Thousands of people from across Turkey came together in Ankara to challenge the darkness with the call of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) to the hardworking, honest, just and patriotic people of the country who yearn for a bright Turkey.
With the call of TKP, thousands of people from across the country gathered in Ankara to challenge the darkness.
‘The meeting titled ’Like ships meeting the waves; TKP Challenges’ started with the singing of the International anthem with the TKP Choir, which took the stage at 15.15 in Ankara Congresium.
While the hall was completely full, hundreds of people followed the event on screens outside the hall.
RESISTING WORKERS IN THE HALL
Digel Tekstil workers who have been in resistance for over 1 year, Elsa Tekstil workers who resisted their dismissal and brought the boss to his knees, subcontracted workers in Izmir Metropolitan Municipality who won their rights thanks to their resistance and Ankara Algida Depot workers who raised their voices with their struggle also participated in TKP's mass meeting.
The short history of the Communist Party of Turkey was told through skits, folk dances, anthems and songs performed by the TKP Choir and Gülcan Altan.
TKP GENERAL SECRETARY OKUYAN: AKP IS COUNTER-REVOLUTION
Speaking at the event, TKP Secretary General Kemal Okuyan stated that they watched a short history of TKP and said “TKP suffered a great betrayal. After that betrayal, its resurrection required a very difficult struggle within the left in Turkey.”.
After the 1980 coup, Okuyan emphasized that the struggle against liberalism was vital and said, “If the trend called liberalism did not capture the left in Turkey in the 80s and 90s, the cadres, movement, mentality and program that created and represent the TKP today have a very big role in this.’.
After Okuyan prevented liberal winds and civil society from dominating the left, he said, “Our agenda within the left is over. We will not deal with polemics within the left,” Okuyan said, “After we took the name TKP, AKP came to power. We said that the fight against the AKP is our priority.”.
“Those we march with on the left are our friends, we have nothing to do with polemics, our job is to fight the AKP,” Okuyan said:
“We said AKP is counter-revolution, market terrorism, hostility to labor, hostility to secularism, collaborationism with imperialism. We said fighting AKP is our priority. But again we were confronted by the left, or those disguised as the left.”
Reminding that some leftists say “privatization is good” while AKP says “we will sell like father and father” and “merchant mentality will dominate the state”, Okuyan said: “What, sir, the state will shrink. Democracy and peace will come to Turkey. TKP had to struggle with these,” he said.
“WE WERE TRYING TO BREAK AWAY FROM THE LEFT, WE WERE CONFRONTED BY SECRET AKP SUPPORTERS”
Okuyan said that TKP had to deal with the support given during the European Union accession process by saying “Turkey will enter the European Union of labor” and added: “We were trying to break away from the left, but the left was confronting us with secret AKPism. We could not get rid of it.”.
Reminding that even a small section of the left gave the green light to the invasion of Iraq, Okuyan said: “Even worse, a number of movements claiming to speak on behalf of the Kurdish people sent a letter of thanks to the then US president. During the Ergenekon process, they said ‘Turkey is democratizing, it is getting rid of its purges’. Erdoğan thanked some leftists.”.
“CHP AND HDP HAVE OVERSHADOWED THE INTELLECT AND REVOLUTIONISM OF THE LEFT IN TURKEY”
Emphasizing that TKP did not want to polemicize with the left, Okuyan said, “But they did not let us off the hook. Another problem was added on top of it. For years, two social democratic parties in Turkey, the CHP and the HDP, have overshadowed the Turkish left's intellect, march, revolutionism and everything else. As TKP, since both of these parties are known as leftist parties, we have tried to separate the Turkish left and ourselves from the CHP and HDP if the left is hopeless.”.
“TKP CANNOT BE A CENTRIST”
Noting that the TKP has been criticized and besieged since the past, “because of this carelessness”, Okuyan touched on the internal problem TKP experienced in 2014: “This problem in 2014 was actually due to this very issue we were talking about. TKP had a line, program, principles. It insisted on following its path. This path was difficult. Some friends within our party, bless their hearts, decided to go the other way instead of overcoming these difficulties. It is their own choice.”
Okuyan said that those who wanted TKP to come under the shadow of CHP or HDP are standing next to those who are not in TKP today, “HDP wanted it very much, for example, they tried very hard for a TKP close to the HDP line. This is not criticism. They wanted it, they wanted TKP to get in that queue. We didn't want it. The same goes for the CHP. We stood upright, we got our party back on its feet after 2014 and we are trying to continue on our way.’.
Saying that many people want “a TKP similar to the average”, Okuyan said, “TKP cannot be an averageist. TKP is not like anything else. TKP's responsibility is to do whatever it takes to raise the working class of Turkey and change this order.”.
“IS THERE A BIGGER INSULT TO COMMUNISM THAN THIS? WHAT COMPANY?”
Emphasizing that everyone now knows that the solution process initiated in Turkey is related to what is happening in Syria, Okuyan reminded that TKP has been saying “we look at the content” from the beginning.
Okuyan said that AKP and MHP are on one side of the table and that these two political forces want a dark Turkey. “And the other side of the table?” Okuyan said:
“The leader of the power sitting over there, the one recognized by the state as the founding leader. What did he say recently, using the word “commune”, which is also the origin of the name of our party? “Commune means corporatization,” he said. Is there a bigger insult to communism than that? What corporatization!
The project they have in mind is the same project that was on the EU's agenda 20 years ago, the localization reforms. They are saying ‘the state is the state, let's relax them a bit’. I call it ‘liquefied state’, they call it ‘communal society’, and they call it ‘corporatization’ so that people don't get scared.”
A full confession! We have said for years that what is called localization is the prosperity of the bosses who drain the marrow of our fellow workers here. It is the settlement of capital without borders.”
“NO LIGHT WILL COME OUT OF HERE, NOTHING WILL COME OUT FOR THE CURD POOR”
Noting that “Islamic brotherhood” is being called “Islamic brotherhood” as if secularism has not been trampled underfoot enough, as if Turkey has not been Islamized enough, Okuyan said, "No light can come out of here, nothing can come out for the Kurdish poor. There are tribes here, there are companies, there is the will of the US-UK, there is Israeli blackmail and coercion... From such a blind, dark point, no light can come out, there will be a breakdown," he said.
Stating that the foreign policy of this project is neo-Ottomanism, Okuyan said, “We have come to the point of reconciliation of two anti-Republican powers.”.
Okuyan emphasized that the reason for the TKP's opposition to this process from the beginning was not opposition to the state, AKP and MHP's talks with the Qandil and Öcalan, but opposition to the direction of the process.
“THIS SYSTEM CANNOT SOLVE THE KURDISH PROBLEM”
“They are asking how the Kurdish issue will be solved,” Okuyan said, reminding that the side of the table that had previously called for autonomy and federation said, “We have given up on these.”.
Okuyan stated that there are roughly four ways to find a solution:
“One, a separate state for the Kurds. Is this a solution? No, it would mean war, and it would also mean the loss of Kurdish citizens from the Republic of Turkey and the desolation of these lands. A separate Kurdish state is neither realistic nor a good thing.
Two, autonomy or federation is also a solution, but it cannot solve the problem. Because autonomy triggers separation, not brotherhood. Moreover, it necessitates the sharing of resources. Turkey's east and west are unequal in terms of resources. This inequality is not in favor of one side in every respect. But Turkey can only feed each other as a whole. Autonomy or federation will eventually bring war around those resources.
The third option is to once again silence, suppress, oppress and ignore the Kurds, to say “the best Kurd is the one who kneels” and then to confront them and say “you are not Kurdish anyway, you are a mountain Turk”. This is not a solution either. Not a single Kurdish citizen will accept this at this time.”
THERE IS ONLY ONE SOLUTION TO THE CURD PROBLEM
“There is only one solution to the Kurdish problem. There is only one solution to the Kurdish problem. A social system that will make all our citizens share the resources and production of this country equally.”.
“IN THIS LAND THERE IS A BROTHERHOOD LAW GREATER THAN RACISM”
Okuyan made the following statements:
“You cannot unite Turks and Kurds when you have this division between boss and worker. Under socialism, all resources will be appropriated by the working people, these resources will be used for the whole society. Language ensures unity. The unifying power of Turkish cannot be questioned. But people's right to speak and receive education in their mother tongue cannot be questioned either. How will it be done? We can do it. There are many ways. There are tried examples. We can join arms and solve this problem. There is already a brotherhood law in this land that is greater than racism, let's not forget that.”
“TKP DEFENDS THE REPUBLIC”
Kemal Okuyan also explained why the TKP protects the Republic. “TKP defends the Republic. It says the unity of the Republicans,” Okuyan said:
“Again some leftists came out and said, ‘What does Marxism have to do with the republic? We passed. But this was also said: ’The republic does not need socialism‘, they said, ’We are enough for us, it is Kemalism that will lift Turkey up‘. TKP did a very right thing. We looked at the victory that took place in the early 1920s, we said, ’We do justice to all the soldiers of the National Struggle, we are the TKP’ and we closed that issue.
Republicanism is very valuable for us today. It is very valuable to remember what we have lost. We also have gains. That Republic is useful for this: If we are waging a revolutionary struggle today, if we say socialism, we need fuel. That fuel must be domestic. Yes, our ideology is Marxism-Leninism. But we need domestic fuel. That energy exists in the National Struggle and the Republic. Patriotism and anti-imperialism are entrenched in Turkey, they cannot remove them. They cannot remove secularism from society. Did these values come from outer space? They came from the struggle in the 1920s.
The idea of planning, for example. Socialism is different from planning, but that idea entered Turkey's agenda with the Republic.”
“ANYONE WHO DEFENDS THIS SYSTEM IS A FAKE REPUBLICAN AND A MARKETIST”
“To those who say ‘we don't need socialists’, we say ‘not that tall’. 100 years ago we closed our account, but our account today remains open,” Okuyan said, adding that anyone who supports this order today is a fake republican and a marketist.
Okuyan said, “The issue is this: Will we abolish the order of conglomerates and sects and establish the Republic of the working people? Those who say yes are on this side, those who say no are on the other side. It is that simple,” he said.
TKP General Secretary continued as follows:
“There is one more issue. We face the same problem all over the world. The people are facing the pressure of an ‘external enemy’ and the pressure of governments that want to suspend freedoms at home. This dilemma is imposed on the peoples of the world. Either you cooperate with foreign forces or with the despots inside.
TKP has said it many times: There is no such dilemma. One should not fall into this trap. You fall into this trap with the ‘arch enemy’ literature. For example, you say ‘the USA is the main enemy’... Yes, US imperialism is the enemy of all of us, but if you say ‘the rest is history’, you are serving the USA. Then the US intervenes saying ‘I am bringing democracy to the world’. We have always stood against this. We stood against it in Iraq and Syria, not because we are Saddam lovers. Especially not the mullah regime in Iran today. The missiles that went from Iran to Israel, even though they belonged to the mullahs, were a big slap in the face of US and Israeli aggression.”
“OCCUPATION IS OUR RED LINE”
Reminding the red lines of TKP, Kemal Okuyan said, “Occupation is our red line. Cooperation with imperialist powers, funding, revolutionizing under their auspices is not in our dictionary. We will never be traitors.” He said the following:
If one day tomorrow, things change, things fall apart, they try to change the power in our country again by occupation, coup d'état, oppression, TKP will not stand like it did on July 15th this time. We will stand against them. We will say, ‘It is the responsibility of the working people of this country to change the power in this country, get out of here’.
The task of communists in all individual countries is to fight against their own exploiters. And we will not give up this struggle. We know how to act in current, concrete issues. We have studied our lessons well. We did not write a letter to the US for overthrowing Saddam. We are not among the leftists who said ‘a revolution is happening’ when counter-revolutionary gangs raised the flag against Assad in Syria.
“A VERY LARGE MAJORITY IN TURKEY IS SUFFERING BECAUSE OF A VERY SMALL MINORITY”
Kemal Okuyan also mentioned the NATO meeting planned to be held in Ankara in 2026.
“We are in Ankara. The world's most powerful terrorist organization, NATO, is coming to Ankara this year. These summits were always held in Istanbul. This time they decided to hold it in Ankara. One reason may be that the man wants to show the Palace to the guests. We are already saying: We will not say ‘welcome’. We welcome our friends,” he said.
Emphasizing the contradiction between labor and capital above all else, Okuyan said, “From time to time, when we talk about these issues, we talk about books, we talk about economics, etc., but there is a very simple issue. In Turkey, a very large majority suffers because of a very small minority, they suffer from poverty. This is an indisputable fact.”.
“GETTING RID OF CAPITALISM IS NOT A TASK THAT CAN BE POSTPONED”
Kemal Okuyan also mentioned the Epstein documents that are being released in the US and said, “Files are being opened in the US. You see how the rich live. A terrible corruption, a terrible decay. That fundamental contradiction, the labor-capital contradiction, produces this evil.”.
“So getting rid of capitalism is not a task that can be postponed, but the forces to overthrow capitalism need to multiply, like here. ‘This is not the time,’ they say. What is the time for what? There is filth everywhere in this system.” Okuyan continued as follows:
“So the TKP cannot postpone this task for any reason. Everything we do has to be in line with this goal. Then current political issues confront us. I am now in my advanced age, but when I joined these ranks I was wearing short pants. The first time I was beaten up as a young man was when another leftist group intervened because I pasted the posters of the party I was a member of at the time over the posters of the CHP. That was the first time I heard the words ‘let's support the CHP, now is not the time for a separate struggle’, the year was 1977. Half a century has passed.
The main thing is what I just said. As long as this system continues in Turkey, good municipalism cannot be done, or it will be very difficult. We were going to show it in Defne, we narrowly missed it. You cannot accept capitalism and do good municipalism. It cannot be done with tenders and transferring money to favored companies. Goodness cannot breed in the current system. We need to establish the idea of changing this system, this is our only salvation. But we need to repel the phrase ‘now is not the time’. We are determined to repel it. But we have very dear friends who have been saying ‘not now, not this election, not that election’ for 50 years. We have made our choice. That choice is socialism. And at every point of life, at every moment of politics, TKP has to act in line with that choice. We have no other choice.”
WHAT POSITION WILL THE TKP TAKE IN THE ELECTIONS?
In his speech, TKP Secretary General Okuyan also explained what TKP will do in the elections, “TKP will not take any stance that will contradict the essence of the issues I have explained here, will not cooperate with any power, will not nominate candidates from this or that party. We will continue to act in line with our program in the coming period.”.
The last part of Okuyan's speech is as follows:
“We have prepared a basic text on what kind of an attitude TKP will take in the upcoming elections. We discussed it in hundreds of meetings in party organizations. We took our notes. We will re-evaluate some details. I want to share its essence with you because it will not change. TKP will not take any stance that contradicts the essence of the issues I have described here, will not cooperate with any power, will not nominate candidates from this or that party. We will continue to act in line with our program in the coming period.
Presidential elections... Under socialism there will be no presidential system. The presidency is not a good thing. Parliament elects the head of state and dismisses him if it wants to, that is the right thing to do. It is not right to have the President elected by the people and give him authority over the Parliament. But there will also be a presidential election agenda in Turkey at the moment. TKP will show the same principled attitude it showed in the parliamentary elections in the presidential election.
There is a major obstacle we will face if we nominate our own candidate. The electoral system in Turkey is undemocratic from top to bottom. It helps the capitalist parties. In order to nominate a presidential candidate, you have to get 100 thousand people to sign a petition at the election boards. If the TKP nominates a candidate or if there is a republican candidate in Turkey, it is a big challenge to get 100 thousand people to sign. Because you have to do it in a certain period of time. We are not going to go and support a contractor because we are faced with this difficulty, or another one because that one didn't work out. Getting 100,000 people to sign at the electoral board should be a challenge for all of us, let's fulfill it. When we fail, we can say with our heads held high, ‘we did our duty’. But let's not go and say ‘we gave the lesser of two evils’ like others. This is now tormenting the people of Turkey.
TKP has to be the ship that meets the waves as it has been until now. We know that the wind that will blow behind us is the wind of the working class of Turkey. Let's blow the wind of the working class of Turkey so that the party with the mind and conscience of the working class of Turkey stand up and make socialism, which means salvation for all of us, the reality of this country.
Let's make a promise to each other here, we will grow this fight, friends. Are we in?”