Revolutionary People's Liberation Front

aka Devrimci Sol, Dev Sol, Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Partisi-Cephesi

The Revolutionary People's Liberation Front (DHKP/C), also known as Dev Sol (Revolutionary Left), was formed in 1978 as an offshoot of the Turkish People's Liberation Party/Front. Today, the DHKP/C is the most active of the left-wing Marxist-Leninist terrorist groups in Turkey. With intensely xenophobic roots, the group is both anti-United States and anti-North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and wants communist social order in Turkey.

According to Turkish sources, Dev Sol assassinated many Turkish officials and the country's former prime minister, Nihat Erim. After this, Dev Sol did not step up its efforts until the late 1980s, when the group attacked Turkish security and military officials. In 1990, the group focused its attention on foreigners in or around Turkey, and in the ensuing two years, Dev Sol murdered two U.S. military contractors, wounded a U.S. Air Force officer, and launched rockets at a U.S. consulate in Istanbul, all in retaliation for U.S. involvement in the Persian Gulf War.

On July 12, 1991, eleven Dev Sol terrorists were killed during a string of Turkish National Police (TNP) raids in Istanbul. As such, the date July 11 has become a hostile DHKP/C anniversary of sorts; for the next two years on that date the group attempted attacks on U.S. targets in Turkey.

After some infighting in 1994, the group changed their name to DHKP/C (Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Partisi-Cephesi). In its first major act under their new moniker, DHKP/C murdered a prominent Turkish businessman. In response to the growing terrorism problem, the Turkish government conducted raids against Dev Sol safe houses and enacted new anti-terrorist legislation. Largely because of such raids, DHKP/C attacks have decreased significantly since 1991. In light of some failed attempts at forming an alliance with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), another of Turkey's active terrorist groups, it is thought that support for the DHKP/C could be waning.

The group's leader, Dursun Karatas, was arrested and jailed in 1980, where he remained for nearly 10 years. He escaped from jail and fled to Europe, but in the mid-1990s was arrested by French authorities. He served a minimal jail term there, but was never extra-dited to Turkey; it is believed he lives in Europe.

In June 1999, Turkish officials circumvented a DHKP/C attempted assault on the U.S. consulate during a presidential visit to Istanbul. And thanks to more counterterrorist raids and arrests by the Turkish police in past years, the ranks of DHKP/C have weakened significantly. It is believed that the group has several hundred members. They conduct their attacks in Turkey, primarily in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, and Adana, and fund themselves through robberies, extortion, and with help from sympathizers in Western Europe.