AKP’s President Erdoğan delivered his much-anticipated speech in Ankara today.
Within Erdoğan’s address, the following statements garnered significant attention: “We, as the AK Party, the Nationalist Movement Party, and the DEM Party, have decided to walk this path together. We have a cause. We are committed. Since we have a cause and have joined hands, we will overcome these obstacles.”
“THEIR COMMON GROUND IS THE FREEDOM TO EXPLOIT AND PLUNDER”
The statement released by the TKP is as follows:
“INITIAL ASSESSMENT REGARDING THE ‘EXPANDED PEOPLE’S ALLIANCE’
1. At the point we have reached today, we will state, and continue to state, that the ‘silencing of guns’ is a positive development. However, as we have always maintained, the political direction and substance are what is truly important. Contrary to common assumptions, conflict and non-conflict, or war and peace, are not polar opposites; in many instances, they are complementary. The substance of peace is as vital as the substance of conflict. Now that a historical reconciliation between the state and the PKK has been announced, the political content and orientation must be discussed without any constraints.
2. It took state institutions only a matter of months to shift from codifications like ‘terrorist organization’ and ‘baby killer’ to ‘founding leadership,’ ‘the organization,’ and even respectful ‘Mr.’-prefixed expressions. While a discourse that confined an issue to the ‘terrorism’ category and produced animosity among citizens has indeed vanished, what has emerged in its place is another unsubstantial rhetoric, devoid of credibility, sincerity, and seriousness. The ruling power followed the exact same method concerning Fethullahism. For years, they protected their ‘congregations,’ investigated those who exposed the true face of these and other sects, purged anyone from state institutions who looked askance at ‘Hocaefendi,’ jailed journalists, and filed thousands of defamation lawsuits. Then, it became a crime not to say ‘FETÖ’. There is no sincerity in these sharp U-turns, nor is there any substance. Consequently, at the end of nine years, the struggle against FETÖ has been rendered meaningless by being transformed into a complete enigma.
“THEIR AGREEMENT IS ON NEO-OTTOMANIST FANTASIES”
3. It is no mystery what project the expanded People’s Alliance, announced today from the highest authority, will put before us. We are well acquainted with its components. What they have agreed upon is the freedom for exploitation and plunder; in other words, the market economy. Their common ground is NATO. Their consensus is on the exploitation of sacred values and the system of religious sects. Their agreement is on Neo-Ottomanist fantasies. Just as Turkey was driven into a stalemate by holding companies, religious sects, and imperialists during the ‘war on terror’ period, it is now being dragged into a new impasse and destruction under the guise of a ‘terror-free Turkey’.
4. The TKP objects to the very question, ‘Are you for or against the process?’ The moment this question is accepted, any answer given will lead one into error.
5. It must be known that a ‘capitalist peace’ that includes Israel is desired across a very broad region. For this reason, Shara, a puppet of intelligence agencies, was placed at the head of Syria; for this reason, they want to bring Iran to its knees; for this reason, the most resilient elements of the Palestinian people are being annihilated. The USA, Britain, France, Israel, and reactionary Arab regimes are both competing with one another and working towards a ‘Middle East regime’ that will pillage Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and Lebanon, and fully exploit the labor of the region’s poor, made helpless by wars and migrations. This regime can be established either by dividing and conquering or by subjugating. The crucial thing is the creation of conditions for the profits of multinational monopolies and the continuation of imperialist hegemony.
6. The AKP, backed by the system of holding companies and religious sects, is plunging Turkey into this turmoil with a Neo-Ottomanist perspective. The government was included in this game because it did not object to the peace with Israel and has reduced its compatibility issues with NATO and the US. In the region, space will be created not for Turkey, but for the Neo-Ottoman project, our opportunistic capitalist class, and reactionism. This space will not only contain deep exploitation, enormous corporate profits, and lawless pillaging and plunder; it will also witness intensified competition and new wars. The expanded People’s Alliance is preparing for these wars of uncertain end and outcome under the name of ‘regional ambition.’ This is what they call ‘peace.’ It is evident that a ‘reconciliation’ and an ‘alliance’ that has set its mind on settling scores with 1923 will leave our country and our people vulnerable in this competition.
7. Those who think a democracy and unity project capable of reviving the Republic of Turkey can emerge from the consensus of those who see settling scores with 1923 as a strategic matter are also mistaken. However, those who believe this trend can be stopped without confronting capitalism, without explicitly aiming to demolish the capitalist order, and without entering into a determined and consistent struggle against imperialism are also in error.
“REPUBLICANS MUST RISE TO THEIR FEET”
8. Republicans need to rise up around a coherent and convincing program. The TKP states that this program must completely detach from the system of holding companies and religious sects. There is no other way out. The struggle for secularism, independence, and the Republic must be handled in conjunction with the struggle for equality.
9. The ‘expanded People’s Alliance’ speaks of Turkish, Kurdish, and Arab brotherhood. That brotherhood is a brotherhood of capital, a brotherhood of religious sects. Turkey’s Republican heritage cannot stop the devastation that this so-called brotherhood will create without first confronting its own internal anti-Kurdish and anti-Arab hostility. If the Republic of Turkey is to achieve an order of fraternal life in unity, and if we are to produce an effective antidote to the identity-based poison being systematically spread throughout this country, the way forward is to present a common struggle, a common path, and a common language that will make all our citizens living in this country say, ‘The Republic of Turkey is my homeland too.’
10. This darkness will absolutely be overcome, and our people will rise to their feet.