Maoist Communist Party (Turkey)


Maoist Communist Party of Turkey is a Maoist insurgent organization in Turkey. It is the most significant of the Maoist organisations in Turkey; it upholds the legacy of Ibrahim Kaypakkaya. It maintains two armed wings: the People's Partisan Forces and People's Liberation Army.
MKP was a part of Revolutionary Internationalist Movement and participates in the Conference of Communist and Workers’ Parties of the Balkans.

History

MKP emerged in 1987 as TKP/ML - Eastern Anatolia Regional Committee and broke away from the declining TKP/ML organisation. In 1993 it reunified with TKP/ML, but this proved unsuccessful; it broke away again in 1994 to become the Communist Party of Turkey . After an increasing ideological divide between the TKP/ML and the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, the Committee of RIM eventually ejected the ideologically stagnant TKP/ML. In 2003 TKP morphed into the Maoist Communist Party. MKP became a member of RIM and over the years gained influence becoming the most significant Maoist organisation in Turkey. MKP is determined to carry out a "Socialist People's War" in Turkey with its armed wing the People's Liberation Army. In 2013 the Party's 3rd congress established the People's Partisan Forces as a second armed wing.

Organisation

The party has two armed wings: in rural areas Peoples' Liberation Army and in cities People's Partisan Forces.
Maoist Youth Union is the youth organization of MKP.
Maoist Women's Union - is women's organization of MKP.
The party has two periodicals titled Devrimci Demokrasi and Sınıf Teorisi.
Federation of Democratic Rights - is independent mass organization related to MKP.

Recent activity

In March 2009, Tamer Bilici, a doctor in service during a 2000 hunger strike in Kandıra F-type prison, was punished by MKP-HKO for being a public enemy because he was blamed for deaths and permanent disabilities of inmates. In September 2009 MKP-HKO claimed responsibility for the death of a retired colonel, Aytekin İçmez. In June 2015, MKP-PHG killed former colonel Fehmi Altinbilek.

Designation as a terrorist organisation

The organisation is listed among the 12 active terrorist organisations in Turkey as of 2007 according to Counter-Terrorism and Operations Department of Directorate General for Security.

Human resources

A study carried out by the Counter-Terrorism and Operations Department of Directorate General for Security over a sample of files about people convicted of being terrorists under Turkish laws including 826 militants from the organisation and the three other currently active left-wing organisations 65% of the members are aged 14 to 25, 16,8% 25 to 30 and 17,5% are older than 30. University graduates make up 20,4% of the members, high school graduates 33,5%, secondary school graduates 14%, primary school graduates 29,9% and illiterates 1,9%.