Ertuğrul Kürkçü in the Parliament with "Ten Red Carnations"

Ertuğrul Kürkçü, who was elected as an independent MP from Mersin at the June 2011 general elections, attended the opening of the parliament wearing a badge of ten carnations in remembrance of his 10 comrades who were killed 39 years ago in Kızıldere village of Blacksea region.

After taking his oath Kürkçü put his right hand onto the "Ten Red Carnations" badge on his left chest.

The MPs from the Labor, Democracy and Freedom bloc had refused to take MP oath and attend the parliamentary sessions until the elect MPs who were in jail had been released. After the bloc's meeting on September 28, Selahattin Demirtaş announced that they have decided to attend the parliament.

The bloc reasoned their decision as follows:

"To defend the peace in the face of war, to better keep the promise we'd given to the citizens of Turkey and to all the repressed communities, to strengthen the resistance front against the political operations, to contribute to the struggle to free Hatip Dicle and all other detained politicians, to expose the hypocritical approach of the ones who mock the people's will, to backspace AKP in spite of AKP, and as a political act of resistance we decided to take our seats at the parliament".

Kürkçü was surrounded by the journalists afterwards, in the parliament's garden. When asked the meaning of the badge by a journalist he replied "If you do not know, you are not a journalist".

After the coup d'etat of  March 12, 1971 many revolutionists had been arrested and tried. Of them 3 leaders were sentenced to death. 11 of their comrades went out to the suburbs to devise a plan to prevent the executions. They kidnapped the British NATO technicians from their home on March 26 March 1972.

The military pursued the clues and went to the village of Kızıldere, where the mukhtar handed an information letter revealing their whereabouts - his own house. The military surrounded the house and the village and after a while wanted to negotiate. While they were up at the roof for negotiations, the military opened fire on them. It turned into a massacre, killing all except Ertugrul Kürkçü who had hid in the barn next door.

Kürkçü was arrested the next day and sentenced to death. His sentence was later commuted to 30 years. He was released in 1986 after staying in jail for 14 years.

The three revolutionists -Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan - were killed by hanging on May 6, 1972.

Ertuğrul Kürkçü is a journalist and co-founder of bianet.(HK/ÖD)

* To view Ertuğrul Kürkçü taking the oath click.