Mihri Belli (December 1915 – 16 August 2011) was a prominent leader of the

socialist movement The history of socialism has its origins in the Age of Enlightenment and the 1789 French Revolution, along with the changes that brought, although it has precedents in earlier movements and ideas. ''The Communist Manifesto'' was written by Karl ...

in Turkey. He fought for the communist side in the

Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War () took place from 1946 to 1949. The conflict, which erupted shortly after the end of World War II, consisted of a Communism, Communist-led uprising against the established government of the Kingdom of Greece. The rebels decl ...

. Belli was repeatedly prosecuted and sentenced to prison for his political views, and was altogether imprisoned for 11 years, and forced into exile for another 18. Belli wrote several influential books on the Turkish left and was, for many years, a source of inspiration for leftist Turkish youths.

Early life

Belli was born in 1916 in

Silivri Silivri, formerly Selymbria (Greek language, Greek: Σηλυμβρία), is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its population is 217,163 (2022). It lies along the Sea of Marmara, outsi ...

, then in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, to Mahmut Hayrettin Bey, later a prominent leader of the

Turkish War of Independence , strength1 = May 1919: 35,000November 1920: 86,000Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225August 1922: 271,000Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarih ...

Urfa Urfa, officially called Şanlıurfa (), is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. The city was known as Edessa from Hellenistic period, Hellenistic times and into Christian times. Urfa is situated on a plain abo ...

. He was educated at

Robert College The American Robert College of Istanbul ( or ), often abbreviated as Robert or RC, is a Selective school, highly selective, Independent school, independent, mixed-sex education, co-educational, Education in Turkey#Private schools, private Second ...

in Istanbul, and in 1936 went on to study economics at the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (Epithet, byname Ole Miss) is a Public university, public research university in University, near Oxford, Mississippi, United States, with a University of Mississippi Medical Center, medical center in Jackson, Miss ...

in the United States. There he was introduced to

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

thought and revolutionary action. He took part in the activities of the civil rights movement in

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

Return to Turkey

Belli returned to Turkey in 1940, where he joined the outlawed Communist Party of Turkey (TKP). Turkey was at the time under a one-party regime. The government, under the influence of the German advances in the initial years of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, had abandoned its policy of friendship with the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The only opposition party in Turkey in these days was the underground TKP. Belli, after returning to Turkey, contacted the outlawed party via his elementary-school friend David Nea, who was the party secretary for

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

at the time. Belli became a member of the central committee of the TKP in 1942. He served as assistant professor with professor

Fritz Neumark Fritz Neumark (20 July 1900 in Hanover – 9 March 1991 in Baden-Baden) was a German economist. He made important contributions to the development of education in the preparation of the income tax laws of economics in Turkey. Early life He was b ...

at the Faculty of Economics of

Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

in the years 1943–1944. There he was among the founders and organizers of the ''İlerici Gençler Birliği'' (Progressive Youth Union). In 1944 he was arrested for these activities and sentenced to two years imprisonment and exile.

Greek Civil War

Belli left Turkey in 1946, and joined the

as a guerrilla fighter on the communist side. He rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the

Democratic Army of Greece The Democratic Army of Greece (DAG; , ΔΣΕ; ''Dimokratikós Stratós Elládas'', DSE) was the army founded by the Communist Party of Greece during the Greek Civil War (1946–1949). At its height, it had a strength of around 50,000 men and w ...

. He was wounded twice in battle, and was treated in

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

and the

. In 1950 he was imprisoned in Turkey for a short while for entry without a passport and illegal possession of a handgun. Shortly after his release, he was imprisoned again in 1951 in a wave of TKP arrests. This time he was sentenced to seven years in prison and two years and four months of forced relocation. A documentary about his time in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, entitled "''Καπετάν Κεμάλ, ο σύντροφος''" ("Captain Kemal, A Comrade";

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

title "''Kaptan Kemal, Bir Yoldaş''") was made by the prominent

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

filmmaker Fotos Lamprinos.

Turkish revolutionary movement

During the 1960s, Belli could write and speak without having to use an alias. Nevertheless, also in that period he served prison time for various articles and speeches. He was part of the group who published the revolutionary magazines ''Türk Solu'' and '' Aydınlık Sosyalist Dergi''. Expelled from the TKP, he joined the newly formed Workers Party of Turkey (TİP). At this time, he developed his well-known thesis known as ''Milli Demokratik Devrim'' (National Democratic Revolution), abbreviated MDD. In 1964 Mihri Belli joined weekly ''

Yön ''Yön'' () was a weekly Turkish political magazine published between 1961 and 1967. It was a Kemalist and leftist magazine. In fact, ''Yön'' was more than a publication in that its contributors represented a political movement in the 1960s, Yö ...

'' magazine. With his friends, Belli contacted

Deniz Gezmiş Deniz Gezmiş (, 27 February 1947 – 6 May 1972) was a Turkish Marxist-Leninist revolutionary, student leader, and political activist in Turkey in the late 1960s. He was one of the founding members of the People's Liberation Army of Turkey ...

and

Mahir Çayan Mahir Çayan (15 March 1946 – 30 March 1972) was a Turkish communist revolutionary and the leader of People's Liberation Party-Front of Turkey ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Halk Kurtuluş Partisi-Cephesi''). He was a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary ...

, who were at the time leaders of the youth movement amassing popular support. The ideas of MDD quickly gained prominence among the leftist youth movement; it became the main theoretical framework for most of the leftist groups that flourished in Turkey in that period and played a key role in the '68 movement in Turkey, giving it a Marxist and revolutionary characteristic. Mihri Belli left Turkey after the 1971 military coup to avoid arrest, and was for a while a guest of the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...

. He returned to Turkey briefly, en route to Western Europe. There he stayed for a while and helped with the magazine ''Yurtsever'' (Patriot). He returned to Turkey when the centre-left

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...

(CHP) under

Bülent Ecevit Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (; 28 May 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in 197 ...

emerged as the largest party in the

1973 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1973. Africa * 1973 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1973 Equatorial Guinean legislative election * 1973 Ethiopian general election * 1973 Gabonese general election * 1973 Republic of the Congo con ...

. After the amnesty of 1974, he founded the Labour Party of Turkey (TEP) in 1975. Immediately after the founding of the party, the prosecutor's office of the

Martial Law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

Court took notice and demanded the removal of the word ''

Kurd Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

'' from the party program and other documents. The

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

banned the TEP for demanding equal rights for Kurds. In 1979, Belli faced an assassination attempt in which he was severely injured. After the 1980 military coup, he left for the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. From there he moved to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, where he followed the Kurdish movement closely until he returned to Turkey in 1992. In 1997 he met with

Abdullah Öcalan Abdullah Öcalan ( ; ; born 4 April 1948 or 1949), also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in Turkish; Kurdish for "uncle"), is a founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Öcalan was based in Syria from 1979 to 1998. He ...

, and they came to the common conclusion that a solution to the

Kurdish issue Kurdish nationalism () is a nationalist political movement which asserts that Kurds are a nation and espouses the creation of an independent Kurdistan from Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Early Kurdish nationalism had its roots in the Ottoman ...

under the umbrella of a

unitarian state A unitary state is a (sovereign) state governed as a single entity in which the central government is the supreme authority. The central government may create or abolish administrative divisions (sub-national or sub-state units). Such units exer ...

, instead of a federative solution, was possible on the basis of equality and voluntary union. The report of this meeting was later published in book form. In 1996 Belli participated in the founding of the

Freedom and Solidarity Party The Left Party (, often written as SOL Parti) is a secular, socialist political party in Turkey. The Party was founded after the Freedom and Solidarity Party () decided to change its name to the Left Party at the 8th Extraordinary Congress held ...

(ÖDP), and that of the

Socialist Democracy Party Socialist Democracy Party (''Sosyalist Demokrasi Partisi'', SDP) was a socialist party in Turkey. Most of its members were formerly in an opposition grouping within ÖDP, named ''Sosyalist Eylem Platformu'' (Socialist Action Platform). They def ...

(SDP) in 2002. He was a candidate for member of parliament for Istanbul in the

2002 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2002. * 2002 Bahraini parliamentary election * 2002 Comorian presidential election * 2002 East Timorese presidential election * 2002 Fijian municipal election * 2002 Hong Kong Chief Executive election * ...

. In 2005, the portraits Belli had made 50 years earlier, while in prison, were presented in an exhibition "Lines From Prison". Together with several other founding members he resigned from the SDP in 2007 and took part in the 2008 founding of the Workers' Socialist Party (''İşçilerin Sosyalist Partisi''), better known by the shortened name Socialist Party (''Sosyalist Parti''), along with others who left.

Death

Mihri Belli died in his home in

from respiratory distress on 16 August 2011. He was laid to rest in

Feriköy Cemetery The Feriköy Cemetery () is a burial ground situated in Feriköy quarter of Şişli district in the European part of Istanbul, Turkey. It is administered by the Metropolitan Municipality. Many prominent figures from the world of politics, sport ...

following a religious funeral service held at

Şişli Mosque The Şişli Mosque () is a mosque located in Şişli Square between the Büyükdere Avenue, the Halaskargazi and Abide-i Hürriyet streets in the Şişli district of Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey. Due to lack of any mosque in Şişli, which got in ...

. He was an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belli, Mihri 1915 births 2011 deaths Politicians from Istanbul Communist Party of Turkey (historical) politicians Workers' Party of Turkey politicians Turkish atheists Turkish socialists Turkish revolutionaries Turkish Marxists Robert College alumni University of Mississippi alumni Democratic Army of Greece personnel Prisoners and detainees of Turkey Deaths from respiratory failure Burials at Feriköy Cemetery 20th-century Turkish politicians 21st-century Turkish politicians