Turkey: Five TKP/ML-TIKKO fighters killed in avalanche

25 April 2011. A World to Win News Service. Following is a press statement released by the International Relations Office of the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist (TKP/ML) on 20 April.

The press statement of the TKP/ML-TIKKO [Workers' and Peasants' Liberation Army of Turkey] Dersim Regional Committee from 20 April 2011 states that on 2 February 2011, five guerrillas of TKP/ML- TIKKO have lost their lives as a result of an avalanche. According to the statement of the Dersim Region, on 2 February 2011 at 5 am an avalanche destroyed the winter camp and killed five female TIKKO guerillas.

1- Sefagul Kesgin, code name Eylem, was born in Erzurum in 1977. She joined the guerrilla struggle in 2007. She was the Political Lieutenant of the Dersim Region.


2- Nursen Aslan, code name Emel, was born in Tokat (on the Black Sea) in 1981. She joined the guerrilla struggle in 1999. She was a forward sympathiser of the TKP/ML. She was a commander in the Dersim Region.


3- Gulizar Ozkan, code name Ozlem, was born in 1967 in Dersim. She joined the guerrillas in 2005. She was a forward sympathiser of the party. She was a TIKKO commander.


4- Fatma Acar, code name Dilek, was born in 1983 in Mersin. She joined the guerrilla struggle in 2006. She was a forward sympathiser of the TKP/ML and a commander of TIKKO.


5- Derya Aras, code name, Sevda, was born in 1979 in Erzincan and joined the guerrillas in 2009. She was a forward sympathiser of the TKP/ML and a TIKKO fighter.

A rescue operation was launched immediately after the landslide, but it found only the buried, lifeless bodies of the five comrades.


The Dersim Regional Committee further declares that the martyrdom of our five comrades, including comrade Sefagul Kesgin, is a big loss for our organization. We know that these losses and deaths are part of war. In order to bear the price of this heavy loss we will focus on our struggle with all our abilities and strength and we will increase the struggle that has been handed over to us by our martyrs in a way that our comrades deserve.


Our five comrades have left a note on the page of history; they have done this with their leading role in our war and in showing the oppressed women the way towards freedom. Their lives, just as their martyrdom, were a rebellion against the oppression of women for thousands of years and this rebellion will illuminate the path of the comrades who will continue the struggle.



We can only keep our comrades' memories alive with the weapons we have taken over from them for the struggle for democratic people's revolution, socialism and communism.


As the international office of the TKP/ML we know that the path of proletarian world revolution is a path full of willpower, sacrifices and determination. The way to final victory can only be reached with the knowledge of proletarian world revolution and the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist ideology. For this we call upon all revolutionary and communist forces to take notice of the martyrdom of our comrades Sefagul Kesgin, Nursen Aslan, Gulizar Ozkan, Fatma Acar, Derya Aras.



Long Live Proletarian Internationalism! Long Live Peoples War – Long Live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism!