party-Front's supporters can live and
be vanguard fighters of the revolution in every place where the people
are, on every piece of Anatolia's land which we see as our native
land. They have won, they have been defeated , they have died, they
have killed. At the very moment that they said they had annihilated
and wiped us out, our existence was confirmed. They have written the
history of the revolution in blood - not with empty words, but with
actions and readiness for sacrifice.

THE MOUNTAINS AND CITIES OF OUR LAND BELONG TO US NOW WE ARE IN THE
MOUNTAINS OF THE AEGEAN

The mountains of the Aegean were quiet and peaceful. They were a place
where fascism could arm itself and live. Everything was under its
control, it said . But with soft and modest steps, the supporters of
the Party-Front climbed onto the mountains of the Aegean once again.

The war which began in the cities spread into the major metropolitan
centres . While the struggle developed again in numerous cities in
Anatolia, it spread to Kurdistan in Turkey, to central Anatolia, the
Black Sea region, the Taurus and the Aegean. The Aegean, the land of
revolutions, bears witness to the vanguard of the Party-Front
supporters who follow the uprisings by the BÖRKLÜCES (translator's
note: rebels in the Aegean who rose up against the Ottoman Empire in
the Middle Ages). It can be said that in the revolutionary history of
the Aegean the Party-Front supporters are the heirs of the
Börklüces. Following the legendary acts of resistance created by the
urban guerrillas Faruk, Olcay, Kahraman, Hamiyet and Ali Riza Kurt
(translator's note: Devrimci Sol and Party-Front martyrs in the area
in the first half of the 1990s), the war has spread to the mountains
of the Aegean.


IN THE MOUNTAINS OF THE AEGEAN THE WEAPONS OF THE PARTY-FRONT ARE NOT SILENT

The existence of the Party-Front in the mountains of the Aegean was a
profound shock for the Susurluk state. For ten days they were in a
great panic. A small guerrilla unit caused fear and trembling among
the state. The Gölgeli mountains were surrounded by thousands of
soldiers and special team members from the adjacent Denizli area who
were equipped with tanks, armoured cars and all kinds of heavy
weapons. Deep down, what they feared was not the existence of a small
guerilla unit, but the strength of the demand for revolution and the
Party-Front, which under no circumstances will back off from making
this demand for revolution. The existence of a revolutionary
organisation which, in all corners of the country, in the cities, in
the mountains, seeks to unite and bring into the struggle all our
peoples without regard to nationality or creed, is the most dangerous
force as far as the state is concerned.

Now the Party-Front, which it could not erase through annihilation and
repression, is also to be found in the mountains of the Aegean. The
enemy concentrated its forces here in the mountains of the Aegean too
- its army, police, media, armoured vehicles, cannons and mendacious
news items. Now the people's war against the oligarchy would continue
here.

TWO PARTY-FRONT SUPPORTERS AND A LEGEND OF RESISTANCE FOR OUR PEOPLE

The history of the Aegean is full of uprisings. The history of the
Aegean is the history of heroism. In this history there was no
betrayal of the people.  It contained within it heroic martyrdom and
resistance. But there was no talk of capitulation and submission. Our
fighters Erhan Yilmaz and Mehmet Yildirim, who were surrrounded at the
foot of the Gölgeli mountains in Balkica village on November 29,
remained true to this history. Hostile forces, thousands of soldiers
and police with heavy weapons surrounded them.  The fighter is
connected to life. This connection with life is the connection with
his or her people and organisation. In order to achieve the
revolution, he will live and fight for his people. But he is conscious
that surrendering without fighting would mean not living but betraying
the revolution and his people. Basically it is this moment when
against a thousand enemies the justice of the people, the voice of the
people comes most to the fore, if necessary by putting one's own life
at stake. They did not hesitate in the slightest. The enemy surrounded
them with thousands of soldiers. In this moment the countryside
dwelling in Balkica was the Party- Front. The Party-Front and the
revolution were reflected in the personalities of Erhan and
Mehmet. The eyes of the whole people were turned on them. The seeds of
the revolution in the mountains of the Aegean were sown. The seeds
would ripen and grow. They were to show that the guerrillas can exist
in the mountains of the Aegean and that the Party-Front cannot be
defeated. "Surrender", shouted the Susurluk generals with their
thousands of soldiers, armoured vehicles, cannons, believing
themselves to be strong. The guerrillas answered with their
weapons. The little rural dwelling in Balkica bore witness to the
heroic resistance of the two Party-Front supporters in the mountains
of the Aegean amid thousands of bullets, rockets and mortar bombs. The
Aegean, with its Turkmens, Greeks, Jews, Kurds, Cherkess, Georgians,
Alevis, Sunnis and Christians, which is a forest of fraternity, had
never seen such resistance. Two supporters of the Party-Front
challenged the enemy army amid the thousands of bullets and explosive
projectiles. They called out "We are the Party-Front, we are DHKP-C,
we do not surrender, you cannot make us surrender. Supporters of the
Party-Front do not die."  For precisely twenty hours it was not
possible for the enemy to silence two Party-Front supporters in a
rural dwelling. Precisely twenty hours. Twenty hours of sleeplessness,
hunger and cold. The two fighters of the Party-Front never let their
slogans, marches, revolutionary agitation and their weapons fall
silent. The enemy was confused, the people were confused. The people
of the Aegean got to know the Party-Front in the mountains of the
Aegean with their heroic resistance during the enemy
encirclement. From now on, the Aegean will talk of this
resistance. The enemy was powerless, immoral and without a way
out. With thousands of soldiers and heavy weapons it could not make
two supporters of the Party-Front surrender. For all its thousands of
soldiers it could not even get close to the country dwelling where the
two Party-Front supporters were located. Moreover, they suffered
losses. Under a hail of bullets and shells two fighters of the
Party-Front killed one of the enemy and wounded two others. In the
face of the creativity of the two Party -Front supporters, the enemy,
who trusted in using thousands of soldiers in an encirclement,
suffered a complete defeat.The enemy was nevertheless weak and
condemned to defeat, for despite its thousands of soldiers and heavy
weapons it stands for exploitation, tyranny and immorality. They can
murder thousands of our fighters but those who are in the wrong
historically and politically, those who are the enemies of the people
will sooner or later be defeated. They were defeated at the very
moment they claimed to be victors.  The rural dwelling in Balkica was
burned to the ground with mortars and rockets before the eyes of the
entire world. The fire which lit up the G lgeli moutains in Balkica is
not the fire of a rural dwelling, but rather the fire of resistance
which will spread in the mountains of the Aegean. The fire lit by two
supporters of the Party-Front will never be extinguished by any
force. All the enemy got were the charred corpses of the two
Party-Front supporters. Who won, and who was defeated?

Their thousands of soldiers and tonnes of heavy weapons were still not
enough to make the fighters give in. For exactly 20 hours. Those who
surrounded the Party-Front fighters experienced defeat, minute for
minute, hour for hour, before the eyes of the entire world. They were
afraid, were egoistic and devoid of all conviction.

The two fighters of the Party-Front added another link to the chain of
their victory and their tradition. For exactly 20 hours. They resisted
an army, showed their connection to their belief and in the mountains
of the Aegean wrote a history with their blood that can never be
expunged. They have called for the Party-Front, the people and justice
and for an independent, democratic and socialist Turkey. They had
won. All the enemy got was their burnt corpses. From this moment on
there were fighters of the Party-Front in the mountains of the
Aegean. What Seyh Bedrettin (translator's note: rebel leader in
western Anatolia in the Middle Ages who set up an egalitarian state
which for a time held out against the attacks of the Ottoman army)
said centuries ago is now told in the mountains of the Aegean by Erhan
and Mehmet: "You people are witnesses of how, if not today then
tomorrow, all the wheels of exploitation will be ripped from their
moorings and all those who exploit people will disappear from this
earth no matter how hard they try to defend themselves..."

OUR MARTYRS

Erhan YILMAZ (Kenan): He was born in 1976 in Bismil district near the
city of Diyarbakir as the son of a poor Turkmen family. (Translator's
note: the Turkmen of Anatolia are a distinct Turkic ethnic group, who
were nomadic until the 19th century and who often played an important
role in rebellions against Ottoman authority. They are not the same
people as the Turkmen who live in the former USSR republic of
Turkmenistan, northeastern Iran and northwestern Afghanistan.) He
spent his childhood in the village. Since his family was poor, he had
to work at various trades in order to be able to continue through
middle school and high school. In his high school years he came into
contact with revolutionary ideas because of his anti-system attitudes,
since he had personally experienced the system's injustice and
tyranny. While in the beginning he already sympathised with the
revolutionaries in a general way, the resistance of April 16-17, 1992
influenced him deeply. He got to know the ideas of Devrimci Sol. When
he began his studies in Balikesir in 1993, he belonged to Devrimci
Sol. With his activities among the students he developed quickly. He
began to take on various forms of responsibility. Besides his
activities in the university, he was also active as someone holding
responsibilities in the areas around Balikesir, Bandirma and
Susurluk. He took a direct part in in organising and building various
mass activities. Sometimes he was an ordinary militant, sometimes he
had specific areas of responsibility. While he was getting to know the
Party-Front and the revolution, he was taken captive. Imprisonment was
a turning point for Erhan. During his three and a half years in prison
he settled accounts with the system. He got to know the Party-Front at
a very young age. He experienced heroism and betrayal. In every fibre
of his being he sensed that an honourable life was one in which the
struggle was waged. He said: "For me the most beautiful and valuable
work in the world is to be a revolutionary, a supporter of the
Party-Front, and to fight for the freedom of our homeland and our
people. For this reason I swear to belong to the Party-Front until my
death. For this means to be proud and honourable , so I will safeguard
it..." At the end of his imprisonment, he remained true to his
oath. He rushed to fight for his homeland and his people. He was full
of anger and rage. He expressed his thoughts with the words, „I have a
great urge to fight." He had begun his life inside the Party-Front and
he said, "I am proud of every moment of my life I spent within the
Party-Front.  " He was ready to be sent to operate in every area. With
his thoughts, his feelings, indeed every fibre of his being. But he
wanted to fight, gun in hand. The Party sent him to command the rural
guerrilla unit in the Aegean.  And with pride in every moment of his
life spent inside the Party-Front, on November 30, 1998 he kept his
oath until the last breath passed from his body. Now in the mountains
of the Aegean, the legends of resistance by Erhan and his comrade
Mehmet have been written. Erhan's life is an honourable past , an
honourable history of how he stayed true to his word up to his last
breath without betraying the Party.  Before he went into the mountains
of the Aegean, he said: "The days are near in which we will sing the
march 'We are falcons who will beat our wings in the mountains'".

The Party taught him the revolution and a revolutionary personality. He
became immortal by holding aloft the Party with his struggle, his life, his
resistance, and he sowed the seed of guerrilla warfare in the mountains of
the Aegean.

Mehmet YILDIRIM (Necati): He was born in 1964 in Oluklu village in
Kagizman district of Kars city, as the child of a poor Kurdish peasant
family.  Because of poverty he could not continue his education after
elementary school. He began to do various kinds of work to earn a
living. During his life as a worker he experienced the most typical
forms of exploitation and injustice. When in 1993 he got to know the
revolutionaries, he very quickly assimilated revolutionary ideas. He
carried out various activities in Alibeyköy/Istanbul as a Devrimci Sol
sympathiser. For Mehmet, being a revolutionary was something different
from his previous life. He wanted to learn all aspects of this life
and be a modest soldier of the organisation.  He had not come into
contact with the dirt and filth of the system. It was his great
passion to learn to be a revolutionary and to live that way. The
diligence he had already shown in life was now put into service with
the revolution. Without making a distinction between major and minor
activities, he eagerly carried out all tasks. A little later he came
to know imprisonment. This came at an early point for him but it was a
school in which he got to know the revolution in all its aspects. He
had the self- confidence to say "I can also do what others do". He was
older than many of his other comrades. But he was highly enthusiastic
in seeking to learn from his younger comrades and to fight under their
direction. He came late to the revolution.He wanted to make up for the
years he had wasted outside the revolution. When he was freed he said,
"Now I am a fighter and at the service of my Party". He wanted to
dedicate every hour of his life to the Party. For a short time he was
in an urban guerrilla unit. In 1995 he was part of a rural guerrilla
unit in the Black Sea region. While he was fighting there, he
developed severe frostbite and had to be brought to the city to be
treated for it. For him being a revolutionary and the struggle was not
a short-term thing. It had to last one's entire life. When he
recovered his health, he waited for the order to be sent back to the
struggle. He was sent to be deputy commander of the Aegean rural
guerrilla unit. When he went into the mountains, he said, "It is our
task to keep all the martyrs of the revolution alive, to take their
place and to hold their banner even higher and fix it above the
fortresses of the oligarchy. I will carry out this proud task to the
last drop of my blood as a fighter of the Party-Front..." And he did
this. Until the last drop of his blood he shouted out his support of
the revolution, the legitimate struggle of the people and the
Party-Front. He challenged the enemy. When he drew his last breath
along with his comrade Kenan, the fire of resistance burned in the
mountains of the Aegean. This fire was lit by them. We give our word
that it will grow larger and never be extinguished.

THE FIRE LIT BY ERHAN AND MEHMET IN THE MOUNTAINS OF THE AEGEAN WILL
NEVER BE EXTINGUISHED!

REVOLUTIONARY PEOPLE'S LIBERATION FRONT


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