Deniz Gezmiş (27 February 1947, Ankara Province, Turkey – 6 May 1972, Ankara, Turkey) was a Turkish Marxist-Leninist revolutionary and political activist in Turkey in the late 1960s. He was one of the founding members of the People's Liberation Army of Turkey (THKO).

He was born to an inspector of primary education and a syndicalist Cemil Gezmiş and a primary school teacher Mukaddes Gezmiş. He was educated in various Turkish cities. He spent most of his childhood in Sivas, where his father grew up. He graduated from high school in Istanbul where he first encountered left wing ideas. Gezmiş and companions are considered by some as "Turkey's Ché Guevara and compañeros". See:

After joining the Workers Party of Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye İşçi Partisi), he studied law at İstanbul University in 1966. In 1968, he founded the Revolutionary Jurists Organisation (Turkish: Devrimci Hukukçular Kuruluşu) and the Revolutionary Student Union (Turkish: Devrimci Öğrenci Birliği).

He became increasingly politically active, and led the student-organised occupation of İstanbul University on June 12, 1968. After the occupation was forcibly ended by the law, he spearheaded protests against the arrival of the US 6th Fleet in Istanbul. Deniz Gezmiş was arrested for these actions on July 30, 1968, to be released on October 20 of the same year.

Can Dündar (Born June 16, 1961, Ankara, Turkey) is a Turkish journalist, columnist and documentarian. He is one of the best known figures in Turkish media, described as possessing "impeccable republican credentials".

He studied journalism at Ankara University, Faculty of Political Science and graduated in 1982. He continued his education in London School of Journalism in 1986. Can Dündar received his master's degree in 1988 and earned 1996 his Ph.D. in politics from Middle East Technical University, Ankara.

He has produced many television programs for the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) and various private channels. He currently writes a column for Milliyet.

He is married to Dilek Dündar and the couple has one child. His father allegedly worked for the National Intelligence Organization.

He has been criticized for his work "Mustafa" which depicted the founder of Republic of Turkey as a regular man with his fears, passions and humanly expectations, rather than a life-size hero.

Adnan Oktar (born 1956), also known as Harun Yahya, is an author and Islamic creationist. In 2007, he sent thousands of unsolicited copies of his book, Atlas of Creation, which advocates Islamic creationism, to American scientists, members of Congress, and science museums. Oktar runs two organizations of which he is also the Honorary President: Bilim Araştırma Vakfı ("Science Research Foundation", BAV, established 1990), which promotes creationism and Milli Değerleri Koruma Vakfı ("Foundation to Protect National Values", established 1995) which claimed to promote Turkish nationalism. In the last two decades, Oktar has been involved in a number of legal cases, both as defendant and plaintiff.

Adnan Oktar was born in Ankara, Turkey, in 1956. He grew up in Ankara, and lived there through his high school years where he studied the works of Islamic scholars like Said Nursi, a Muslim Kurdish scholar who wrote Risale-i Nur, an extensive Qur'anic commentary which includes a comprehensive political and religious ideology.