DEV-GENÇ

The Revolutionary Youth Federation of Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye Devrimci Gençlik Federasyonu), often known simply as Revolutionary Youth (Turkish: Devrimci Gençlik, DEV-GENÇ) was a Marxist-Leninist organization founded in Turkey on 1965 and banned in 1971 after the 1971 Turkish coup d'état, continuing for some time as an underground organization. It was founded in 1965 as the Federation of Debate Clubs and renamed in 1969. It inspired various offshoots, including Devrimci Yol, the Revolutionary Workers and Peasants Party of Turkey, and the Kurdistan Workers' Party.

DEV-GENÇ members set U.S. Ambassador Robert Komer's car on fire in 1969 while he was visiting an Ankara university campus. Dev-Genç members participated in the protests against the United States Sixth Fleet anchoring in Turkey (June 1967 to February 1969) and also played an active role in the workers' actions on 15–16 June 1970.

Members included Ulaş Bardakçı, Mahir Çayan, and Cihan Alptekin.

CIA agent Aldrich Ames was able to unveil the identity of a large number of members.

Following the 1971 coup, 226 alleged members of Dev-Genç were tried at Ankara Military Court, 154 alleged members were tried at Istanbul Military Court and 34 alleged members were tried at Diyarbakır Military Court.

There were a number of initiatives to continue the tradition of the Revolutionary Youth movement of the late 1960s. After the amnesty of 1974 many members of the illegal Türkiye Halk Kurtuluş Partisi-Cephesi (People's Liberation Party-Front of Turkey) were released from prison. They first gathered in students' associations such as İYÖD and AYÖD (short for Istanbul and Ankara Students' Association). On 1 November 1975 the first edition of the journal “Emperyalizme ve Oligarşiye Karşı Devrimci Gençlik” (Revolutionary Youth against Imperialism and Oligarchy) was issued. Its editor-in-chief was Taner Akçam. In 1976 the journal was renamed as Dev Genç.

...
Wikipedia