51 years ago, on 6 May 1972, Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Huseyin Inan were hanged in Ankara. Their trial had begun on 16 July 1971. Gezmiş and his comrades were sentenced to death on October 9 for violating the Turkish Criminal Code’s 146th article, which concerns attempts to “overthrow Constitutional order”.

After joining the Workers Party of Turkey (Türkiye Işçi Partisi), Gezmiş studied law at Istanbul University in 1966. In 1968, he founded the Revolutionary Jurists Organisation (Devrimci Hukukçular Kuruluşu) and the Revolutionary Student Union (Devrimci Öğrenci Birliği).

He became increasingly politically active, and led the student-organised occupation of Istanbul University on June 12, 1968. After the occupation was forcibly ended by the law, he spearheaded protests against the arrival of the US 6th Fleet in Istanbul. Deniz Gezmiş was arrested for these actions on 30 July 1968, to be released on 20 October of the same year.

As he increased his involvement with the Worker’s Party of Turkey, and began to advocate a National Democratic Revolution, his ideas started to circulate and inspire a growing revolutionary student base. On November 28, 1968, he was arrested again after protesting the US ambassador’s visit to Turkey, but was later released. On 16 March 1969, he was arrested again for participating in right-wing and left-wing armed conflicts and imprisoned until 3 April. Gezmiş was re-arrested on 31 May 1969. The university was temporarily closed, and Gezmiş was injured in the conflict. Although Gezmiş was under surveillance, he escaped from hospital and went to Palestine Liberation Organization camps in Jordan to receive guerrilla training.

On 4 March 1971, Deniz Gezmiş and comrades kidnapped four U.S. privates from TUSLOG/The United States Logistics Group headquartered in Balgat, Ankara. After releasing the hostages, he and Yusuf Aslan were captured live near Sivas following an armed stand-off with law enforcement officers.

Their trial began on 16 July 1971 and Gezmiş was sentenced to death on October 9 for violating the Turkish Criminal Code’s 146th article, which concerns attempts to “overthrow Constitutional order”. According to legal procedure, a death sentence must be endorsed by Parliament before being sent to the President of the Republic for final assent. In March and April 1972 the sentence was placed before Parliament and in both readings the sentence was overwhelmingly approved.

On 4 May, President Cevdet Sunay, after officially consulting the Minister of Justice and Prime Minister Nihat Erim, refused to grant Gezmiş a pardon. He was executed by hanging on 6 May 1972 in Ankara Central Prison along with Hüseyin Inan and Yusuf Aslan.

Deniz Gezmiş was born in Ankara on 24 February 1947. He was one of the revolutionaries in Turkey who dedicated their lives to the socialist cause. In his last letter addressed to his father just before the hanging, he was explaining the spirit of sacrifice by the revolutionary movement of Turkey: “Men are born, grow up, live and die… The important thing is not to live for a long time, but to do more things in the lifetime… My friends who were ahead of me did not show hesitancy before the death… You should not have any doubt that I will have hesitation….”

Today, Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan, Huseyin Inan and the many revolutionaries like them are remembered in several places.