Sungur Savran and Ertugrul Kürkçü, “The Turkish Crisis, the Generals, and the Left”

MRZine.org il 06/08/08

We have been insisting for years now that the two main political lines adopted by the Left in Turkey, each line representing the orientation of a multitude of parties and groups, are positively harmful for class struggle and the fight of the oppressed Kurdish people. One line, what we have called the left-liberal view, expects salvation from the European Union (EU) and therefore tails any ruling party that displays a commitment to Turkish accession to the EU. At present, this attitude manifests itself in sympathy for the AKP, and the bold move by this party in prosecuting those who conspired against it provides an excuse for backing this party, an enemy of the working class if there be any. This line is adopted by the Kurdish movement as well and also those Turkish socialist parties that try to build their fortunes on the success of the Kurdish movement. The other line is even more shameful. Against the religious reaction represented by the AKP, it supports the Turkish military, the very institution that, through the ferocious military dictatorship of the early 1980s, robbed the vibrant workers’ movement of the 1960s and the 1970s of all its gains. In relation to the latest episode, this wing has simply stood aside so as not to play into the hands of the AKP or, for some, has even outright come to the defense of the murderers and the putschists! This is similar to the posture of the CHP (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi — The Republican People’s Party), the self-styled social democratic party, whose leader has descended so far as to take upon himself the dubious honor of calling himself the ‘lawyer of Ergenekon’!