İbrahim Kaypakkaya (1949 – May 18, 1973) was a major leader of the Communist movement in Turkey. He was the founder of the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist (TKP/ML). <br /> <br />Following the military memorandum of 1971, the Turkish government cracked down on the Communist movement in Turkey and was successful in destroying the machinery of the TKP/ML. Kaypakkaya and several of his colleagues were arrested. Kaypakkaya died in prison in 1973 after being tortured for over 4 months and later being shot in the head by his interrogators. <br /> <br />He is revered by his admirers today as a symbol of resistance, who describe him as an aggregator of the ideas and traits of other major leaders and thinkers in Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. <br /> <br />Ibrahim Kaypakkaya was born in 1949. He was first exposed to revolutionary ideas when he was a student in the Physics department of Istanbul University’s Faculty of Science. He joined in the foundation of the Çapa Idea Club (Turkish: Çapa Fikir Kulubü) in March 1968 and became the president of the club. He was expelled from the university in November 1968 for preparing a leaflet against the visiting 6th Fleet of the U.S. Navy. <br /> <br />Kaypakkaya, who adopted the view of National Democratic Revolution, worked for the newspaper İşçi Köylü ("Worker-Peasant"). He wrote articles in the magazines Aydınlık ("Enlightenment") and TÜRKSOLU ("Turkish Left"; not to be confused with the modern magazine Türksolu). Kaypakkaya then split from Doğu Perinçek and his group, as he considered Perinçek to be a revisionist and an opportunist. Kaypakkaya, who participated in the struggle of peasantry, formed TİKKO (Turkish: Türkiye İşci ve Köylü Kurtuluş Ordusu, "Workers' and Peasants' Liberation Army"), the armed wing of his Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist, and carried out activities in the cities of Dersim (Tunceli), Malatya, and Antep. <br /> <br />Kaypakkaya and his comrades interrogated and shot the informer village headman who caused the killing of THKO (Turkish: Türkiye Halk Kurtuluş Ordusu; "People's Liberation Army of Turkey") members Sinan Cemgil and his two other comrades by the state forces during a gunfight. Kaypakkaya became a symbol of revolutionary solidarity and camaraderie to his supporters at the time of martial law. <br /> <br />On January 24, 1973, Kaypakkaya and his comrades were attacked by Turkish military forces in the mountains of Dersim. He was wounded badly, while a number of his comrades died. The military left Kaypakkaya for dead, allowing him to avoid capture. During that winter, severe weather conditions and snow forced him to take shelter in a cave for five days. Thereafter, he left for a village where he asked for assistance from a local teacher. Initially, the man allowed Kaypakkaya to take shelter in a room but then locked the door and reported him to the military. <br /> <br />The military officers tortured Kaypakkaya under custody in Diyarbakır Prison, infamous for its brutal treatment; <br />(^_^)>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%B0brahim_Kaypakkaya <br />KGB
