The Turkish Communist Labor Party/Leninist (TKEP/L) is an extremist, communist terror group.  The group was founded in September 1990 as a splinter group of the banned Turkish Communist Labor Party (TKEP), a part of the broader extremist Communist movement in Turkey.  Like most leftist Turkish groups, the TKEP/L believes that Turkey is a fascist state supported by imperialist, capitalist Western powers.  The group views its violent struggle against Turkey as part of a broader socialist revolutionary movement.  The group's political agenda also actively supports Kurdish nationalism.  Other than its overall political program, little is known about the TKEP/L, its leaders, or its composition.

The TKEP/L has focused its armed activities against Turkish government and military targets.  The group has typically used low-level tactics in its attacks and has been only intermittently active since its founding in 1990.  In the past several years, some imprisoned members of TKEP/L have generated press coverage in Turkey by staging "death fasts" to protest their imprisonment.

Maoist Communist Party, Maoist Komunist Partisi, People's Liberation Army, Turkish Communist Party/Marxist Leninist, Turkish Workers' and Peasants' Liberation Army

The Turkish Communist Party/Marxist-Leninist (TKP/ML) is a communist, anti-Western, extremist group.  The TKP/ML and its armed wing, the Turkish Workers' and Peasants' Liberation Army (TIKKO), are among the myriad communist extremist groups operating within Turkey.  The group was founded in 1972 by Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, an active member of the Turkish left, when he broke away from the Turkish Revolutionary Workers' and Peasants' Party (TIIKP), a subgroup of the broad Turkish Communist movement.  Like most Turkish leftist groups, the TKP/ML-TIKKO couched its anti-government and anti-Western rhetoric and activities within a broader socialist revolutionary context.  The group has also long been an advocate of the Kurdish independence movement, but TKP/ML is very explicit that this is due to a commitment to freedom as opposed to support of nationalism.<p><p>Other than the general ideology of the TKP/ML-TIKKO, little is known about this relatively obscure group.  While Kaypakkaya died in 1973 in a Turkish prison after being captured by Turkish forces, TKP/ML-TIKKO continued to operate throughout the 1970s and 1980s.  There is considerable fluidity among Turkish Communist groups, and it appears that the group has spawned many smaller splinter groups.