Deniz Gezmiş and his associates were executed 45 years ago this week
The execution of three Turkish left-wing activists was commemorated on its 45th anniversary by the Day-Mer community centre in Wood Green.
A thousand people attended the event on Sunday to remember Deniz Gezmiş and his associates Hüseyin İnan and Yusuf Aslan, who were hanged in 1973.
Gezmiş’s associates Aydın Çubukçu and Mustafa Yalçıner spoke at the gathering in the Wood Green Dominion Centre while folk music was provided by Don Kipper and Canan Sağar’s group.
“45 years is not a short time,” Mr Çubukçu said. “Each May 6th is a memorial when the commitment to them becomes even stronger. The ‘Deniz’s of this world are remembered every May 6th around the globe.”
He continued: “They may have been loved because of their fairy tale and charismatic characters, but they are in fact important because of the strength they gave to our struggle and their leadership in every step we take towards the future.
“That is why they are immortal.”
Also present was Steve Hedley, deputy general secretary of the RMT union, who paid tribute to Deniz Gezmiş and his associates’ anti-capitalist fight.
Gezmiş was a Turkish Marxist-Leninist revolutionary and political activist in Turkey in the late 1960s.
He was convicted of attempting to overthrow Turkey’s “constitutional order” after kidnapping for US privates based at the American base in Ankara.
He was executed by hanging alongside counterparts İnan and Aslan in 1973.