The Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) must stop violence against revolutionaries!
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 01 September / Internationale Bulletin / No. 143

On July 29th 2014, the People’s Front prohibited an eventof the election campaign for the People’s Democratic Party’s presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtaş in Istanbul's Çayan neighborhood to take place. The event was supposed to be staged by the Free Democratic Alevi Association. After the People's Front prohibited the event tensions and clashes occurred between the RPLPF and the youth of the Kurdish National Liberation Movement (YDG-H), a component of the People’s Democratic Party.

The People’s Front is the platform associated with the legal activities of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), which played an important role within the revolutionary movement in Turkey and Kurdistan, while the Free Democratic Alevi Association is closely related to the Kurdish National Liberation Movement.
The Socialist Party of the Oppressed ( ESP ) confined itself to criticizing the attempts of censorship imposed by the People’s Front, and stood in distance from tensions and clashes.

Members of Parliament of the People’s Democratic Party, a party which includes among many other revolutionary/progressive parties and mass organizations the Kurdish National Liberation Movement and the Socialist Party of the Oppressed, tried to mediate between the two sides in order to solve the problem. They explicitly criticized the youth of the Kurdish National Liberation Movement, YDG-H, for carrying out attacks to the club houses of the People’s Front in three neighborhoods of Istanbul, and endeavored to reduce the tension.

The Socialist Party of the Oppressed tried to stay out of these clashed and emphasized that there should be no restriction on doing politics and clashes between revolutionary/progressive forces. However, unfortunately, the People’s Front organized armed attacks on two sympathizers of the ESP.  In the night of August 1st, at 11 pm, the People’s Front shot the ESP sympathizer Anıl Akyol in his leg with a shotgun in the Gazi neighboorhood of Istanbul. In the same night, a member of the ESP, Mustafa Ceylan, who was on his way home, was shot two times in his head and fell into a coma. Again, the very same night, members of the ESP were bashed in Sarıgazi by members of the People’s Front.

Meanwhile, the ESP held meetings with the People’s Front, and time and again emphasized that it was staying away from confrontations and physical violence between the People’s Democratic Party and the People’s Front. It is notable that the ESP did not engage in physical violence despite the fact that it is a part of the People’s Democratic Party.
 
However, the People’s Front organized three attacks on our members, to which we drew attention above.

The People’s Front declarations on the two armed attacks aimed at concealing the fact that it was they who carried out these attacks. The ESP clearly uncovered these lies. The People’s Front claimed, for instance, that Mustafa Ceylan was shot while he was fighting with the People’s Front against the police. On August 31st, the ESP declared that it terminated all relations to the People’s Front, unless it practices self-criticism with respect to the attacks on the ESP. Moreover, the ESP once again underlined that it will not engage in any kind of physical violence against any left party, and made clear that the People’s Front must be excluded from the united revolutionary/democratic struggle.

The People’s Front still keeps the attitude of prohibiting activities of other revolutionary parties in neighborhoods such as Çayan and Armutlu, where it is well organized, or imposes that any political activity in these districts requires their permission. The justification of this attitude is that the People’s Front has put a lot of effort in organizing in these neighborhoods. This reasoning is dictatorial, and must be dropped!

Besides its petty-bourgeois censorship, some other factors underlie this reactionary attitude of the People’s Front. The notion of people’s democracy was produced during the ascendence of the international communist movement, which saw demoratic relations and cooperation between revolutionary and progressive parties and classes, and anti-fascist fronts. In the last quarter century, we have been witnessing the increasing influence of reactionary forces. The sense of democratic relations and rules has also been distorted. Against this background, the practice of preventing other revolutionary movements through brute force, and anti-democratic and imperious approaches have become more and more attractive. The People’s Front features both of these outlined attitudes. It has been imposing an antidemocratic competition on the ESP. In 2006 as well, the People’s Front ended up with conflicts with the ESP in Gülsuyu neighborhood.

Moreover, the People’s Front has sociologically inconsistent relations in anti-fascist worker neighborhoods. For instance, it has good relations with the Nalbur Gang in Gazi, which consists of lumpen Alevi youth. Although this gang organized an armed attack on one of the ESP’s institutions in 2004, and murdered one Maoist revolutionary from the Democratic Rights Federation in 2010, the People’s Front did not take a critical stance against the gang. It preferred to maintain its unofficial relations, and exploited the gang in the latest conflicts. In short, the People’s Front’s relations with such gangs reflects also its own character. Moreover, the People’s Front maintains its nationalistic attitude against the Kurdish Movement, and deploys a chauvinistic agitation by appropriating the discourse of the oppressor nation. It did not refrain from using the provocative expression “Kurds are attacking Alevis”. All this reflects the chauvinistic aggression of the People’s Front against the Kurdish National Liberation Movement and revolutionary parties in alliance and solidarity with it, such as the ESP.

The Socialist Party of the Oppressed is a communist party that is committed to the struggle against fascism and capitalist imperialism. It comes from a tradition, which fought fascism under the harshest conditions. It does not need the permission of any instance for its struggle. It does not bow to pressures, it will not buckle under the reactionary attacks of the People’s Front, and it will not appropriate the same reactionary attitude as the People’s Front. It follows the tradition of socialist democracy. As long as the People’s Front does not practice self-criticism with respect to the brutal violence it used, the ESP and institutions associated with it will abandon all political relations with the People’s Front. Partizan, another revolutionary movement, also took this stance with a revolutionary responsibility. Only such an attitude with revolutionary responsibility can and should dissuade the People’s Front from its reactionary politics.
 

 

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The Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) must stop violence against revolutionaries!
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 01 September / Internationale Bulletin / No. 143

On July 29th 2014, the People’s Front prohibited an eventof the election campaign for the People’s Democratic Party’s presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtaş in Istanbul's Çayan neighborhood to take place. The event was supposed to be staged by the Free Democratic Alevi Association. After the People's Front prohibited the event tensions and clashes occurred between the RPLPF and the youth of the Kurdish National Liberation Movement (YDG-H), a component of the People’s Democratic Party.

The People’s Front is the platform associated with the legal activities of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), which played an important role within the revolutionary movement in Turkey and Kurdistan, while the Free Democratic Alevi Association is closely related to the Kurdish National Liberation Movement.
The Socialist Party of the Oppressed ( ESP ) confined itself to criticizing the attempts of censorship imposed by the People’s Front, and stood in distance from tensions and clashes.

Members of Parliament of the People’s Democratic Party, a party which includes among many other revolutionary/progressive parties and mass organizations the Kurdish National Liberation Movement and the Socialist Party of the Oppressed, tried to mediate between the two sides in order to solve the problem. They explicitly criticized the youth of the Kurdish National Liberation Movement, YDG-H, for carrying out attacks to the club houses of the People’s Front in three neighborhoods of Istanbul, and endeavored to reduce the tension.

The Socialist Party of the Oppressed tried to stay out of these clashed and emphasized that there should be no restriction on doing politics and clashes between revolutionary/progressive forces. However, unfortunately, the People’s Front organized armed attacks on two sympathizers of the ESP.  In the night of August 1st, at 11 pm, the People’s Front shot the ESP sympathizer Anıl Akyol in his leg with a shotgun in the Gazi neighboorhood of Istanbul. In the same night, a member of the ESP, Mustafa Ceylan, who was on his way home, was shot two times in his head and fell into a coma. Again, the very same night, members of the ESP were bashed in Sarıgazi by members of the People’s Front.

Meanwhile, the ESP held meetings with the People’s Front, and time and again emphasized that it was staying away from confrontations and physical violence between the People’s Democratic Party and the People’s Front. It is notable that the ESP did not engage in physical violence despite the fact that it is a part of the People’s Democratic Party.
 
However, the People’s Front organized three attacks on our members, to which we drew attention above.

The People’s Front declarations on the two armed attacks aimed at concealing the fact that it was they who carried out these attacks. The ESP clearly uncovered these lies. The People’s Front claimed, for instance, that Mustafa Ceylan was shot while he was fighting with the People’s Front against the police. On August 31st, the ESP declared that it terminated all relations to the People’s Front, unless it practices self-criticism with respect to the attacks on the ESP. Moreover, the ESP once again underlined that it will not engage in any kind of physical violence against any left party, and made clear that the People’s Front must be excluded from the united revolutionary/democratic struggle.

The People’s Front still keeps the attitude of prohibiting activities of other revolutionary parties in neighborhoods such as Çayan and Armutlu, where it is well organized, or imposes that any political activity in these districts requires their permission. The justification of this attitude is that the People’s Front has put a lot of effort in organizing in these neighborhoods. This reasoning is dictatorial, and must be dropped!

Besides its petty-bourgeois censorship, some other factors underlie this reactionary attitude of the People’s Front. The notion of people’s democracy was produced during the ascendence of the international communist movement, which saw demoratic relations and cooperation between revolutionary and progressive parties and classes, and anti-fascist fronts. In the last quarter century, we have been witnessing the increasing influence of reactionary forces. The sense of democratic relations and rules has also been distorted. Against this background, the practice of preventing other revolutionary movements through brute force, and anti-democratic and imperious approaches have become more and more attractive. The People’s Front features both of these outlined attitudes. It has been imposing an antidemocratic competition on the ESP. In 2006 as well, the People’s Front ended up with conflicts with the ESP in Gülsuyu neighborhood.

Moreover, the People’s Front has sociologically inconsistent relations in anti-fascist worker neighborhoods. For instance, it has good relations with the Nalbur Gang in Gazi, which consists of lumpen Alevi youth. Although this gang organized an armed attack on one of the ESP’s institutions in 2004, and murdered one Maoist revolutionary from the Democratic Rights Federation in 2010, the People’s Front did not take a critical stance against the gang. It preferred to maintain its unofficial relations, and exploited the gang in the latest conflicts. In short, the People’s Front’s relations with such gangs reflects also its own character. Moreover, the People’s Front maintains its nationalistic attitude against the Kurdish Movement, and deploys a chauvinistic agitation by appropriating the discourse of the oppressor nation. It did not refrain from using the provocative expression “Kurds are attacking Alevis”. All this reflects the chauvinistic aggression of the People’s Front against the Kurdish National Liberation Movement and revolutionary parties in alliance and solidarity with it, such as the ESP.

The Socialist Party of the Oppressed is a communist party that is committed to the struggle against fascism and capitalist imperialism. It comes from a tradition, which fought fascism under the harshest conditions. It does not need the permission of any instance for its struggle. It does not bow to pressures, it will not buckle under the reactionary attacks of the People’s Front, and it will not appropriate the same reactionary attitude as the People’s Front. It follows the tradition of socialist democracy. As long as the People’s Front does not practice self-criticism with respect to the brutal violence it used, the ESP and institutions associated with it will abandon all political relations with the People’s Front. Partizan, another revolutionary movement, also took this stance with a revolutionary responsibility. Only such an attitude with revolutionary responsibility can and should dissuade the People’s Front from its reactionary politics.