Maoist insurgency in Turkey

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Maoist insurgency in Turkey" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: Updates needed past August 6, 2021. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (November 2023)

Maoist insurgency in Turkey
Date 24 April 1972 – present (52 years, 7 months and 1 day) Location Turkey, mainly in Tunceli Province Status Ongoing
Belligerents
Government of Turkey	TKP/ML TİKKO MKP-HKO-PHG Maoist Party Centre
Commanders and leaders
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (2014–present) Yaşar Güler (2023–present) Metin Gürak (2023–present) Ali Yerlikaya (2023–present) Former: Abdullah Gül (2007–14) Ahmet Necdet Sezer (2000–07) Süleyman Demirel (1993–2000) Turgut Özal (1989–93) Kenan Evren (1980–89) Fahri Korutürk (1973–80) Cevdet Sunay (1972–73)	İbrahim Kaypakkaya  Süleyman Cihan † Kazım Çelik † Mehmet Demirdağ † Cüneyt Kahraman † Cafer Cangöz † Nubar Ozanyan †
Units involved
Turkish Armed Forces Turkish Land Forces Turkish Air Force Turkish Naval Forces Turkish Gendarmerie JİTEM Special Forces Command General Directorate of Security Riot Police Police Special Operation Department Ministry of Foreign Affairs National Defense Ministry of the Interior
Strength
Unknown	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

The Maoist insurgency in Turkey, referred by the Maoists as the People's War (Turkish: Halk savaşı), is an ongoing low-level insurgency in eastern Turkey between the Turkish government and Maoist rebels that began in the early 1970s. The insurgency declined in the late 1980s and 1990s and has been sidelined by the larger Kurdish–Turkish conflict (1978–present). Low-level armed attacks continue to be carried out by Maoist insurgent groups, the most significant of which are the Liberation Army of the Workers and Peasants of Turkey (TİKKO) (the armed wing of the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist–Leninist) and the People's Liberation Army (HKO) and People's Partisan Forces (PHG), both armed wings of the Maoist Communist Party.