On April 13, the fascist dictatorship in Turkey showed once again and openly its real face. Injustice within the court and brutal violence on the streets, this is the situation in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan nowadays.
17 prisoners, who had been arrested in the police operations in Istanbul on September 21, were taken to the Heavy Penal Court No. 9 on April 13 after having been imprisoned for 6 months. The September 10 - prisoners entered the court by showing the victory sign and shouting slogans as well as demanded the conviction of the murderers of Hrant Dink, Suleyman Yeter and Kemal Türkler instead of their own conviction.
A mass solidarity movement developed in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan as well as on the international level after our party, revolutionary socialist newspapers, trade unions and associations had been attacked on September 8-12 and September 21 on the basis of the new anti-terror law. This solidarity became more concrete with the "freedom and justice rally" that took place on April 13 in front of Besiktas Court organized by 700 progressive, revolutionaries and socialists from more than 20 different cities of Turkey and the international delegates from Russia, Canada, Colombia, Germany, France, England, Bulgaria, Greece and Switzerland in order to support the September 10 - prisoners and condemn the state terror.
The state had quite well understood what April 13 meant for the united revolutionary struggle and therefore attacked brutally the "freedom and justice meeting" and arrested 114 revolutionaries. 20 out of those arrested have been imprisoned.
This attack itself has become the topic of broad solidarity actions.
10 revolutionaries were released, among them the president and general secretary of the trade union Limter-Is and some staff members of the radio channel Ozgur Radio. 7 of them were sent back to prison. The trial was postponed to August 7.
After the attacks in September, the rally on April 13 forms the peak of the united struggle of the democratic, revolutionary and progressive forces, intellectuals and trade unionists lead by the socialist organizations and the perspective to stop the anti-terror attacks and to cancel the anti-terror law. The fascist regime's attacks in September were answered with the campaign "We want freedom" and the struggle against these attacks was united by the workers, labourers, young people, oppressed women and the Kurdish people's demand for "political freedom".
Before April 13, the dictatorship's initiative to convict socialists and communists in their fascist courts was turned into an action of convicting the fascist courts, for not having sentenced the responsible of the massacre in Maras to Corum , the assassination of Hrant Dink, the massacre on Mayday 1977 and countless counterrevolutionary actions where the workers' and labourers' demands for justice have never found an answer. In addition, the workers and labourers were called to defend the socialists demanding "Freedom and justice" and to call the fascist dictatorship to account.
Looking back from April 13, it becomes clear that the fascist dictatorship's attacks to marginalize the revolutionary socialist organizations, to make them loose their function and force them to give up were hindered by these campaigns. First of all, the socialist organizations showed with the slogan "You are not strong enough to beat us" that they will not give up and organize the struggle on a higher level. They later revealed the attempts of marginalizing the solidarity movement and the campaign with the demand for political freedom lead by them. They did not only defend their posts, but widened them and stopped the anti-terror attacks of fascism. They also did not only defend socialist ideals, which had been tried to be destroyed in the court, but also made April 13 to a leverage for the workers and labourers to defend socialist ideology.
Forming a bridge from April 13 to Mayday, they showed that it is not the socialists but the counter guerrilla state, also responsible for the massacre on Mayday 1977, who must be sentenced.
They tried to form a deeper relation with socialist ideals, which were symbolized in the trials on April 13, and among the workers and labourers on the occasion of Mayday. And these efforts of the socialist forces were answered by progressive intellectuals, trade unionists, journalists, mass organizations, workers and labourers and on international level. On international level, the common protests against the anti-terror attacks of the world bourgeoisie were good examples for the international solidarity, whose basis were real relations. There was common resistance of the police attacks in Besiktas.
These facts might be the reason for the fascist dictatorship's unbridled attack on the rally in Besiktas. The wave of attacks announced by the dictatorship with a loud uproar yet exploded in its own fist.