No Surrender

"Surrender! Surrender!" shouted the Turkish commando colonel through a loudspeaker. The only answer from the small band of terrorists who were holed up in a shack near the mountainous Turkish village of Kizildere was a volley of gunfire and abuse. The guerrillas were members of a small extremist organization called the Turkish People's Liberation Army. Late last month, they had kidnaped three NATO radar technicians from a nearby Turkish air force base, and were holding them as hostages for the lives of three other terrorists who have been sentenced to die for the kidnaping-murder of an Israeli diplomat last year.

The government of Turkish Prime Minister Nihat Erim agreed to have a court review of the death sentence. In a daylong confrontation with the terrorists, Interior Minister Ferit Kubat tried to talk them into surrendering. Finally, the guerrillas shoved one hostage in front of a window. "These fellows won't listen to anything," he cried. "They are going to kill us."

He was right. One hour later, while some of the terrorists created a diversion by firing on the surrounding troops and tossing out hand grenades, others coldly executed the three hostages --John Law, 25, a Canadian, and two Britons, Gordon Banner, 35, and Charles Turner, 45. Moments later 800 Turkish troops opened fire on the shack with rockets, rifles and tear gas. Ten terrorists died in the fusillade; the only survivor was later captured by police.

In a display of sympathy for the gunned-down terrorists, Marxist groups set off bombs in Istanbul, and university students in Ankara boycotted classes. The Turkish army proceeded to round up 40 suspected guerrilla ringleaders. So far, in a crackdown on left-wing terrorism, nearly 1,500 people have been arrested or placed on trial. Last week's shootout seemed likely to make that crackdown even tougher.

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