Mahir Çayan, leader of the People's Liberation Party-Front of Turkey (THKP-C), and his friends launched a solidarity action to prevent the executions of Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan, and Hüseyin İnan. In this context, they took two British and one Canadian technician working at the NATO radar station in Ünye hostage on March 26, 1972, and moved to the village of Kızıldere.
MARCH 30: THE KIZILDERE MASSACRE
Following a tip-off regarding the house where the hostages were being held, along with Sinan Kazım Özüdoğru, Sabahattin Kurt, Saffet Alp, and Ömer Ayna, a military operation was launched. As a result of the clash and heavy bombardment at the house, which was surrounded on March 30, 1972, Mahir Çayan, Cihan Alptekin, Ömer Ayna, Saffet Alp, Sinan Kazım Özüdoğru, Hüdai Arıkan, Ahmet Atasoy, Ertan Saruhan, Sabahattin Kurt, and Nihat Yılmaz lost their lives.
The tragic event is remembered in the Turkish left-wing movement as the "Kızıldere Massacre," and every year, the memory of the ten revolutionaries is kept alive through the values they defended and the camaraderie they demonstrated in the trenches.
News Source: 12punto
