This is how the leadership of the Revolutionary Left (Devrimci Sol) evaluate the massacre.
“Our movement experienced the violence of the counter-revolution for the first time in a very striking way on July 12, 1991.
On July 12, we lost ten comrades, and on July 14, two more. From our cadres to sympathizers, everyone was deeply shaken… Our military and political bases were raided, many documents fell into enemy hands, and it became uncertain which of our connections had been compromised. The enemy continued its attacks with full force to destroy our movement, launching operations. Our martyrs, who created the war, were teaching us.
It was our duty to learn war by teaching it, and to expand it. The enemy would resort to even greater massacres; beyond the murder of revolutionary pioneers, they would massacre our people en masse. In this sense, July 12 was not only an operation against our movement, but a warning to all revolutionary democratic forces. (…)
July 12, 1991… Despite its demagoguery about peace, democracy, and human rights, U.S. imperialism revealed all its savagery through its attack on the people of Iraq, and to clean up the aftermath, it was sending President Bush to our country.
Niyazi and our other martyrs were preparing a campaign to “welcome” Bush. The collaborationist oligarchy wanted to ensure Bush could move freely in our homeland by murdering our comrades on the night of July 12.
They knew— No other organization except Revolutionary Left (Devrimci Sol) would disturb or confront imperialism. The target had to be Revolutionary Left. Niyazi and nine of our comrades were martyred. Just as the oligarchy planned, Bush moved around freely, unchallenged.
(…)
A new chapter opened: Revolutionary Left and Imperialism…
The martyrs of July 12 and imperialism began to be remembered together. U.S. imperialism and the oligarchy declared Revolutionary Left the most dangerous enemy. Our comrades had died, but they were not defeated. They showed the whole world that one cannot be a revolutionary or make a revolution without fighting imperialism. With their refusal to surrender and their spirit of resistance, they showed that our war would continue.
A new phase was beginning: War and Us…
Imperialism and Us…
Fascism and Us…
We would face each other until victory.
Revolutionary Left’s independent identity and its determination in the face of imperialism and fascism created July 12. In this regard, July 12 was a declaration of war against imperialism and fascism, and the determination of a future. The spirit and personality of Revolutionary Left commanded that the fallen martyrs be quickly replaced and the war be reignited.
While the oligarchy’s officials were celebrating, they were also afraid. We recovered our losses. We continued to escalate the war.
Imperialism and fascism could not divert us from our revolutionary path with July 12. The whole world saw this truth.
Those who said Revolutionary Left would never recover began to believe it could not be destroyed.
Our comrades were martyred, Bush walked freely in our country on July 13, but within a few months, American imperialist bases were once again our targets. All the oligarchy’s demagoguery was shattered, and our revolutionary war continued. The new world order could not subdue us, nor stop our war.
With our ideological and organizational independence, we emerged victorious from this war. The owners of this victory are our martyrs.”
(From: “Against Imperialism and the Oligarchy – Liberation”, Issue 22 / M. Ali Baran)
The first condition for turning defeat into victory is persistence in war.
It means continuing the war without fear of losses, willing to pay the price. The condition for turning defeat into victory is trust in ideology. No blow, no operation can destroy a correct ideology. The condition for turning defeat into victory is learning war through war—extracting lessons.
What Is Victory, What Is Defeat?
Who Lives, Who Dies?
In the truest sense, victory and defeat hinge on whether one accepts the enemy’s will or not.
In war, two wills clash. Victory or defeat is determined by which will prevails.
“Even under conditions of clear enemy superiority—and even when the enemy determines the form, place, and time of battle—victory is still possible. Victory is not submitting to the enemy; especially in such moments, it is about not accepting the enemy’s will. With this unyielding stance, by not surrendering our will to the enemy, we can raise the flag of victory even in torture chambers, in prison cells, or in strongholds surrounded from all sides. (…)
The enemy’s tactical military superiority may enable it to annihilate our comrades in an ambush, but as long as our comrades resist, this can never be considered a defeat. As a matter of fact, on July 12–14, our comrades were annihilated by the enemy—but they were never defeated”. (July 1991, Revolutionary Left)
THERE IS NO DEATH FOR US!
July 12, 1991, is not only a turning point for Revolutionary Left, but for all peoples of Turkey and all revolutionaries. July 12 marked the beginning of a new phase in the oligarchy’s war against the people. It was the open declaration that the enemy would now pursue a more visible, broader war as its new policy.
So much so that the enemy didn’t even know the names of the comrades it killed. But for them, the “names” didn’t matter. What mattered was extinguishing the hope for revolution and the claim to power.
July 12 was both a massacre and a resistance, in which the reality of war was exposed in all its rawness. However, in the context of that time, this reality was not perceived as such by the public—or especially by the left. The left viewed the events more as a “blood feud” between the oligarchy and Revolutionary Left, or as some said, a “duel,” and naturally saw itself outside of it. Yet the war was one between the oligarchy and the peoples of Turkey.
That the war manifested itself in the practice of Revolutionary Left was because it was Revolutionary Left that stood on the frontlines and sustained the battle. It was Revolutionary Left that dealt serious blows to the oligarchy, continued the struggle with a perspective of seizing power, and building the armed power of the people. In that sense, the war was inevitably going to appear as one between Revolutionary Left and the oligarchy—and of course, Revolutionary Left would be the oligarchy’s first target.
Those who failed to see or grasp the reality of war could not produce the politics required by the moment. And those who saw it but lacked the political belief and determination to pay its price were in the same situation. That is why, from July 12 to today, while Revolutionary Left and the Front have continued to grow despite being the main target of annihilation policies, those merely brushed by the winds of oligarchic terror were blown about in every direction, unable to hold firm, trapped in a sterile cycle that could only be described as a struggle for mere existence.
July 12 Was a Political Victory!
Because despite all the enemy’s annihilation operations, the continuity of the struggle was maintained; not for a moment was there a retreat from the war or the claim to power. That is political victory.
Political victory means being able to progress toward the goal of continuing the war as a party by filling the places of their martyrs—and they succeeded. They continued their revolutionary march and created the Party–Front.
That is why July 12 was not a date that derailed them, but one that illuminated their path and gave them strength and carried hope for the oppressed people.
EVERY DEFEAT TURNED INTO VICTORY IS A DEFEAT FOR THE ENEMY
There is no record in history of a war being waged and won without losses or defeats.
Such a thing would be contrary to the nature of class war, to the character of the state, power, ruling classes, imperialism, the oligarchy—and to the truth of the people.
People have carried out all their national and class liberation struggles through many defeats and setbacks. They paid heavy prices and still reached victory.
That is why, in the flow of history, the ability to turn defeats into victories has been one of the most crucial measures of reaching success—for peoples and revolutionary organizations alike.
To the extent that peoples have been able to replace their losses and turn defeats into victories in their wars against ruling classes, they have made victory possible.
The Party–Front tradition is also the tradition of turning defeats into victories.
Its manifesto is Kızıldere, the name of the village where the founder of Party-Front Mahir Cayan and his nine comrades were besieged; they refused to surrender and clashed against a Turkish military; fell martyr following an anti-imperialist action and even though they were physically destroyed; their legacy and struggle still lives in the land of Anatolia.
