POLICE RAID LEFTISTS IN TEN ISTANBUL NEIGHBORHOODS

UNCLAS ISTANBUL 002145 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PGOV TU SUBJECT: POLICE RAID LEFTISTS IN TEN ISTANBUL NEIGHBORHOODS ¶1. (SBU) On the afternoon and evening of December 7, Turkish National Police (TNP) counter-terrorism (CT) units raided 10 addresses in Istanbul's Gazi, Kucukcekmece, Gultepe, Okmeydani, Umraniye, Kartal, Sultanbeyli and Kucuk Armutlu neighborhoods, arresting 20 suspects following a six month investigation. During the police action in the Gazi neighborhood, leftists reportedly gathered around a Alevi religious center (Cemevi),built a makeshift barricade and threw Molotov cocktails at police. The group was dispersed by police but only after they overturned and set on fire two cars. ¶2. (SBU) The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) is a militant Marxist-Leninist party. It was originally formed in 1978 as a splinter faction of Devrimci Yol (Revolutionary Way),a splinter from the Turkish People's Liberation Party - Front (THKP-C),itself a splinter from Dev Genc. The group holds an anti-U.S., anti-NATO position and considers the Turkish government to be under the control of Western (U.S.) imperialism. They seek the violent overthrow of the Turkish state. DHKP/C assassinated two U.S. military peronnel in 1991 and wounded an Air Force officer. On January 9, 1996, the group assassinated prominent Turkish businessman Ozdemir Sabanci and two others. In February 2006, Fehriye Erdal was convicted in Belgium in connection with the Sabanci assassination. While under house arrest following conviction, she escaped. ¶3. (SBU) Simultaneous police raids in multiple neighborhoods are unusual. These raids may be partially in response to DHKP/C attacks on neighborhood bars and "centers of gambling and prostitution" that took place on September 22 in Kucukcekmece and other Istanbul neighborhoods. At the time of the attacks on the bars, DHKP/C called for "collective resistance movements" against "nationalist mafia gangs" who they view as "collaborators with the oligarchy." Turks 35 and older have bitter memories of the street clashes between the extreme left and right of the 1970s. Alevis are frequently associated with left wing political parties, but not necessarily extremists. JONES