Maoist insurgency in Turkey

Maoist insurgency in Turkey
Date	24 April 1972 – present; (53 years, 1 month, 3 weeks and 3 days)
Location	Turkey, mainly in Tunceli Province
Status	Ongoing
Belligerents
Government of Turkey	TKP/ML TİKKO; MKP; 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; Gendarmerie General Command Gendarmerie Intelligence Organization; Special Forces Command; General Directorate of Security Riot Police; Police Special Operation Department; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; National Defense; Ministry of the Interior;	Martyr Nubar Ozanyan Brigade People's Partisan Forces Dersim Regional Committee
Strength
23,500 (2008)	Unknown
Casualties and losses
	700 communist killed

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.