Bahçelievler massacre


The Bahçelievler massacre is the name given to the events of October 9, 1978 in Bahçelievler, Ankara, Turkey, when seven university students, members of the Workers' Party of Turkey, were assassinated by ultra-nationalists including Grey Wolves' leader Abdullah Çatlı, and Haluk Kırcı. The assailants, who were armed with a number of weapons, were reportedly surprised to find the "revolutionary" students unarmed in their apartment. Five of the students were killed in the apartment, and two were taken away by car and killed nearby.

Background

Other massacres during the wave of political violence include the March 16, 1978 Massacre when, at the exit of a school, police and civilian fascists bombed and shot leftist students in Beyazıt Square, killing seven; the December 23–24, 1978 Kahramanmaraş Massacre, when 111 Alevi people were killed, according to the official figures. According to Kendal Nezan of the Kurdish Institute of Paris:

" is reckoned to have been one of the main perpetrators of underground operations carried out by the Turkish branch of the Gladio organisation and had played a key role in the bloody events of the period 1976-1980 which paved the way for the military coup d’état of September 1980. As the young head of the far-right Grey Wolves militia, he had been accused, among other things, of the murder of seven left-wing students."

He was seen in the company of Avanguardia Nazionale founder Stefano Delle Chiaie while touring Latin America and on a visit to Miami in September 1982.

Responsibility