[1] On 1 May 1976 the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK) organized a rally at Taksim Square with mass participation.
[2] Rumours that Labour Day 1977 would involve clashes between different leftist parties were circulated by the Turkish press before the rally, once again organized by DISK.
[notes 2] Fahrettin Erdoğan, the press advisor for DISK, concluded that these names taken together would raise the death toll to 42.
[8] Similarly the lawyer Rasim Öz alleged that he had shot a film of the incident showing many things including the snipers on the roof of the Water Supply Company.
[7] Hope of legal recourse finally fizzled out due to the statute of limitations; a deliberate tack by the culprits, according to Öz.
[9] Ever since the Taksim Square Massacre, the fact that none of the perpetrators were caught and brought to justice has fueled allegations that the Turkish branch of Operation Gladio, the Counter-Guerrilla, was involved.
But in a confidential letter Demirel sent to Ecevit, he warned his rival that he might become the victim of the same circles, if he would speak at Taksim Square on 3 June 1977.
After the incident, Ali Kocaman, chair of the trade union Oleyis, stated that police officers and Americans had been in the Sheraton (later known as the Intercontinental) Hotel that had been closed to the public for that day.
[7] Bülent Uluer, the then Secretary General of the Revolutionary Youth Federation (Turkish: Devrimci Gençlik) said on 2 May 1977: "Most victims were among us.
Ecevit declared he suspected Counter-Guerrilla's involvement in the 1977 Taksim Square massacre in Istanbul, The next year, the demonstrators were met with bullets.
This mode of operation recalls the June 20, 1973 Ezeiza massacre in Buenos Aires, when the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (aka Triple A), founded by José López Rega (a P2 member), opened up fire on the left-wing Peronists.
The Sheraton Hotel, from which the shots were fired, belonged to ITT Corporation, which had already been involved in financing the September 11, 1973 coup against Salvador Allende in Chile and was on good terms with the CIA.