Anarchism in Turkey

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Anarchism came to the political scene in Turkey only after the publication of Kara, a monthly magazine. It was the starting point of anarchist movement in Turkey in 1986. Before the publication of this magazine, there was no visible anarchist movement in the country.

Marxism was an influential ideology in Turkey's revolutionary movements. In the 1980s, Marxism disintegrated in Turkey due to the military coup headed by Kenan Evren. Nearly all Marxist movements were crushed by the military government. In this situation, many Marxist militants were faced with a dilemma - the tension between the ultimate aim of Marxism which i.e. stateless and classless society, and the real-politic of Marxism (in achieving the ultimate goal, Marxism argues that productive forces should be developed and the state should preserved). This dilemma led many Marxists to reject the statist politics in Marxism and sought ways to reach the classless society without administering a state during a transition. Due to this many of them embraced anarchism. On the other hand, during the military rule, the left wing intelligentsia in questioned Marxist collectivism and the Leninist understanding of organisation. They inquired into the contradiction between society and the individual. Their inquiries led many of them to individualism. From there some of them started to defend the "responsible individual" and reached anarchism.

On the other hand, there is some individuals of an organized anarchist group called DAF (Devrimci Anarşist Faaliyet)(in English: Revolutionary Anarchist Action) that has been active in Anatolia and Mesopotamia for five years. We take “revolution”, “organising”, “collective living”, and “collective producing” as initials for their group.

As LAF (Lise Anarşist Faaliyet) (in English: Highschool Anarchist Action) they are in a struggle to separate the organized anarchism at high schools by 3 years.

References

• Anarchism in Turkey at the Spunk Library
• 1986-1996: Anarchism in Turkey
• anarsistfaaliyet.org.
• lafisyanda.org.