The AKP , that after its Ergenekon operations with which it tried to show itself as demanding an account from the counter guerrilla and with the show in Davos generally got a better reputation among the people, however, doesn't manage to advance in Northern Kurdistan. 01 March 2009 /International Bulletin / Issue 79
The municipal elections in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan will take place on March 29, 2009. The colonial fascist Turkish bourgeoisie with its system parties of all possible colours as well as the working class, labourers and the oppressed Kurdish nation are preparing themselves for the clash that will happen on March 29. During a period during which the masses are generally more interested in politics and during which the economic crisis has started to deeply influence the workers and labourers showing itself in unemployment and poverty and during which suicide and murders have seriously increased as much as strikes and resistances, the local elections on March 29 are an important opportunity to tell the broadest masses that the alternative to capitalism is socialism. The local elections on March 29 will also take place during the period of March-May which includes important days of struggle such as March 8th, 12th and 16th as well as March 21 and then Mayday. The local election period at the same time unites different topics such as f.ex. from the counter guerrilla murders to the women's question, A particular point in the elections on March 29 is the work of colonial fascism aiming at reducing the DTP councils in Kurdistan. The local administrations have been a strong means of political representation of the Kurdish national movement and the DTP (Society's Democratic Party) in Northern Kurdistan. For this reason the colonial fascist dictatorship through the AKP has started an attack on the council posts of the DTP. This has been reflected to the media by different steps such as from the AKP launching a Kurdish TV channel to the major of Tunceli distributing thousands of washing machines and fridges to the people as corruption for the elections. The AKP, that after its Ergenekon operations with which it tried to show itself as demanding an account from the counter guerrilla and with the show in Davos generally got a better reputation among the people, however, doesn't manage to advance in Northern Kurdistan. This was also proofed by the fact that Tayyip Erdogan who at his last visit in Kurdistan was welcomed with closed shops and empty streets. There are two forces among the revolutionary and democratic forces who are mainly drawing attention on themselves due to their preparation in face of the opportunities and special meaning offered by the local elections: the Society's Democratic Party (DTP) representing the Kurdish national movement and the Socialist Platform of the Oppressed ( ESP ) as a revolutionary socialist force representing the alternative socialism. The DTP is carrying out a strong work with the conscious that the local elections will be a kind of referandum especially in Kurdistan. While the party announced to aim at increasing its number of councils from 51 to 100, it accelerates its electoral propaganda work in Kurdistan and participates as much as possible in the platforms of revolutionary and democratic forces in the Western cities. The ESP declared to participate in the elections through the platforms in the West, to nominate its own socialist candidates in those cities where platforms could not be founded, and to support the candidates of the DTP in the Kurdish cities. Different platforms were founded with different names: the platform "We can succeed together" in Istanbul and Izmir, "We are there for Ankara, too" in Ankara and "Democratic Platform of Unity for the Local Elections" in Malatya. In. Antep, Antakya, Bursa, Hopa, Adana and many other cities revolutionary and democratic organisations came together to this kind of platforms and nominated common candidates for the elections. The participants of the platforms, such as 24 parties and organisations in Istanbul and 21 parties and organisations in Izmir, are different in every city. Many political parties and groups such as the DTP (Society's Democratic Party), the ESP (Socialist Platform of the Oppressed), SDP (Party of Socialist Democracy), DHF (Federation of Democratic People) and ODP (Freedom and Solidarity Party) have joined these platforms. Among the candidates nominated by the local election platforms are Akin Birdal, DTP deputy of Istanbul and former general chairman of the Human Rights Association, different intellectuals such as Yusuf Cetin, film director and candidate for the Istanbul borough Beyoglu, as well as socialist unionists such as Kamber Saygili, general secretary of the union Limter-Is in Tuzla, Istanbul, Ayse Yumli Yeter, general chairman of the union Tekstil-Sen candidating for the borough Bahcelievler, Istanbul. The high number of female candidates is a characteristics of these platforms. The local election platforms have their own programs based on the society in which they reflect their understanding of councils. Although the programs of the various platforms might differ from city to city, all of them have the same demands: Using the sources for the profit of the people and on the basis of equality, stopping privatisation and sub-contracting of the councils, accepting the council workers' right to organise in trade unions and to have collective agreements, guaranteeing the control of council services by democratic mass organisations, unions and chambers, stopping the " Urban Transformation Project ", preferring the organisation of the people's necessary needs such as transport, drinking water, housing and heating, putting an end to the discrimination in the municipal services on the basis of national identity and religious denomination, and guaranteeing the city life where Kurds, Alevi people, national minorities and oppressed religious groups are free to live as they want. Progressive, revolutionary and democratic forces coming together in this way and being mobilised for the local elections is extremely important in the sense of making the elections on March 29 turn to a reckoning day adequate to its meaning and making the alternative of the united struggle in favour of workers and labourers. We communists use this period to make this alternative become stronger and enlighten the workers and labourers on the fact that the only alternative of capitalism is socialism.
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