It’s time to part ways – Communist Party of Türkiye

Poverty, high cost of living, unemployment, workplace murders, mobbing, injustice, decay, gambling, drugs, harassment, abuse, violence, femicide, corruption, earthquake, fire… The list is long.

Our country is facing enormous problems despite the government’s claims to the contrary. These problems cannot be explained by lack of merit, lack of education, intolerance, or the underdevelopment of our culture of compromise. There is no point in emulating the “developed” western countries and lamenting that “everything is completely different there”. Pus is flowing from all over the world, from east to west, from north to south. The filth spread from the Epstein Islands, the multinational perversion network of the world of multinational monopolies, points to a clear truth that even the most liberal, most market-oriented ideologues have difficulty denying: Capitalism is a disgusting social system and the source of all evil.

TKP calls on all segments of the working class, wage earners, retirees, the unemployed, education and health workers, white and blue collar workers, students who work and continue their education, and our intellectuals who produce ideas for the country and the people, to confront this clear reality.

1. In Türkiye today, the main and almost sole agenda of the vast majority is “making a living”. For millions of our citizens, life has become all about calculating how to make ends meet, how to pay the bills, how to pay off debts, how to suppress hunger. However, interestingly, it is almost never discussed what causes Türkiye’s most fundamental issue, the “problem of making ends meet”. However, the only reason why the majority of the population is left alone with poverty is the current social system. It is the great skill of multinational monopolies, holdings, real estate and stock market speculators to prevent the questioning of this social system dominated by capital.

2. The government portrays this situation, where a small minority is constantly getting richer and social injustice is deepening, as a “success”, while the “nice opposition” claims that the problem stems from incompetence, unqualified managers, uncouth business people or the wheel of corruption and bribery. The government is right! Because today’s social order aims to enrich a small number of people at the expense of a large segment of people who try to make a living through their labor. Every government that meets these conditions is successful in its own way. The “nice opposition” shares this success to the extent that it helps hide the source of the problem. Let’s take a shortcut: Working people on one side, capital class on the other! Their interests cannot be common.

3. The antagonism between labor and capital is not an issue for our country. The opposition between labor and capital is the most fundamental issue that determines other problems. Those who say that we should not pay much attention to this issue and postpone the solution of this issue are trying to gloss over a great theft, a great immorality, and a great injustice. However, the enlightenment of our country, which is entering deeper darkness with each passing day, depends on the solution of this fundamental issue.

4. Türkiye has come to the point of losing the Republic thanks to the AKP government. The main responsible for this destruction is the capital class, which became stronger step by step after 1923 and at some point wanted to get rid of the burden of 1923. The class that pioneered the revolutionary transformations after 1919 became the executioner of those transformations over time, and Türkiye has become this way through an uninterrupted counter-revolution process for almost half a century. Any evaluation of the AKP that is not based on this class analysis leads to errors and cripples the Republican accumulation. It should be known that if Türkiye had not met the needs of capitalism, the AKP would not have remained in power even for a day.

5. A defense of the Republic that does not put the working class and laboring people at the center increases the credibility of the counter-revolution’s slander that “The Republic is an elitist project”, a large segment of Türkiye’s population with secular sensibilities is branded as “bad ass” when it has nothing to do with it, and forces millions of poor people to take refuge in conservative ideologies. In this sense, TKP’s “fake Republicans” statement is an extremely appropriate and timely intervention.

6. A similar situation is encountered in the Kurdish issue. In a country that does not question capitalism, does not connect Türkiye’s rise to its feet with the collapse of the current system of exploitation, and has been the subject of uninterrupted counter-revolutionary interventions after the 1980 coup, there is a huge difference between what we understand and what those who try to squeeze every agenda regarding our Kurdish citizens under the headings of “separatism” and “terror” understand unity and brotherhood. A patriotism that lacks the will to make our beloved country livable is a betrayal to this country and our people. Türkiye has ceased to be a “livable” country for a significant portion of our citizens. Living in a country where poverty, unemployment, injustice, tyranny and lovelessness are rampant is painful, and especially for those who love their country, this is an unbearable situation. There are other additional reasons that weaken the ties of our Kurdish citizens with this country. Foreign powers and their collaborators are not the only ones responsible for this. This system, which condemns millions of people to poverty, has also gangrenized the Kurdish problem.

7. We need unity. We need not to be divided. To train us for exploitation, poverty, ignorance and tyranny? We do not defend the unity of the country so that someone can turn a corner by exploiting the homeland, nation and religion, and those who object to this can be silenced. We defend the unity of the country because other options would turn into great destruction, lead to endless hostilities and wars, imperialists will turn the region into absolute hell for the working people, and we can only establish an egalitarian, enlightened, independent, sovereign, secular order by uniting our forces.

8. In Türkiye, the obstacle to people living in brotherhood with their languages ​​and cultures is the capital class. By dividing the workers, this class both prevents social awakening and keeps a precarious segment of the working class under control, keeping workers’ wages and rights under pressure. The interest of Kurdish workers is not a separate state ruled by tribal chiefs and Kurdish bosses, but a Turkey free from exploitation. In this sense, there is no way out other than creating a united Turkish working class movement.

9. Today, the counter-revolution has entered a new phase in its reckoning with the Republic. The Neo-Ottomanist strategy, which is the product of the Turkish-Kurdish-Islamic synthesis, is portrayed as a historical shake-up and an absolute break from Republican Turkey is intended. Öcalan stands out as one of the architects of this strategy, and PKK and DEM do not have any particular objection to this strategy. Some segments that see themselves as a part of the Republican accumulation also see “strong Turkey” in this strategy and support this process. This is a crossroads, and at this crossroads there is only one real question: Do you feel comfortable with a “strong Turkey” where the workers and the majority of the population are oppressed and will be increasingly oppressed?

10. TKP has repeatedly said that this emphasis on “strong Türkiye” will also be an illusion, and that the fragility of a Türkiye that is more involved in imperialist competition will increase. Let’s repeat: Türkiye can only grow stronger and ensure its security by giving equality and prosperity to its citizens. The capital power, which has set its sights on other geographies and is making “bold” moves in Africa, the Middle East and the Caucasus, condemns retirees within the country to death, becomes completely dependent on foreign sources for agricultural products, and does not lose the first place in social injustice to any other country. Reputation cannot be saved! Behind the shows of power of Neo-Ottomanism stands a poor, helpless, futureless people. This is the real discredit.

11. Türkiye must get rid of the thieving capital class, which has destroyed all the wealth of the country, as soon as possible. The first thing that needs to be done for this is to organize a strong opposition in the political field against the lie that this order can be improved. It is a crime to be a party to this lie in the name of democracy and in the name of ending the palace regime. This pattern cannot be improved.

12. The political move we are talking about should be inspired by the War of Independence and the establishment of the Republic, which are the most important revolutionary transformation that these lands have witnessed. If values ​​such as patriotism, anti-imperialism, secularism, populism, statism, and even central planning still constitute a meaningful resistance against counter-revolution today, we owe this to the period in question. Transforming this resistance into an energy that will help us move forward is only possible by understanding that today’s class and social reality is completely different, that the era of bourgeois revolutions is over, and that the exit from darkness can only be achieved through socialism.

13. The continuous decrease in the influence of the working class in the political life of this country after September 12, 1980 is the result of all “left” political actors, starting from the CHP, portraying the demand for change of order as a dream, while even the system parties were talking about “change of order” in the 1970s. The working masses became helpless in the face of this brainwashing operation and began to look for ways to survive in the given order. In today’s world, the working class cannot exist without the will to change this damn order. It is the expectation and will to build a better life that will save the working class from individualism, drugs, gambling, dreams of moving up the class, or drifting into despair. This is exactly what is being stolen from the working class. TKP will not help this theft of the future even for a single day.

14. The reason for this situation where workers forget that they are workers, where a part of the educated workforce does not accept labor, and is even ashamed of being a worker, is the compression of social opposition into an empty democracy, human rights, freedoms and identity politics. When you put capitalists and proletarians on the same ship, what remains of the working class is a surrendered mass. The only way for the working people, who constitute the majority of the population today, to exert their weight in the political arena is a social project and a political program that will make them feel their own order and their own power. This is also the only way to give the feeling of “this is my country too” to the Kurdish workers, who do not understand anything about the current solution process and who are not excited about it and who continue to struggle with poverty.

15. The capital class has done all the evil it could to this country, and finally decided to completely get rid of the Republic, which it used and devalued. The decision moment is today, not tomorrow. It is time for Türkiye to part ways with the bourgeois class. If you have any other suggestions, please talk; let’s discuss. TKP, on the other hand, will stand by its word and continue on its way, together with those who have a similar determination.

Long live Socialism, long live the Republic!

Down with the system of exploitation, down with Imperialism!

TKP Central Committee

https://www.tkp.org.tr/aciklamalar/yollari-ayirma-zamani/