The Marxist–Leninist Communist Party ( tr, Marksist-Leninist Komünist Partisi, abbreviated as ''MLKP'') is an underground

Hoxhaist Hoxhaism () is a variant of Anti-revisionism, anti-revisionist Marxism–Leninism that developed in the late 1970s due to a split in the anti-revisionist movement, appearing after the Sino-Albanian split, ideological dispute between the Chinese ...

communist party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. It was founded in 1994, and has been involved in the

Rojava conflict The Rojava conflict, also known as the Rojava Revolution, is a political upheaval and military conflict taking place in northern Syria, known among Kurds as Western Kurdistan or Rojava. During the Syrian civil war that began in 2011, a Kurdish- ...

since 2012.

History

MLKP was formed in September 1994, through the unification of the

Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist - Hareketi Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...

(TKP/ML-Hareketi) and the

Communist Workers Movement of Turkey Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...

(TKİH). TKP/ML-Hareketi was the larger of the two. Both groups came from the pro-

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

camp. The unity process of negotiations between the groups had started in 1989. Initially MLKP called itself MLKP-Kuruluş (MLKP-Foundation). In September 1995, at the first congress of MLKP-K, the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist (New Build-Up Organization) (TKP/ML (YİÖ)) merged into the party, and the name was changed to MLKP. Later the same year a split occurred, and the

Communist Party - Build-up Organization Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

(KP-İÖ) was formed. MLKP is designated as an active terrorist organisation in Turkey by the Counter-Terrorism and Operations Department of the General Directorate of Security. During the

Ergenekon Ergenekon (sometimes spelled ''Ergeneqon'', mn, Эргүнэ хун, Ergüne khun) is a founding myth of Turkic and Mongolic peoples.

investigation, it was claimed by prosecutors that Ergenekon planned to take over the MLKP, as well as the PKK, and that it was successful to a certain extent. In the same investigation, it was found that the hand grenades found in Lieutenant Colonel Mustafa Dönmez' had the same series number as those used by the MLKP.

Organisation

The youth wing of MLKP is called the Communist Youth Organization (' in Turkish, abbreviated as ''KGÖ''). MLKP maintains an armed wing named Armed Forces of the Poor and the Oppressed (''Fakirlerin ve Ezilenlerin Silahlı Kuvvetleri'' in Turkish, abbreviated as ''FESK''). The group had international exposure at the

Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus The Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus ( tr, Hilton İstanbul Bosphorus) is a five star hotel in Istanbul, Turkey. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, it opened in 1955 as the Istanbul Hilton and is the longest operating Hilton Hotel outside the Unit ...

bombing prior to

2004 Istanbul summit The 2004 Istanbul summit was held in Istanbul, Turkey from 28 to 29 June 2004. It was the 17th NATO summit in which NATO's Heads of State and Governments met to make formal decisions about security topics. In general, the summit is seen as a c ...

where four people were killed. In April 2015, it was announced that MLKP founded a permanent military training centre in

PKK The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla warfare, guerrilla List of guerrilla movements, movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based ...

-controlled areas of the

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also incl ...

. In July 2015, they attempted bomb attack on Star Media Group (Turkey). The organisation has had three periodicals: (''The Leap'') (or ' (The New Leap)), a daily news bulletin, ' (The Voice of the Party), an institutional publication and ' (The Direction in Theory), a theoretical-political journal). The 26th and last issue of was published in 2006.

Human Resources

A study carried out by the Counter-Terrorism and Operations Department of General Directorate of Security over a sample of files about people convicted of being a terrorist under Turkish laws including 826 militants from the organisation and the three other currently active left-wing organisations (see reference 1) 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% (while they have no sampled literate non-graduate members).

Involvement in Syrian Civil War

MLKP has reportedly been sending volunteers to Syria to fight with the PYD's

People's Protection Units The People's Defense Units (YPG), (YPG) ; ar, وحدات حماية الشعب, Waḥdāt Ḥimāyat aš-Šaʽb) also called People's Protection Units, is a mainly-Kurdish militia in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democra ...

(YPG) of

Rojava The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava, is a de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing Regions of North and East Syria, sub-regions in the areas of Afrin Region ...

(Syrian Kurdistan) since 2012. At least four of these fighters have been killed in battle as of February 2015—one during the

Battle of Ras al-Ayn A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

, and three during the

Siege of Kobanî The siege of Kobanî was launched by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on 13 September 2014, in order to capture the Kobanî Canton and its main city of Kobanî (also known as Kobanê or Ayn al-Arab) in northern Syria, in the ''de facto'' ...

. MLKP has also declared its intention to form a leftist international brigade within the YPG, modeled after the famous

International Brigades The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existed f ...

who fought on the side of the

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of Alfonso XIII, King Alfonso XIII, and was di ...

in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

. The party released a video in late January 2015 purporting to show several Spanish- and German-speaking communist volunteers from Europe among its ranks in

Jazira Canton The Jazira Region, formerly Jazira Canton, ( ku, Herêma Cizîrê, ar, إقليم الجزيرة, syr, ܦܢܝܬܐ ܕܓܙܪܬܐ, Ponyotho d'Gozarto), is the largest of the Regions of Rojava, three original regions of the de facto Autonomous Adm ...

. In March 2015,

Ivana Hoffmann Ivana Hoffmann (1 September 1995 – 7 March 2015), also known as Avaşin Tekoşin Güneş, was a German feminist communist who fought with the Marxist–Leninist Communist Party (Turkey) (MLKP) in the Rojava conflict of the Syrian civil war. Sh ...

, a MLKP member and German national and daughter of a German mother and a

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

lese father, was reported to be killed in clashes with the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

. The MLKP has set up a political branch in PYD-governed territories as well, known as MLKP (Rojava). MLKP fighters have also joined

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK) formations

fighting Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...

in northern Iraq in defence of the

Yezidi Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. The majo ...

minority of

Sinjar Sinjar ( ar, سنجار, Sinjār; ku, شنگال, translit=Şingal, syr, ܫܝܓܪ, Shingar) is a town in the Sinjar District of the Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq. It is located about five kilometers south of the Sinjar Mountains. Its p ...

References

External links