Video screenshot of protests in Turkey
The Communist Parties of Turkey (TKP) and Greece (KKE) on the volatile situation in Turkey. Mass demonstrations have rocked the country and been met with intense state and police repression since the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. Several TKP members from TKP’s central boards and local organisations have also been detained.
People Will Break the Game
The political developments that began on March 19 with the detention orders issued for more than 100 people, including Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and journalist İsmail Saymaz, continue to unfold.
On the first day of these events, the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) declared, "We Call on Our People to Organize Against AKP Tyranny." And today, the Party has called for protests in several cities, especially in the three major metropolitan cities, with the following appeal:
“We call on all our citizens to gather today in İstanbul, Ankara, and Izmir to defend the right to vote and be elected, stand by press workers and the freedom of information, and protest the government's arbitrary practices.
Not to support any presidential candidate or political party, but to stand for our country and the future of our people;
For the Republic, for secularism, for independence, for socialism!”
TKP also countered the government's claims that widespread public demonstrations are orchestrated by “foreign powers” with a statement aimed at strengthening the resistance of these protests:
"As we have repeatedly emphasized, the crisis of governance in Turkey is deepening by the day. We are witnessing a moment where the government has become so desperate and fractured that it is now attempting to abolish the fundamental right to vote and be elected.
According to the government and its loyal media, foreign powers are orchestrating an operation against Turkey.
But let’s be clear: The retirees abandoned to hunger, the students robbed of their future, and the citizens deprived of their voting rights have nothing to do with foreign powers. The people of Anatolia cannot be bought, nor can they be made to betray their country.
They are right about one thing—foreign powers do seek to interfere in Turkey, as they always have.
And let it be known that it was this very government that made Turkey vulnerable to such interventions.
Privatizations handed the country over to multinational monopolies and TÜSİAD.
The Greater Middle East Project dragged Turkey into imperialist schemes.
The fabricated operations conducted hand in hand with the Gülenists shook institutions to their core and took society hostage.
The privileges granted to religious sects stripped away the remaining achievements of the Republic.
Their meddling in Syria turned the country into a playground for British intelligence—and they called it a “victory.”
Today, a vast majority of the country lives in poverty and despair, while a handful of the wealthy hoard all the riches.
For years, they justified it all by saying, “But the people elected us.” Now, it seems, they have decided that they no longer even need the people's vote.
Enough!
We say this to the government: Do not try to suppress the people with your rhetoric about “foreign powers” when the country’s economy is controlled by a small elite that serves only itself, when Turkey is a NATO member, and when it has been handed over to religious sects and corporate monopolies.
This exploitative system will not stop foreign interventions.
The people will.
Workers, retirees, students, intellectuals, and impoverished farmers who stand for independence, the Republic, secularism, and equality will break every game.”
Upholding Our Dual Responsibility
The AKP government’s latest operation to undermine the right to universal suffrage has reached a new and alarming stage with the arrest of Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.
This arrest is entirely illegitimate.
Even if the arrest warrant has been issued on corruption charges, as with many political operations during the AKP era, the underlying motives remain evident. The true purpose of this operation is to shrink political space and pave the way for similar interventions in the future.
However, the clarity of this objective does not diminish the reality of Turkey’s deepening governance crisis. The tensions, power struggles, and behind-the-scenes bargains among key institutions and actors within the current system have been laid bare throughout this trial process and reflected in the pro-government media.
Turkey is grappling with profound turmoil, involving its government, opposition, and institutions, as it faces the ripple effects of international instability.
The Communist Party of Turkey recognizes the potential for these developments to trigger significant economic, political, and social consequences that could shake the foundations of the capitalist system. Therefore, we stress the urgent need to organize an independent and revolutionary path to prevent working people from becoming trapped in the power struggles between competing factions.
On the one hand, we will take a decisive stance to increase the resistance against the usurpation of the right to vote and the fait accompli against the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Simultaneously, we will strive to awaken a broader segment of society from the spell of factional conflicts, covert bargains, and hidden agendas.
What is promising is the growing number of people who are beginning to embrace this dual mission.
As the embodiment of this commitment, the Communist Party of Turkey will continue to uphold its steadfast, responsible, and revolutionary stance.
TKP Central Committee announced this morning with the following statement that several TKP members from TKP’s central boards and local organisations were detained:
“Communist Party of Turkey was in İstanbul Saraçhane, the center of the protests in İstanbul, last night with thousands of members and friends of the party to defend the people's right to politics.
This morning, Head of TKP Provincial Organisation in İstanbul Ahmet Dincel, Member of Party Council Arda Hacıyusufoğlu and party members were detained from their homes on the grounds of TKP's participation in the demonstration in Saraçhane.
This unlawful detention must end and our party members must be released immediately.”
As it is known, more than 100 people, including CHP’s İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, had been issued detention orders on March 19 and some of those including İmamoğlu were arrested yesterday, on March 23.
Communist Party of Turkey views the recent developments in the context of the AKP's efforts to shrink political space and undermine the people's right to participate in politics.
The developments in Turkey once again expose the EU, NATO and the USA, which have made the Erdoğan government a strategic partner
The Press Office of the CC of the KKE issued the following statement on the developments in Turkey:
“The KKE condemns the decision of the Turkish state and the AKP government to arrest and remove from office the Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, the repression of demonstrations and the mass arrests of demonstrators, including cadres of the Communist Party of Turkey and the Communist Youth of Turkey, as well as journalists.
These developments once again expose the EU, NATO and the USA, which have made the Erdoğan government a strategic partner and a ‘guardian’ of their interests in the region. They show the intensification of the intra-bourgeois contradictions, for which the people will pay the price.
The KKE expresses its solidarity with the Turkish people and the Communist Party of Turkey and demands an end to the repression and persecution and the release of those arrested.”
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