General information
Type of Incompatibility: Government
Comment on Type of Incompatibility: The conflict in its early 1990s was a typical government conflict in one sense as the leftist Dev Sol wanted to revolt against the Turkish government and the social system. At the same time Dev Sol also pursued a parallel war against US imperialism in Turkey by attacking American military and civilian personnel stationed in Turkey. Five years after the capture of PKK’s leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999, TAK was founded, most likely by Kurds who disagreed with PKKs softening stance towards Turkey. In the beginning of 2000s, TAK became an actor in the government conflict. TAK expressed that they wanted revenge for the bad treatment towards their people (the Kurds) by the ‘fascist Turkish state’ and they would carry on their actions until the Turkish government changed its policies. In 2016 there was a coup attempt directed towards AKP, the conservative ruling party in power in Turkey since 2002. The coup makers, YSK, wanted to restore constitutional order, human rights and freedoms, the rule of law and general security.
Date of first stated goal of incompatibility: 1972-04-24
Comment on date of first stated goals of incompatibility: Devrimci Sol was formed in 1978 as a splinter faction of the Turkish Peoples Liberation Party-Front (THKP-C) and the THKP-C faction Dev Yol. Although no statement regarding the organisations goal could be found for 1978, later statements connote that Dev Sol wanted to destroy the present Turkish government and social system through a Marxist-Leninist style revolution.
Date of first use of armed force: 1980-01-01
Comment on first use of armed force: It is indeed probable that armed force was used in the interaction between the government and Dev Sol before 1980. It was not until the killing of a former prime minister in Istanbul and a former minister in Ankara in 1980 that it could be confirmed that Dev Sol had used violence.
Date of first battle related death: 1987-01-01
Comment on first battle related death: The first confirmed battle related deaths were the assassination of a former prime minister in Istanbul and a former minister in Ankara in 1987.
Date of conflict reached 25 battle releated deaths: 1991-07-13
Comment on conflict reached 25 battle releated deaths: On 13 July 1991 the Istanbul police conducted several raids on Dev Sol hideouts. As eleven Dev Sol militants were killed during the ensuing gun battles the conflict reached 25 battle-related deaths for 1991.
Annual information
This section contains annual information systematically collected by the UCDP.
1978
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 0 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
1987
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 2 |
| Best | 2 |
| Low | 0 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
1990
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 21 |
| Best | 21 |
| Low | 21 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
1991
Primary Parties: Government of Turkey - DHKP-C
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 50 |
| Best | 50 |
| Low | 50 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
1992
Primary Parties: Government of Turkey - DHKP-C
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 85 |
| Best | 85 |
| Low | 85 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
1993
Primary Parties: Government of Turkey - DHKP-C
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 44 |
| Best | 44 |
| Low | 44 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
1994
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 23 |
| Best | 23 |
| Low | 23 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
1995
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 32 |
| Best | 31 |
| Low | 31 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
1996
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 18 |
| Best | 18 |
| Low | 18 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
1997
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 14 |
| Best | 14 |
| Low | 14 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
1998
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 12 |
| Best | 9 |
| Low | 8 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
1999
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 18 |
| Best | 18 |
| Low | 18 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2000
Primary Parties: Government of Turkey - TKP-ML
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 30 |
| Best | 30 |
| Low | 30 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2001
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 17 |
| Best | 17 |
| Low | 17 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2002
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 6 |
| Best | 6 |
| Low | 6 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2003
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 12 |
| Best | 12 |
| Low | 12 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2004
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 26 |
| Best | 26 |
| Low | 26 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2005
Primary Parties: Government of Turkey - MKP
Dimension: Internal
Comment on Dimension: The Maoist Communist Party (MKP) are fighting for a "Marxist-Leninist-Maoist state" in Turkey and proletarian worldwide revolution.
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 32 |
| Best | 32 |
| Low | 32 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2006
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 1 |
| Best | 1 |
| Low | 1 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2007
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 1 |
| Best | 1 |
| Low | 1 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2008
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 3 |
| Best | 3 |
| Low | 3 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2010
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 8 |
| Best | 8 |
| Low | 8 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2011
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 5 |
| Best | 5 |
| Low | 5 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2012
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 3 |
| Best | 3 |
| Low | 3 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2014
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 1 |
| Best | 1 |
| Low | 1 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2015
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 9 |
| Best | 9 |
| Low | 9 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2016
Primary Parties: Government of Turkey - TAK, Yurtta Sulh Konseyi
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 533 |
| Best | 453 |
| Low | 453 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2017
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 17 |
| Best | 17 |
| Low | 17 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2018
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 1 |
| Best | 1 |
| Low | 1 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2019
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 2 |
| Best | 2 |
| Low | 2 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2020
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 6 |
| Best | 6 |
| Low | 6 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
2024
Primary Parties: -
Dimension: Internal
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 3 |
| Best | 3 |
| Low | 3 |
Numbers include fatalities for all dyads both active and inactive for this year
Conflict Archive
This section contains annual information no longer systematically collected by the UCDP.
1978 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
1987 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
1990 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
1991 Conflict Archive
Comment on Yearly Battle Related Deaths: During 1991 there were 39 cases of people killed that could clearly be attributed to the conflict between the government and Dev Sol. Another 14 were also killed in non-Kurdish rebel activity but in circumstances where Dev Sols involvement could not be confirmed.
Negotiations: NO
Third party involvement: NO
Victory: NO
Terminated: NO
1992 Conflict Archive
Comment on Yearly Battle Related Deaths: During 1992 there were 42 cases of people killed that could clearly be attributed to the conflict between the government and Dev Sol. Another 26 were also killed in non-Kurdish rebel activity but in circumstances where Dev Sols involvement could not be confirmed.
Negotiations: NO
Third party involvement: NO
Victory: NO
Terminated: YES
Type of termination: No or Low Activity
Date of termination: 1992-12-31
Comment on Termination: The conflict between Dev Sol and the government continued after 1992, albeit on a very low level of activity with less than 25 battle-related deaths. The reason for this seems to be the fact that there were so few Dev Sol activists not dead or imprisoned after the governments extensive operations against the group during 1992.
1993 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
1994 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
1995 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
1996 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
1997 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
1998 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
1999 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2000 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2001 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2002 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2003 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2004 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2005 Conflict Archive
Comment on Activity: 29 Battle-related deaths have been reported as a result of clashes between the Maoist Communist Party and the Turkisch Government forces.
Negotiations: NO
Third party involvement: NO
Victory: NO
Terminated: YES
Type of termination: No or Low Activity
Date of termination: 2005-12-31
2006 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2007 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2008 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2010 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2011 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2012 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2014 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2015 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2016 Conflict Archive
Comment on Activity: In 2016 the conflict between the Government of Turkey - TAK became active for the first time due to two deadly bombings targeting government posts in urban areas – one in Ankara in February causing the death of 29 people and one in Istanbul in December causing the death of 44. In the late evening of 15 July 2016, units from the Turkish armed forces, operating under the name Yurtta Suhl Konseyi (Peace at Home Council) tried to take control of the government, state institutions, national media and key points of communication in the country. The coup makers announced on national television that they had seized control and was governing Turkey. However, they were later defeated by forces loyal to the state. Around 300 people died and many government buildings, including the Parliament and Presidential Palace, were damaged.
Terminated: YES
Type of termination: No or Low Activity
Date of termination: 2016-12-31
Comment on Termination: TAK continued their fight against the government but on a low level of activity.
Yurtta Sulh Konseyi was however defeated by forces loyal to the state.
2017 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2018 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2019 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2020 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
2024 Conflict Archive
Terminated: NO
