Who was Efraim Elrom? – The Conscience of the Left

In 1971, a man was killed in Turkey in the name of the left cause. But he was neither a colonial governor nor a dictator. He was a Holocaust survivor, a diplomat working to strengthen ties between Turkey and Israel: Efraim Elrom. Those who killed him claimed to be fighting for constitutional rights and freedoms. How can leftist values justify the killing of a human being?

In the early 1970s, leftist movements in Turkey became radicalized under the influence of the global revolutionary wave. The Cuban Revolution, anti-imperialist movements rising against the Vietnam War, and guerrilla struggles in Latin America served as inspiration for young revolutionaries in Turkey. Marxist-Leninist ideas spread rapidly among university students and the working class, while the streets were filled with student protests and labor strikes. However, with the military memorandum of March 12, 1971, the government took harsh measures to suppress revolutionary movements. Leftist groups were outlawed, their leaders were imprisoned or forced underground. In response to the increasing state repression, some leftist organizations abandoned peaceful methods and turned to armed struggle. During this period, revolutionary groups began to see themselves as guerrilla movements fighting for the “liberation of the people.” Organizations such as the Turkish People’s Liberation Army (THKO) and the Turkish People’s Liberation Party-Front (THKP-C) carried out bank robberies, attacks on military facilities, and actions against foreign diplomats under anti-American and anti-imperialist rhetoric.

During that period, and still today, Deniz Gezmiş and his comrades were iconic figures of the Turkish left. They were on trial facing the death penalty. Following the March 12, 1971 military memorandum, pressure on leftist movements increased, and the leaders of the Turkish People’s Liberation Army (THKO)—Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan, and Hüseyin İnan—were captured and sentenced to death. This decision provoked great outrage among revolutionary groups, leading Mahir Çayan, the leader of the Turkish People’s Liberation Party-Front (THKP-C), to devise a radical plan to rescue them.

Mahir Çayan and his team believed they needed leverage against the Turkish government to prevent the executions. For this reason, they aimed to kidnap an international figure, creating a situation where they could negotiate with the state. Their chosen target was Efraim Elrom, the Israeli Consul General in Istanbul at the time. Israel was perceived by leftist movements as part of imperialism and had strong military and intelligence ties with Turkey. For THKP-C, Elrom was a strategic target, both as a means of sending a political message and as a bargaining tool to push for the release of Deniz Gezmiş and his comrades.

On May 17, 1971, a group led by Mahir Çayan kidnapped Elrom. Following the abduction, THKP-C issued a statement demanding the release of Deniz Gezmiş and his comrades. However, the state firmly rejected these demands and launched a large-scale operation in Istanbul. Turkish security forces quickly began tracking THKP-C members, and a state of emergency was declared across the city. As intense searches and operations put pressure on the organization, Elrom was executed with three bullets to the head at the location where he was being held hostage.

Was Efraim Elrom truly a fitting target for the leftist movement? Absolutely not. On the contrary, Elrom was known for his anti-fascist stance. He had contributed to the prosecution of Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi officer responsible for the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust. A cause that, under different circumstances, even those who killed him and many on the left might have admired. Yet, in a tragic irony, they chose to silence a man who had fought against the very ideology they opposed. Elrom’s murder was not just a diplomatic crisis; it also exposed one of the greatest contradictions in the history of the Turkish left. As one of the first people to be killed by leftist organizations in Turkey, his death became a symbol of the deep inconsistency between the left’s rhetoric of justice and freedom and its resort to violence.

However, growing up in a leftist family in Turkey, this was not the version of the story I was told. Efraim Elrom’s murder was presented to us as a tale of revolutionary youth sacrificing a “Zionist” to save their comrades. A heroic act rather than a moral dilemma. But are we truly aware of the dangerous perception this has created?

Can a person’s worldview, ideology, or political stance justify taking their life simply because of their connection to Israel or Zionism? If so, what happens to the other values I was taught? I embraced leftist ideology for human rights, for the value of life, for peace. Yet somehow, I grew up hearing stories that glorified the killing of a man who had stood against one of history’s greatest criminals, the architect of a genocide that claimed six million lives, all in the name of opposing Zionism.

This contradiction is not just a mistake of the past; it is one of the greatest dangers of both the present and the future. If an ideology determines the worth of a human life based on identity or political affiliation, it ceases to be about justice and instead becomes a tool of blind hatred.

Has this reality changed today? No.

Anti-Zionist and anti-American rhetoric is still glorified, and any action taken in their name—right or wrong—is somehow legitimized. I see so-called leftist groups embracing radical organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas, whose ideologies stand in complete opposition to true leftist values. When Hassan Nasrallah was killed, the same Turkish leftist circles that never once acknowledged the massacres of October 7 rushed to mourn a jihadist-fascist leader.

In Turkey, Kurdish leftist parties remained silent about the Kurdish Yazidi girls held as sex slaves by Hamas, yet they had no hesitation in condemning Nasrallah’s death. This hypocrisy must end.

We should not be killing people like Efraim Elrom, we should be embracing them. The left must stand with those who fight for life, not those who destroy it. We must march alongside those who raise their children to live freely and fully, not those who raise them to die as martyrs.

With this writing, I honor Efraim Elrom once again, keeping his memory alive while hoping for a future that is more just, more compassionate, and truly humane.