TRIBUTES were paid to revolutionaries Deniz Gezmis, Yusuf Aslan and Huseyin Inan across Turkey today, with activities marking the 48^th anniversary of their execution by the state amid calls not to whitewash their memory.

The trio were part of Turkey’s so-called “’68 generation” and seen as part of the wave of radical politics that was sweeping the world at the time.

They were arrested in March 1971 following the kidnap of four US soldiers who were stationed in Ankara. A court charged them with attempting to “overthrow the constitutional order” and recommended the death sentence, which at that time needed to be approved by parliament.

Despite a successful appeal to the Constitutional Court, parliament sat again and reaffirmed the death sentence. They were hanged on May 6 1972.

They remain iconic figures for the left and others in Turkey, with many saying “they belong to us all.” Their execution came after a military coup and was a pivotal moment for leftist politics in the country.

The legacy of Gezmis in particular is a contested one. The Republican Peoples’ Party (CHP) paid tribute to the slain revolutionary, who led Kemalist marches in Turkey, claiming him to be a proud supporter of Ataturk.

Others point to his supposed promotion of Kemalist ideology, particularly in his articles and speeches, while downplaying his commitment to revolutionary politics.

Gezmis was a founding member of the People’s Liberation Army of Turkey (THKO), an organisation committed to armed struggle which itself split many times and which saw subsequent splits among its successor organisations.

Some of those dissolved altogether while others embraced legally constituted politics, abandoning revolution and disavowing armed struggle.

Writing on the ETHA newswire, political commentator Mustafa Oner said it was important to learn from the trio known as “the saplings” and not to whitewash their memory.

“Kemalist-nationalist-fascist social chauvinist circles” cannot trace a qualitative line between their ideology and that of Deniz Gezmis, he explained.

But he added that neither can “legalist, liberal left, parliamentarians and reformists” peddle a myth that he was “a handsome, charismatic, excited, adventurous-living innocent teenager. He didn’t kill anyone etc.”

Attempts to soften the politics of both Gezmis and his comrades are futile, according to Mr Oner, who insisted they were revolutionaries that were committed to the armed struggle and the liberation of the oppressed.

The Peoples’ Democratic Party led tributes today saying “millions have walked the bright path they have opened for us."

“The dignity and firm stance of Deniz and his friends in the struggle for freedom, equality and justice, and their cries for the brotherhood of the Kurds and the Turks have not been forgotten.

“From where we stand, not giving up the struggle for a democratic, free and fair Turkey, to keep fighting for the people to live in equal conditions is the best way to honour their memory.”