Turkey – TKP/ML Political Prisoners: Greetings to Those Who Have Kept Hope and the Struggle Alive for 54 Years!
We hereby share an unofficial translation of the statement from Political Prisoners of the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist (TKP/ML) published by Yeni Demokrasi on 24th of April.
The heavy burden of millennia rests on our shoulders. We dream of a new world along a fine, sharp line. We defy both death and oppression…
“We have nothing to hide
We have come to this day through an open defiance
Having passed through long marches and fire,
Through many sieges
We have come through countless bullets…”
We learned dialectical historical materialism from Marx, who, as the revolutionary interpreter of dialectics, taught us that the essential is change. Embodying the audacity of those who “stormed the heavens” in Paris, we experienced the proletariat’s seizure of power through the October Revolution under Lenin’s guidance. From Mao, who taught us how to set fire to the prairie that engulfs the masses and liberate them. Drawing strength from the knowledge, accumulated experience, and lessons of the proletarian revolutions we were part of, we took our place in history with the fire we lit in April 1972.
The fire lit by our leader Ibrahim in April 1972 with great boldness and enthusiasm was the highest-level contribution to the wave of uprisings among the world’s peoples. His wisdom, rooted in Chairman Mao, the Chinese Revolution, and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, has been the source of the great river flowing to this day.
Today we find ourselves in a time when ash is tested by fire, fire by ice, salt by ice, and reason by lies. And guided by the science of MLM, we kindle that great fire by taking refuge in the “revolutionary nature of truth” and by believing in and trusting the creative power of the masses.
In these conditions of destruction, chaos, and crisis that we are currently facing, it is only through the organized and united struggle led by our Party—our strength and our only hope—that the masses will wage the decisive battle. Only then will history’s verdict be carried out, and the death sentence on imperialist and bourgeois-feudal reactionary systems be executed.
We know our path is long, and our underground rivers continue to grow. And with our experience spanning more than half a century, we pull the trigger in our hearts to unleash the earth-shaking force of the people, driving our bodies into new battles…
Greetings to those who have grown hope and struggle in its 54th year!
Long live our Party, the TKP/ML, and the TİKKO and TMLGB under its leadership!
April 2026
TKP/ML Political Prisoners
