DHKP-C Leader Dursun Karataş Dies

Leader of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party Front (DHKP-C) Dursun Karataş died at 56 in Holland from cancer for which he had been under treatment for ten years. The DHKP-C announced that Karataş died in the early morning hours of August 11.

Turkey had been asking for his extradition from Belgium, but the Anvers Court had acquitted him in February. The court had not taken into consideration Karataş’s  activities outside Belgium.

Ankara’s 9th Administrative Court had also ruled for compensation payable to Karataş, since the case against him, the case of the Revolutionary Left (Dev-Sol), dragged on for 27 years with no results. 

As Dev-Sol leader, Karataş was jailed after the military coup of September 12. He escaped Bayrampaşa Prison in Istanbul in 1989. He later lived in various European countries. In 1994, Dev-Sol decided to continue its existence as DHKP-C. (TK/EZÖ/TB)