What did Deniz Gezmiş write in the Anıtkabir memorial book?
The question of what Deniz Gezmiş, a leader of an irrepressible youth movement against anti-imperialism, wrote in the Anıtkabir memorial book has become a subject of curiosity. What did Deniz Gezmiş, one of the 'three saplings' who walked to the gallows for the sake of independence on the morning of May 6, 1972, and his friends write in the Anıtkabir memorial book? Here are the details...
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Deniz Gezmiş, one of the symbolic figures of the left-wing generation, and his friends organized the “Mustafa Kemal March for a Fully Independent Turkey” from Samsun to Ankara in 1969.
The march, which grew in waves as an anti-imperialist voice against the right-wing government of the period, received great interest from the progressive segments of Turkey. The march went down in history as one of the most effective actions of the 1968 youth movement.
According to the plan, they would set out from Samsun on November 1 and arrive at Anıtkabir on November 10, concluding the action with a moment of silence before Atatürk.
Regarding the march organized by the youth fighting for Turkey's full independence, the Prime Minister of the time, Süleyman Demirel, gave his famous response to journalists' questions about the march:
Roads do not wear out from walking.
'WE ARE TRULY FOLLOWING IN YOUR FOOTSTEPS'
Deniz Gezmiş records the following notes in his march diary titled “We are following in your footsteps on the path of national liberation against American imperialism”:
October 30, 1968. At 13:30, we went to the Atatürk Monument as a group and held a one-minute silence. Then, we sang the National Anthem, unfurled our flag and the banner with the inscription, and set off... November 10, 1968. We wanted to reach Anıtkabir and show our loyalty to Him in the presence of the Ancestor, at least by holding a moment of silence. We went toward Anıtkabir in scattered groups via various roads. Three hundred conscious minds that did not give up despite all kinds of arrangements and ferocity... An officer of the Turkish Armed Forces provided us with the necessary and most perfect convenience. At that moment, our wreath was brought. On the wreath, we had written, ‘We are following in your footsteps on the path of national liberation against American imperialism - Samsun marchers’... We appeared before the Ancestor. We held a moment of silence and wrote in the book: ‘We are truly following in your footsteps in our second national war of liberation against American imperialism. Our National War of Liberation cannot be destroyed. To destroy it, one must destroy the entire Turkish nation. The Mustafa Kemal marchers for a Fully Independent Turkey’.