Communist Party of Turkey (modern)

This article is about the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) formed in 2001. For other parties with similar names, see Communist Party of Turkey.

Communist Party of Turkey (Türkiye Komünist Partisi, TKP) is a political party in Turkey. They are known as the TKP since changing the name of the party from the Party for Socialist Power (Sosyalist İktidar Partisi, SİP) in 2001.

History

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9th Congress(2009)

TKP is a party, which critically embraces the entire legacy of the leftist and revolutionary movement in Turkey. As a result, the history of TKP doesn't only consist of a narrow line, but we accept a broad range of movements, organizations and figures in the left as part of our history.

Early Years
Although there were leftist and revolutionary groups in the Ottoman Empire, most of these were either divided along ethnic and religious lines or they were unable to develop into widespread mass organizations. In the aftermath of the WWI, at which Ottoman Empire suffered a definite and fatal defeat, working class organizations in major cities of Turkey started to get mobilized against the imperialist occupation. In the heat of the Liberation War, these organizations joint their forces and founded TKP in September 10 1920, in Baku, with the inspiration of the Great October Revolution. Immediately after its foundation, TKP was recognized as a member of Comintern. The founders of TKP, Mustafa Suphi (1881-1921) and his 14 comrades were massacred in January 1921 on orders of Mustafa Kemal, who gradually eliminated all of his political opponents and became the sole leader of the Turkish liberation movement. That terrifying event also marked the commencement of the illegal struggle of the party and revealed the bourgeois identity of Mustafa Kemal's movement. During 1920's and 1930's, when Republic of Turkey was emerging from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, TKP operated illegally. While the party enjoyed a significant popularity among the rapidly emerging proletariat, oppression by the regime and internal problems of the party hindered TKP to develop into a powerful organization. Still, many intellectuals, including the famous communist poet Nazim Hikmet (1903-1962), joined the lines of the party at that era and made important contributions to the revival of the communist movement in the following decades. However, we can't talk about a continuous history of the communist and revolutionary movement until 1960's.

1960's: A Strong Intervening Force: The Workers' Party of Turkey
The Most important event of the 1960s was the foundation and political influence of the Workers' Party of Turkey (Türkiye İşçi Partisi-TIP). Founded in the relatively liberated atmosphere of 1960's, TIP should also be considered as an offspring of the communist movement. By the joint efforts of labor unionists and leftist intellectuals, TIP became a mass organization in a short while. As early as 1965, TIP managed to get 3% of the votes and 15 seats in the parliament. Short after that, in 1967, Revolutionary Labor Unions' Confederation (DISK) was founded as a massive and revolutionary working class organization under the influence of TIP. In addition to that, TIP became the first political party, which put the Kurdish Question into its agenda. Meanwhile, TIP experiment also popularized the discussions of socialism and revolutions. Theoretical and political literature started to get translated en masse, enriching and inspiring the political discussions among leftists. A kind of dissociation took place in the ranks of the party and two strategic paths originated. The "socialist revolutionary" side advocated for a main role to be given to the proletariat in the revolution process while the "national democratic revolutionary" side claimed that the bourgeois revolutionary process in Turkey had not yet been completed and that this had to be the primary aim before the struggle for socialism. Although the socialist revolutionaries seemed more accurate in their arguments, neither side was on firm ideological ground. While these arguments were taking place, the political condition of Turkey was becoming increasingly fragile. This atmosphere led the student movement to engage in armed struggle against Turkey's ruling class, and to alienate from TIP. TIP was also unable to lead the working class movement. In 1970, upon a decision by the parliament to ban DISK, hundreds of thousands of workers marched to Istanbul and occupied the city for two days. Its political and ideological confusion and indecisiveness of TIP hindered it to assume the leadership of this proletarian uprising. A significant conclusion to be drawn from this event was that the proletariat in Turkey was ripe enough to lead a socialist revolution. On March 12, 1971, a coup d'état was staged against the strengthening of the working class and the leftist movement, putting an end to TIP as a legal party. In early 1970s, various small militant groups accelerated the armed struggle. While revolutionary leaders like Deniz Gezmis, Mahir Cayan and Ibrahim Kaypakkaya were murdered and defeated, these early experiences of armed struggle inspired the mass armed revolutionary organizations of late 1970s.

1970's: Birth of "Socialist Power"
Mobilizing the cadres of the banned TIP, TKP started "the leap" of 1973. In a few years TKP became an influential illegal party with semi-legal mass organizations and it was also masterminding DISK. In addition to that TIP (refounded in 1974) and TSIP (Socialist Workers' Part of Turkey) were struggling legally, while Dev Yol (Revolutionary Path) and Kurtulus (Liberation) emerged as massive armed organizations. Parallel to the strengthening of the left, the bourgeoisie assumed a contra-guerrilla war centered on paramilitary gangs and fascist MHP (Nationalist Movement Party), with high points like the assault on May 1 1977, at which over 30 people were murdered during the May Day Parade on Taksim Square in Istanbul. As a result of the continuous attacks by fascists, left organizations assumed an "anti-fascist" struggle, alienating themselves from the revolutionary struggle. While the main tendency in Turkey's left supported the social democratic CHP (Republican People's Party) in the name of gathering forces against fascism, opposition started to rise from the inside of many organizations and to form splits, which criticized the major movements from a revolutionary perspective. One of these splits was Socialist Power (Sosyalist Iktidar), which left TIP in 1978.

1980's: Death and Rebirth of Left

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9th Congress(2009)

In 1979, Socialist Power started to be published as a monthly journal, which lasted until the military coup in 1980. The military coup in 1980 with its pure anti-communist and anti-working class character can be considered a breaking point for the left in Turkey. While leftist organizations were unable to resist against the strikes by the military dictatorship, the dissolving of Eastern Block and Soviet Union accelerated the liquidation of the leftist organizations. By early 1990s, none of the major leftist organizations of 1970's were intact. After the military coup in 1980, following an organizational period, some former cadres of Socialist Power decided to publish a theoretical journal called Gelenek (Tradition) in 1986, which is still the theoretical publication of the Communist Party of Turkey. The decision was made with the perspective that the needs of the communist movement at the time pointed to a theoretical, ideological and political reproduction of Leninist principles with regard of present conditions in Turkey. This would in turn form the basis for the creation of new cadres for the communist movement. Gelenek also served the purpose of being a transitional bridge between the experiences of the international communist movement and the new cadres of the communist movement in Turkey. Such a role was especially important during the dissolution of the USSR and the continuation of the dreadful ideological assault on socialism. Actually the results of the same ideological assault was the main reason for the decision of the cadres of Gelenek to found an open and legal party following a period of intense discussion in Turkey's left concerning so-called unification. The party that was established was the "Party for Socialist Turkey" (Sosyalist Turkiye Partisi-STP), founded on November 7, 1992. The program of this party insisted on revolutionary, creative and "orthodox" politics, while the Turkish left in general was demoralized. After the Constitutional Court banned STP upon an article in its program regarding the Kurdish people, the Party for Socialist Power (Sosyalist İktidar Partisi-SIP) was founded in 1993. SIP aimed to organize all people devoted to four principles in order to socialize as a communist party: Anti-imperialism, collectivism (as opposed to privatization), the defense of enlightenment principles against Islamic fundamentalism, and independency from the capitalist order and its institutions. The claim of theoretical creativity and ideological casting led the party to force two important areas: Universities and trade unions. The achievements in these areas describe the position of our party today. Universities have become strongholds of the socialist struggle, while the ideological dominance of capitalism in trade unions was obstructed by a campaign called "Not a farm, a syndicate for the working class!" 1990's were marked by neo-liberal assaults from all sides. While almost all public investments were privatized, labor unions were fading away. A rotten and degenerated culture was imposed by the bourgeoisie, as imperialism was deepening its impact on society. Meanwhile, Islamic fundamentalists, who were supported during 1980's by the military regime to replace and wipe out the ideological influence of the left, were getting more powerful, institutionalized and aggressive. In July 1993, a mob provoked by Islamic fundamentalists put a hotel in the inner Anatolian city Sivas in fire, murdering 35 intellectuals, who were there for a festival. Throughout 1990's SIP enforced a unique political line, confronting all faces of bourgeoisie from Islamists to secularist, revealing their links, and promoting socialism as a current alternative. In 1990's, parallel to the impasse in which the system found itself concerning the Kurdish question, a crisis emerged. In 1994, the national elections were boycotted by leftist parties as a gesture of support against the oppressive measures faced by the Kurdish party DEP. SIP participated in the general elections in 1995 forming an electoral block with the Kurdish movement and other leftist parties. The coalition was named the Labor-Peace-Freedom Block, and received over 5% of the vote in Turkey. This block was instrumental in introducing class character and the communist line to the Kurdish masses. This was the first election experiment of the party. In 1999, SIP participated alone in the elections and got around 39 thousand votes. In 1990's SIP confronted imperialism from various dimensions, struggling against the USA, EU, IMF and NATO simultaneously. In contrast with some leftists groups, SIP considered the European Union as an imperialist organization and revealed the dark face behind its hollow promises. In 2000, SIP initiated a widespread campaign for the repatriation of the communist poet Nazim Hikmet and collected over 500 thousand signatures. This campaign not only intended to broaden the public basis of the party, but it was also an initial attempt to promote the communist identity embodies in the popular figure of Nazim Hikmet. Another significant campaign at that time was the "People's Memorandum" in 2001, which was an attempt to propagate the basic socialist demands among public. Looking from a broad historical perspective, 1990's and early 2000s were the transition period from a narrow cadre organization to a mass political party for our movement, and in this era our movement gained significant experience in developing and popularizing socialist policies. SIP also played an important role in the weakening of ideological degenerations in left like left liberalism, Trotskyism and left nationalism.

2001: The Communist Party of Turkey
The period stretching from the foundation of the STP, then SIP, to the year 2001, was also a process of the formation and organization of the Communist Party of Turkey, in all three ways: ideologically, politically and theoretically. SIP fought against the anti-communist hysteria propagated by forces of capitalism in Turkey and struggled in order to form the ideological and organizational basis of a communist party throughout the working classes of Turkey, while the party itself inwardly changed in essence not formally, but actually. As early as 1995, at its first congress, SIP made the decisions to assume its real name, "communist", as early as possible. In 2000, while the name of the party newspaper was changed from Socialist Power to Communist, KP (Communist Party) was founded with 30 members as an intermediary phase on the way to TKP. In 2001, everything was ready for the establishment of the Communist Party of Turkey. With the 6th Congress of the party, the name "Party for Socialist Power" changed to "Communist Party of Turkey", despite the still existing ban in Turkish law forbidding the establishment of a political party with a name including the word "communist" in its title. Communist Party of Turkey was not a direct organizational and political continuation of the former TKP, but claimed to include its legacy and experience in its roots, among the legacy of the all revolutionary movement in Turkey. TKP participated at the elections held on November 2002, with its own identity, thus including the word "communist" in its title. After an intensive election campaign, which propagated the communist identity and socialist policies, the party got around 60 thousand votes. Communist Party of Turkey knew that the voting preferences of the Turkish and Kurdish people depended on many factors other than ideological support. The real support for TKP was in fact many times more than the voting percentage reflected. In 2003, TKP mobilized all its forces and founded the Committees against the Occupation in Iraq) against the imperialist war plans against. As a result of the struggle of TKP and other leftist organizations, hundreds of thousands of people got mobilized against the war and Turkey's participation in it, and hindered the pass of the decree allowing the USA to use Turkey's territories for troop deployment in Iraq. When it was determined that a NATO Summit would be held in Istanbul in June 2004, TKP mobilized all its forces to hinder the summit. While Committees against Occupation were founded at many factories, high schools, universities and neighborhoods, TKP also utilized the municipal elections in March 2004 to mobilize people against NATO and increased its electoral support to over 85 thousand votes. The mass rallies against NATO on June 2004 not only showed TKP's success in mobilizing masses against NATO, but they also revealed the central role TKP started to play in Turkey's left.

Issues of TKP

European Union
TKP is strictly and unconditionally against Turkey's membership into European Union and regards it as an imperialist organization. TKP reveals the dichotomy of EU's hollow promises about "democracy" and "human rights" and informs the public about the mechanisms of economic exploitation and political submission embodied in EU. TKP also struggles against the neo-liberal policies implemented by the government as part of the integration to the EU and propagates socialism as an alternative to EU.

NATO
TKP considers NATO as a brutal, militaristic tool in the hand of imperialist and defends canceling Turkey's membership to NATO. While NATO still keeps its anti-communist nature, more and more it is used by the USA to expand and strengthen its hegemony on the world, to threaten sovereign countries and to involve other NATO members like Turkey in its bloody imperialist adventures. TKP mobilized all its forces against the NATO Summit in Istanbul on June 2004 and will continue to struggle against NATO presence in Turkey and in the region

Iraq
TKP opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning on and utilized all its forces in 2003 to mobilize people in Turkey against the war. In 2003, TKP not only struggled against the occupation of a neighboring country by imperialists, but it also contributed to the prevention of Turkey's involvement into the war, with its troops or with its logistical support to the USA. Today TKP still warns the people about the government's continuing attempts to send troops to Iraq, while revealing the capitalists, which support the imperialist occupation by doing business in Iraq.

Cyprus
TKP stands for a united, independent Cyprus and believes that this can be only achieved in socialism. While TKP rejects nationalist arguments for dividing the island and demands the withdrawal of all foreign troops including Turkish, Greek and British troops, it also opposes the EU membership of Cyprus, stressing that imperialists, who have the primary responsibility in the current situation of the island, cannot bring peace to Cyprus.

Fundamentalism
TKP considers Islamic fundamentalists as a counter-revolutionary force serving the interests of Turkey's bourgeoisie and imperialists. In Turkey, Islamic fundamentalism was raised as an assault force against leftist and revolutionaries in 1960's, and after the military coup in 1980, they were supported by the military to erase the impact of revolutionaries among laborers. In 1990's Islamists continued their assaults against leftist, the most brutal example being the murder of 35 intellectuals in Sivas in 1993. While TKP struggles against Islamic fundamentalism at political and ideological level, it also reveals their links with bourgeoisie and military.

AKP
AKP (Party of Justice and Development), which is the party in government since the elections in 2002, is a loyal servant of imperialism and obedient representative of bourgeoisie. While being organically part of bourgeoisie, AKP managed to get the votes of laborers with lies and empty promises and it became the first party in power without a coalition since early 1990s. Although AKP's roots are in Islamic fundamentalist movement, it doesn't hesitate to collaborate with the USA, to submit Turkey to EU and to strengthen Turkey's dependency on NATO. While TKP reveals the collaborationist character of AKP, it also struggles against the Islamist discourse of AKP at ideological level.

Neo-liberalism
In the struggle against neo-liberalism, TKP intends to go beyond resistance and organize a counter-attack. Presenting socialism as the only valid alternative against the "New World Order" imposed by imperialists and capitalists, TKP fights against neo-liberalism both at ideological and political level. The process of neo-liberalization started in Turkey after the military coup in 1980, upon which an intensive wave of privatization and anti-labor policies shook the country. TKP argues that the neo-liberal assaults can only defeated by a strong working class movement with a clear socialist perspective.

Working Class Movement
Creating a new working class movement is among the priorities of TKP. While the new methods of capitalist production make the labor unions an insufficient platform for creating an effective working class movement, transforming the "yellow" unions to "red" ones and eliminating the rotten bureaucracy at labor unions is an important first step on the way to creating a working class movement, which embraces all laborers of the country. To do so, TKP created the Workers' Council consisting of labor unionists, intellectuals and vanguard workers, which is intended to produce strategies and coordination on the way of creating a working class movement.

Women Laborers
TKP doesn't consider women's problems as being apart from the class struggle. With this perspective, TKP organized the Laborer Women's Committees, which aim to organize and mobilize especially the women, who do housework or don't have a specified working place. In addition to politicizing women laborers, Laborer Women Committees also struggle against the ideological and political assaults by the bourgeoisie, such as covering the class dimension of women's problems.

Kurdish Issue
Standing for the fraternity of the peoples in Turkey, TKP considers itself as the party of Kurdish and Turkish proletariat. Since the oppression of Kurdish people is a direct result of capitalist system, the salvation of Kurdish people cannot be separated from the salvation of the Turkish proletariat. While TKP struggles against nationalist and racist attitudes towards Kurdish people, it also denounces Kurdish nationalism. Especially after the dissolving of Soviet Union, like many other national liberation movements, the mainstream Kurdish movement started to shift right. TKP struggles against the subaltern nationalism, which gives priority to the national question over class struggle, and builds up the common march of Kurdish and Turkish laborers towards socialism.

Universities
TKP considers the struggle at the universities as an essential part of the general struggle for socialism. Since universities are crucial to meet the ideological needs of the bourgeoisie, they are important platforms of ideological and political struggle for communists. Student branch of TKP aims to defeat the ideological impact of the bourgeoisie on universities, stand against the privatization on commercialization of universities and to hinder the universities from being used by NATO, EU and imperialists in general. TKP also formed the University Councils consisting of students, academicians and university laborers at many universities, in order to give voice to the demands of communists at universities. It is important to note that student branch of TKP gives priority to linking the struggle at universities to the broader struggle for socialism and to establish ties between the problems at universities and capitalist system.

High Schools
Communist Party of Turkey has also been active in the high schools of the country, organizing the youth of Turkey which has been systematically forced into isolation from politics in the wake of the 1980 military coup. Under the banner of "the School and Country" a name symbolizing the inseparable nature of these two areas and emphasizing the importance of politicization, high school students frequently come together for debates, various activities such as photograph exhibitions and slide shows depicting relevant current issues such as war and imperialism. The heightening of political awareness among the youth of Turkey is seen as an imperative in the struggle for socialism by the Communist Party of Turkey.

Internationalism
TKP gives priority to reproducing the struggle for socialism at international level. While TKP believes that socialism can only be achieved through the struggles of communist and revolutionary organizations in each separate country, it considers international solidarity and collaboration as an important component of the struggle for socialism. Thus TKP is in contact with communist and revolutionary organizations from all over the world. Giving priority to regional collaboration, TKP supports Balkan Anti-NATO Center (BAN-C) and develops close ties with the communist parties of neighboring countries. Further on, TKP expresses its full support to socialist countries like Cuba, and Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Accordingly, TKP supported the foundation of José Martí Association for Friendship with Cuba in Turkey, which aims to inform the public about the gains of socialism in Cuba. Meanwhile, the student branch of TKP is a member of World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) and it organized the "International Anti-Imperialist Youth Camp" together with WFDY in June 2004. In addition to that TKP hosted two international conferences in February and June about the struggle against NATO

Program of TKP

• Türkiye Komünist Partisi Program of TKP

Election results

• 1999 General Election: 37,680 votes (0.12%) as Sosyalist İktidar Partisi
• 2002 General Election: 59,994 votes (0.19%)
• 2007 General Election: 77,657 votes (0.22%)

In the 2007 election, the party obtained its best result (by percentage) in Ardahan on the border with Georgia, where it got 787 votes (1.42%). TKP does not maintain offices in Ardahan.

See also

• Workers Party of Turkey
• Communist Party of Turkey for a list of communist parties in Turkey

External links

• Türkiye Komünist Partisi Official Website