The following text is from an interview conducted between a member of the CEC of the Workers Party Youth and Armagan Sarp, a member of the TKG International Committee.
The arrest of the mayor of Istanbul was the event which initiated the large scale protests which have now gripped Turkey. It is no coincidence that this occurred on the same day that he was nominated by CHP to be their presidential candidate in 2028. What do you see as the strategy of the section of the bourgeoisie represented by the AKP? Why is it in their interests to take such drastic measures against the Mayor of Istanbul?
Our Party has been saying that since the 6th February earthquake two years ago, the government, ruling party and the various sections and cliques within the Turkish bourgeoisie and state apparatus have been facing a governance crisis. The rising contradictions, clashes of interest and tensions between the differing and increasingly fractured cliques (including various sections of the bourgeoisie, different factions within the state apparatus, various religious orders and more) within the ruling party and the state apparatus led to a situation that was deemed unsustainable as long as the political status-quo continued.
In addition, the current state of the economy also meant for the first time in a long time, the ruling government and its associated circles were unable to create enthusiasm or popular support for any of their grand moves outside or inside the country. Barely anyone cared as the government announced their “total victory” in Syria after the fall of the previous government, for example. Due to these factors, a lawfare operation was attempted, with the aim of finally neutralising the main opposition party and effectively getting rid of the right to vote as well as other bourgeois-democratic gains.
Undoubtedly, the international situation was also deemed favourable for such an operation. The rise of “strengthened executive regimes” across the globe and Turkey’s rising importance for Europe as a bulwark against both Russia and refugees ensured to the ruling government that no international backlash would come from such an operation. Additionally, the currently unstable situation in the Middle East also likely played a role, as for months government aligned media and officials have been speaking of the necessity of securing “the internal front” to deal with an increasingly chaotic regional situation.
The Republican People’s Party (CHP) is now the largest political party in Turkey. They are also the representatives of a section of the Turkish bourgeoisie. The various parties of the bourgeoisie in capitalist society are usually able to reconcile their divergent interests peacefully. How did the inter-bourgeoisie struggle between the AKP and CHP reach this point and why is the rivalry so intense?
As said before, the situation in Turkey has deteriorated to the point where there exists a very real crisis among the upper classes, the bosses, leading to increasingly erratic and intensely hostile confrontations not just between the ruling party and various opposition parties, but even within those very parties. The ruling party, its junior partners (such as the nationalist MHP) and associated cliques are almost as much at each other’s throats as they are hostile against CHP and other opposition parties. The rivalry is currently as intense as it is, because without moving forward with such confrontations, there is no guarantee for them that they can maintain their current ruling coalition or at least legitimise them based on popular support, election success and more.
CHP claims to be a secular party and the Turkish political system is supposed to be secular as well. However, AKP has faced heavy criticism for being an Islamist party because of its backing of Jihadists in Syria and its relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood. Is this a point of contention for the two parties? Is the CHP opposed to the AKP’s strategy of Neo-Ottomanism in which Islam plays an important role?
We have often said that secularism as we understand it hasn’t existed in Turkey for a long time. It was gradually eroded since at least the early 90s but especially during the AKP period, not because of the specific character of AKP as a party or of Erdoğan as an individual, but because the Turkish bourgeoisie had decided to pivot towards Islam and neo-Ottomanism to expand their reach into the broader Islamic world and to legitimise Turkish influence operations there. “Traditional” sections of the Turkish bourgeoisie, represented best by organisations such as TÜSİAD (Turkish Industry and Business Association) worked alongside various religious orders to “discover” new markets and increase Turkish economic, political and military presence in the Middle East, in Central Asia and in various parts of Africa.
The rise and fall of the Gülen movement (responsible for the coup attempt in 2016) was associated with this partnership. You mentioned the ruling government’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood/Ikhwan Movement, for example. These ties were encouraged and supported by all segments of the Turkish bourgeoisie, who used stronger ties with Ikhwan aligned organisations and associated business circles to expand their investments in Egypt, in Sudan, in Libya and are currently salivating about the opportunities provided to them by the Islamist takeover in Syria. As a result, we say that without being hostile to the bosses, we cannot advocate for secularism in Turkey. Without breaking the religious orders who have increasingly become important capitalists in their own right, without nationalising the riches of the bosses, we cannot say that we are for secularism.
Your members in the TKG and TKP have been very active in the current struggle against the repressive measures of the Erdoğan government. What has been your message to the Turkish working class and youth and how do you link this current struggle to the struggle against capitalism generally? What has the response been?
We have been contributing to mass protests across the country and organising our own large protests in support of the people’s defense of their right to vote. We have also put out a statement, “Upholding Our Dual Responsibility”, to explain the TKP’s position regarding the illegitimate arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu and the popular protests that began immediately after it. If I may quote a segment from that statement:
“The Communist Party of Turkey recognizes the potential for these developments to trigger significant economic, political, and social consequences that could shake the foundations of the capitalist system. Therefore, we stress the urgent need to organize an independent and revolutionary path to prevent working people from becoming trapped in the power struggles between competing factions. On the one hand, we will take a decisive stance to increase the resistance against the usurpation of the right to vote and the fait accompli against the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Simultaneously, we will strive to awaken a broader segment of society from the spell of factional conflicts, covert bargains, and hidden agendas.”
In other words, we contribute to and organise the people’s anger against the ruling government, however we also seek to agitate among the people and organise their struggle to not let any bourgeois party suppress, smother or divert their anger from the main enemy. We can confidently say that the protests are no longer just about CHP or İmamoğlu, but about popular anger towards a ruling government that does not represent them and a system that keeps them poor and without hope.
The TKG and TKP participated in the Gezi Park protests against the AKP government some years ago. This was a popular movement in which the working class expressed their anger against the capitalist government of the AKP and their anti-people policies. What lessons has your organisation learned from this movement that you are able to apply in the current struggle?
The Gezi protests were a similar outburst of anger against the ruling government that could’ve also developed in a manner that would shake the current system. However, this anger was diverted and canalised towards the ballot box, with all the main opposition parties screaming in unison “don’t go out to the streets, express your anger at the ballot box”. As a result, this anger was gradually lessened and ultimately smothered. Our main task and the main lesson we have learned is to not allow a similar tactic of diversion and suppression to lead the people astray. Our militant cadre and youth have been involved in the current protests not just to contribute to popular sentiment, but to warn our people and to organise them to continue and expand the struggle.