Deniz Gezmiş, was born in 1947 in Ayaş, Turkey. His father, Cemil Gezmiş, was an inspector of primary education and a syndicalist and his mother, Mukaddes Gezmiş, was a primary school teacher. He grew up in the town of Sivas and studied in various cities. He first encountered left wing ideas and took interest in Marxist-Leninist movements in a high school in Istanbul from which he graduated.
In 1966, he studied law in Instanbul University after joining the Workers Party of Turkey (which later on inspired the Kurdistan's Workers Party, the PKK). He was the founder of several left wing youth organisations in 1968, like the Revolutionary Jurists Organisation and the Revolutionary Student Union. Him and his companions lead the blockade and occupation of Istanbul University in June 1968, which ended forcibly. He later on lead protests against imperialism and against the arrival of the US military (6th fleet), resulting in his arrest in July 1968 and served 3 months in prison.
He then became increasingly active with the Workers Party of Turkey, advocating a National Democratic Revolution. His ideas started spreading and spiked a revolutionary atmosphere in Turkey. He participated in the protest of US ambassador Robert Komer's visit, for which he was once again arrested and released. He was arrested a third time in March 1969, for being involved in an armed conflict opposing left-wing and right-wing. After being released in April 1969, he went off to lead the law students of Istanbul University to protest against the reformation bill in May 1969. He was injured during the protest and was taken to hospital. Even though he was under surveillance, he managed to escape the hospital and fled to Jordan where he received guerrilla training in Palestine Liberation Organisation camps.
Upon his return to Turkey in 1970, he became one of the founding members of the People's Liberation Army of Turkey. In January 1971, the group organised a bank robbery. Two months after that, they kidnapped 4 U.S privates belonging to the TUSLOG (The United States Logistics Group) based in Balgat, Ankara. The hostages were eventually released. However, after a stand-off with the law enforcement officiers, Deniz and his comrades, Hüseyin İnan and Yusuf Aslan were captured alive.
They were trailed and sentenced to death in October 1971 for violating the 146th article of the Turkish Criminal Code, which refers to attempts to "overthrow constitutional order". They were hung on 6th May 1972 (46 years ago from this day) in Ankara Central Prison.
Deniz Gezmiş's last request was to drink tea and listen to Joaquin Rodrigo's concierto de Aranjuez. His last words before being hung were :
Long live a fully independent Turkey! Long live the great ideology of Marxism-Leninism! Long live the Turkish and Kurdish peoples' fight for independence! Damned be imperialism! Long live the workers and the villagers!