Once More Snap Elections in Turkey
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Once More Snap Elections in Turkey
The fascist AKP - MHP alliance decided on a snap election on June, 24. They see this raid elections as a life buoy to hold on until they pass over the deep waves of economical and social crisis. They know that there is no chance that they could achieve a vote rate they require in the elections if it is held under normal circumstances and on its normal date in 2019. Clearly, Erdoğan's bragging about the stability of the country has long gone, it will be the sixth elections in Turkey in the last four years. The long-lasting unmanageability crisis of the regime forced Erdoğan to take this decision. He tried to overcome the legitimacy crisis with the fascist war against Afrin. He used the war card with Afrin and it worked to consolidate masses ideologically up to a limit, but the overwhelming atmosphere of OHAL (state of emergency) carried the social crisis to an unbearable point which caused that war card to be not enough. People are hungry both for food and for political freedom. Economical crisis gets worsen day by day. High prices of Dollar and Euro, high inflation rate, high unemployment and foreign debt can cause a total breakdown any moment. Also, the guerrilla warfare, which will increase in Bakûr Kurdistan during the summer period developing as the revenge of Afrin, emerges as a challenging factor for the state. All together, they cannot wait any longer.
The fascist chief wanted to catch the opposition unguarded with such a close date. Let alone a democratic opposition encountered in this process, he couldn't even stand a bourgeois opposition and attempted interventions against possible candidates. He wants to design the whole opposition and leave no chance for survival for others. AKP and the Palace coalition follow a line to build a feeling that 'whatever you do, you can't win' among the ranks of opposition and among peoples.
And recent developments showed once again that the regime crisis is not limited with the fascist Palace, it also reaches beyond the bourgeois opposition. One spotlighted example was the visit of the General Staff of the Turkish Army, Hulusi Akar and the Head Counselor of Erdoğan, Ibrahim Kalın to the former president Abdullah Gül, who once was a dear brother of Erdoğan. These two bureaucrat landed on the garden of Abdullah Gül's house with a helicopter and forced him to give up on candidacy. This was clearly a method of coup d'etat. But the ones who were disappointed most were the bourgeois opposition and the liberals. They were really considering Gül as a strong candidate who is yet another fascist, islamist and corrupted politician, collaborator of Erdoğan for all of his crimes along the way. Now, the four reactionary bourgeois party, CHP , the Good Party (which was founded recently by Meral Akşener after the separation of a group from the Nationalist Movement Party, MHP), the Welfare Party (Erdoğan's traditional line, political islamist party) and the Democrat Party (a small center-right wing party) agreed on an alliance in the elections. They will enter the presidential elections with their own candidates against Erdoğan, but in the second round which will happen in case none of the candidates gets fifty percent of the vote, they will support each other. And they also enter the parliamentary elections in the same lists as part of this alliance agreement to overcome the 10 percent threshold for the parties to enter the parliament. This so-called bourgeois opposition, especially when it comes to the rights of Kurdish people, is more royalist than the king.
They intentionally exclude the HDP from such an alliance which actually proves the only democratic choice left for this election is HDP. And practically, this 10 percent threshold only applies to HDP. HDP spoke-person Filiz Kerestecioglu stated that ‘now, two right-wing alliance and HDP will compete, and that's why HDP has no threshold problem'. The constant attacks against HDP after the 2015 elections first started with bombings and continued with arresting the co-chair persons and deputies. Intensifying violence against HDP activists on the street now aims to reach a point almost to stop the whole party work. During the May Day work of socialists and recently-started election campaigns, hundreds of HDP or its constituent party members were taken into custody and some were arrested. Yet the brutal police terror of the fascist state couldn't stop the masses attending the large HDP meetings and May Day demonstrations. After the May Day campaigns, on 4th of May, HDP announced Selahattin Demirtaş, who has been in prison for 1,5 years, as its presidential candidate. And now, the political mass work gets a new triggering pulse on the streets.
The democratic, progressive and revolutionary forces are absolutely aware of Erdoğan's possible threat of not recognizing the results in case of losing and provoking a civil war. Just like the Suruç massacre after the June 2015 election, the state will direct its attacks to the revolutionaries first in such a case. The lackey media has already declared openly such plans for the June 24th. No matter what, the elections are still important under current conditions and an important means of struggle. Many people are still under the illusion of getting rid of Erdoğan through elections and that is why the duty of HDP, as a democratic alternative, now as a third road like Rojava, must position as a focal point and develop a discourse to wipe these illusions away. Only then, the election campaign can be turned into a real preparation for the struggle on the 25th of June. Above all, the revolutionary forces must tell people the illegitimacy of the elections under the state of emergency and the state terror with all the cheats, repression and violence. Trying to replace this with another bourgeois and fascist option will also not solve anything. The only unerring way is to grow the democratic alternative through street resistances and organizing the people.
We can say that Turkey and Northern Kurdistan is in the course of a revolution and overthrowing fascism is a current duty of democratic struggle. Thirst for freedom is a well-known fact and the conditions are as tight as possible for imminent outbursts. The reactionary regimes of the region squeezed the people, cornered them, left no space to breathe and in the end, Arabic uprisings, Gezi uprising and Rojava revolution burst out. Struggle for freedom and honor has freshened with those and now ready for another upswing. Revolutionaries must strengthen the subjective conditions for this and never even consider to be a reserve behind a social chauvinist, monist bourgeois option. Perspectives foreseeing open or covered alliances with this kind of options to get rid of Erdoğan no matter what will be afterwards are dysfunctional and lack of self-confidence. The working class, peoples and oppressed of Turkey and Northern Kurdistan have no choice but to trust their self-power and to organize together with the democratic, progressive, revolutionary, communist organizations and Kurdish liberation movement under a unified resistance. The importance of the election process lies just right there: to take advantage from it for organizing the democratic freedom struggle, especially for the period after the election. Turning the elections into a leverage will be the key for mass struggle. As a result, the real struggle will be organizing this unified antifascist resistance based on practical modes during these period.
 

 

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Once More Snap Elections in Turkey
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Once More Snap Elections in Turkey
The fascist AKP - MHP alliance decided on a snap election on June, 24. They see this raid elections as a life buoy to hold on until they pass over the deep waves of economical and social crisis. They know that there is no chance that they could achieve a vote rate they require in the elections if it is held under normal circumstances and on its normal date in 2019. Clearly, Erdoğan's bragging about the stability of the country has long gone, it will be the sixth elections in Turkey in the last four years. The long-lasting unmanageability crisis of the regime forced Erdoğan to take this decision. He tried to overcome the legitimacy crisis with the fascist war against Afrin. He used the war card with Afrin and it worked to consolidate masses ideologically up to a limit, but the overwhelming atmosphere of OHAL (state of emergency) carried the social crisis to an unbearable point which caused that war card to be not enough. People are hungry both for food and for political freedom. Economical crisis gets worsen day by day. High prices of Dollar and Euro, high inflation rate, high unemployment and foreign debt can cause a total breakdown any moment. Also, the guerrilla warfare, which will increase in Bakûr Kurdistan during the summer period developing as the revenge of Afrin, emerges as a challenging factor for the state. All together, they cannot wait any longer.
The fascist chief wanted to catch the opposition unguarded with such a close date. Let alone a democratic opposition encountered in this process, he couldn't even stand a bourgeois opposition and attempted interventions against possible candidates. He wants to design the whole opposition and leave no chance for survival for others. AKP and the Palace coalition follow a line to build a feeling that 'whatever you do, you can't win' among the ranks of opposition and among peoples.
And recent developments showed once again that the regime crisis is not limited with the fascist Palace, it also reaches beyond the bourgeois opposition. One spotlighted example was the visit of the General Staff of the Turkish Army, Hulusi Akar and the Head Counselor of Erdoğan, Ibrahim Kalın to the former president Abdullah Gül, who once was a dear brother of Erdoğan. These two bureaucrat landed on the garden of Abdullah Gül's house with a helicopter and forced him to give up on candidacy. This was clearly a method of coup d'etat. But the ones who were disappointed most were the bourgeois opposition and the liberals. They were really considering Gül as a strong candidate who is yet another fascist, islamist and corrupted politician, collaborator of Erdoğan for all of his crimes along the way. Now, the four reactionary bourgeois party, CHP , the Good Party (which was founded recently by Meral Akşener after the separation of a group from the Nationalist Movement Party, MHP), the Welfare Party (Erdoğan's traditional line, political islamist party) and the Democrat Party (a small center-right wing party) agreed on an alliance in the elections. They will enter the presidential elections with their own candidates against Erdoğan, but in the second round which will happen in case none of the candidates gets fifty percent of the vote, they will support each other. And they also enter the parliamentary elections in the same lists as part of this alliance agreement to overcome the 10 percent threshold for the parties to enter the parliament. This so-called bourgeois opposition, especially when it comes to the rights of Kurdish people, is more royalist than the king.
They intentionally exclude the HDP from such an alliance which actually proves the only democratic choice left for this election is HDP. And practically, this 10 percent threshold only applies to HDP. HDP spoke-person Filiz Kerestecioglu stated that ‘now, two right-wing alliance and HDP will compete, and that's why HDP has no threshold problem'. The constant attacks against HDP after the 2015 elections first started with bombings and continued with arresting the co-chair persons and deputies. Intensifying violence against HDP activists on the street now aims to reach a point almost to stop the whole party work. During the May Day work of socialists and recently-started election campaigns, hundreds of HDP or its constituent party members were taken into custody and some were arrested. Yet the brutal police terror of the fascist state couldn't stop the masses attending the large HDP meetings and May Day demonstrations. After the May Day campaigns, on 4th of May, HDP announced Selahattin Demirtaş, who has been in prison for 1,5 years, as its presidential candidate. And now, the political mass work gets a new triggering pulse on the streets.
The democratic, progressive and revolutionary forces are absolutely aware of Erdoğan's possible threat of not recognizing the results in case of losing and provoking a civil war. Just like the Suruç massacre after the June 2015 election, the state will direct its attacks to the revolutionaries first in such a case. The lackey media has already declared openly such plans for the June 24th. No matter what, the elections are still important under current conditions and an important means of struggle. Many people are still under the illusion of getting rid of Erdoğan through elections and that is why the duty of HDP, as a democratic alternative, now as a third road like Rojava, must position as a focal point and develop a discourse to wipe these illusions away. Only then, the election campaign can be turned into a real preparation for the struggle on the 25th of June. Above all, the revolutionary forces must tell people the illegitimacy of the elections under the state of emergency and the state terror with all the cheats, repression and violence. Trying to replace this with another bourgeois and fascist option will also not solve anything. The only unerring way is to grow the democratic alternative through street resistances and organizing the people.
We can say that Turkey and Northern Kurdistan is in the course of a revolution and overthrowing fascism is a current duty of democratic struggle. Thirst for freedom is a well-known fact and the conditions are as tight as possible for imminent outbursts. The reactionary regimes of the region squeezed the people, cornered them, left no space to breathe and in the end, Arabic uprisings, Gezi uprising and Rojava revolution burst out. Struggle for freedom and honor has freshened with those and now ready for another upswing. Revolutionaries must strengthen the subjective conditions for this and never even consider to be a reserve behind a social chauvinist, monist bourgeois option. Perspectives foreseeing open or covered alliances with this kind of options to get rid of Erdoğan no matter what will be afterwards are dysfunctional and lack of self-confidence. The working class, peoples and oppressed of Turkey and Northern Kurdistan have no choice but to trust their self-power and to organize together with the democratic, progressive, revolutionary, communist organizations and Kurdish liberation movement under a unified resistance. The importance of the election process lies just right there: to take advantage from it for organizing the democratic freedom struggle, especially for the period after the election. Turning the elections into a leverage will be the key for mass struggle. As a result, the real struggle will be organizing this unified antifascist resistance based on practical modes during these period.