TKP General Secretary Okuyan: 'We are facing a group doomed to fear and disintegration'

The Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) held a meeting in Ankara today to amplify the will of the patriots and communists who broke the blockade established in the capital for the NATO Summit and marched to Kızılay on July 5, and to discuss the results of the summit. 

At the event, which took place at the Chamber of Mechanical Engineers Culture Center with the participation of hundreds of Ankara residents, TKP Ankara Provincial Chair Banu Ünver delivered the opening speech, emphasizing the importance of taking to the streets in Turkey today despite everything, and the unyielding resistance of the patriots who poured into the streets despite the state of emergency declared in Ankara for NATO.

Following a cinevision screening on the history of NATO and the subsequent call, "Don't wait another day, join the TKP," TKP General Secretary Kemal Okuyan delivered a speech.

"IF IT WEREN'T FOR OUR PERSISTENCE, THEY WOULD HAVE HELD THE SUMMIT IN ANKARA WITH WEDDING CELEBRATIONS AND DRUMS"

Kemal Okuyan began his speech by thanking the communists who objected to the country bowing down to NATO and took to the streets in Ankara, saying, "We have come together today to talk about why NATO is a current and major danger for the world and Turkey. We met to discuss the summit in Ankara and its outcome. We are here to talk about NATO and the powers behind NATO." Expressing that there are very difficult struggles ahead and that even the smallest steps taken today will be determinants of major future developments, Okuyan said:

“Today, NATO is an important organization for Turkey and the world, and yet it is an organization that is rarely talked about. It came to the agenda again with this summit issue. But we have been struggling for years to make NATO a topic of discussion, yet there is a tremendous indifference in society. How did they manage this? One needs to look at the history of how they made the phenomenon called NATO so natural. All political movements that are mainstream in Turkish politics today have defined NATO to Turkey from history to the present as a natural and indispensable defense organization. Nationalists, Islamists, conservatives, and even some leftists have done this. Sometimes it is important to stand out and speak up. Sometimes your voice is not heard at all, but it echoes somewhere. Some things need to be kept on the agenda persistently. If it weren't for our persistence today, they would have held the summit in Ankara with wedding celebrations, drums, and pipes."

'THE REAL REASON FOR THE BANS IS TO PREVENT NATO FROM BEING DISCUSSED'

Addressing why the actions were wanted to be banned, Okuyan stated, "Why did they want to ban them? Because someone was going to stand up and say that the stories that have been going on in Turkey for decades are lies," indicating that the real intention behind the bans was to prevent people from talking. Touching upon the excuse of summit security, Okuyan continued his speech as follows:

“What is it, the security of the summit? They could have provided that in every way. The reason for declaring martial law in Ankara or imposing protest bans in different cities is not security. They want to prevent it from being discussed. That's why we have to keep it on the agenda. Actions are important for this. No matter how powerful those in front of us are, they should always feel this. No matter how powerful we are, they find a way and challenge us. We have to give this feeling. We have to let them know that they are not in a rose garden without thorns. To the extent that we make them feel this, hope will increase in our people. In fact, this action, which has no historical importance and will not change the course of history, aroused so much interest in so many people that it created an effect that made even those very distant from the TKP say 'well done.' This is also important."

'TRUMP DOES NOT SAY "COMMUNIST THREAT" JUST FOR THE SAKE OF IT; WE ARE NOT A THREAT, WE ARE THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY'

Explaining that the working people must persistently emphasize certain things until they take their own will into their hands and march to power, Okuyan referred to the statements of US President Trump and said, "Trump pauses, talks about communism, says 'the danger of communism, we have to fight against communism.' You would understand if it were the Cold War period 50 years ago. But why is he saying it now? Just for the sake of it? They know that as long as this vile order continues, communists are a threat. They may be weak, they may sometimes retreat, but this threat will always exist. We are not a threat. We are the future of humanity. We must constantly remind people of this and prevent them from losing hope," he expressed.

'THERE IS A NEED FOR ORGANIZED STRUGGLE, NOT HEROES'

Responding to expectations of heroes in his speech, Kemal Okuyan said, "A society addicted to heroes has been created; I said Haluk Levent is a product of this, and it was debated a lot. We also need to explain this. No hero could have done what our friends in Ankara did," and explained the importance of organized struggle with these words:

“In the struggle against NATO, capital, and tyranny, we must remind ourselves of one thing. Organized struggle is the strongest struggle. There is no greater power than the culture of acting together, common will, and organized will. Our biggest advantage is that those in front of us no longer have a culture of acting together. No matter how much money or weapons they have, NATO or the AKP or other parties do not have the power to act together. There is no need for heroes in organized struggle. If there is a need, the organized struggle creates its own heroes anyway. We will keep this alive constantly. This is a psychological war. Some will say NATO is indispensable, we will say NATO is a bloody terrorist organization. Some will say nothing will come of these actions, we will say no, it is very useful, it is being written somewhere, it is being written into people's memories and hearts.”

Stating that one day these actions will lead to qualitative results, Okuyan emphasized the impact of the actions by saying, "When those images hit the agencies, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people in Turkey said, 'I wish I were there too.' Whether they are TKP members or not. Can there be anything greater than this? That is why this struggle is a great struggle."

'A FAIR WHERE TOYS THAT WILL KILL PEOPLE ARE EXHIBITED WITH BILLION-DOLLAR BUDGETS'

Describing what was discussed at the Ankara summit as an arms deal, Okuyan said, "Now let's come to today. Let's look at what was discussed at the Ankara summit. First of all, the Ankara summit is a big fair. It can be described as a big arms fair," and noted the following:

“Think of it this way: our people go to the market and try to buy fruits and vegetables by filling half of their bags with great difficulty, while they exhibited toys that will kill people to each other with billion-dollar budgets and created a terrible pie; a new budget was determined. These budgets mean less education, less health, less budget for retirees, and cuts in public spending all over the world today. It's that simple."

Touching upon Turkey's armament process and its consequences, Okuyan said, "They are trying to increase war budgets to 5 percent; these are very large figures. And in some countries, the budget allocated to education is around 2 percent. What does this mean? They are arming. Turkey is also arming. And Turkey has recently become an ambitious arms manufacturer," he said.

NATO HEADQUARTERS ESTABLISHED FOR THE STRAITS AND NEO-OTTOMANISM

Drawing attention to the headquarters issue discussed behind closed doors, Okuyan said, "Now, it wasn't talked about much at the summit. In fact, many things couldn't be talked about; everything was done behind closed doors. Two NATO headquarters are being established in the country, one of which is related to the Straits. Now, the security of the Straits belongs to Turkey. NATO's headquarters regarding the Straits is an issue that should create great panic. The rulers of this country said this," and noted the following:

“Then we learned that the responsible commander of the NATO headquarters regarding the Straits, friends, will be Turkish. And the deputies will be from two countries of NATO, which consists of 32 countries. I suppose everyone who knows the War of Independence knows that if the imperialists wanted to take revenge, they would say French and British commanders would accompany them. That is exactly what they announced as if giving great news. French and British commanders will accompany Turkish commanders. So what does this mean? Tom Barrack's glorification of empire instead of republic, that Ottomanism is fitting, the Minister of National Education saying 'what war of independence, who did we get saved from' and glorifying the Ottomans, these were connected to NATO projects. What have we been saying for years? The strategic orientation of the AKP is Ottomanism. Now they say this: Ottomanism as much as NATO allows, or for NATO."

'WE MUST FOCUS ON THE WEAK POINTS OF THE OPPOSITE SIDE'

Touching upon the pessimism that exists in everyone, Okuyan asked, "Friends, what will we do in this chaos, in a world where NATO is expanding? The AKP is not moving from its place. A government that cannot be defeated, there is pessimism in everyone. If there is pessimism, we will also look at the full side of the glass. Wherever you look, you focus there, you strengthen that place. Is the full side of this glass our own power or the weak points of the other side?" and answered as follows:

“The full side of this glass is not just our own power; I do not underestimate our power. But if we focus on our own power, you feel helpless when you look at the massive war machine. Then the best thing to do is to look at the weak points of the other side without losing touch with reality. What are the weak points of the other side? They are scared to death. They are declaring martial law in the country because they are afraid. They are afraid of the truth, they are afraid of themselves. Constant arrests due to this post or that post. Friends, this is a product of fear of themselves, not others. They see weak headlines about themselves in those posts. Fear disintegrates. Fear is human, but fear that cannot be overcome disintegrates. We are facing a group doomed to fear and disintegration, despite all their money and power."

Listing the other weak points of the opposing front, Okuyan said, "They cannot solve the problems among themselves because there are conflicts of interest. There is no possibility of agreement where there is money. The tensions between them are good for us. We are not facing a sustainable system. What is this stability? The continuation of countries in the world in this way; neither Turkey nor the world can continue like this. There is no mind in front of us. If Trump is at the top of the world's most powerful imperialist country, we are facing an ignorant, foolish, clownish, inconsistent man, and the others are not much different anyway," he said.

'THERE IS NO OTHER WAY, WE HAVE TO SPEED UP'

Responding to the attacks targeting them, Okuyan said, "Someone came out and said you are just blabbering. We explained at the beginning what we are doing. We are dealing with the viruses that enter the minds of citizens and laborers day and night under extremely difficult conditions. By talking, by explaining, by action. There is no other way, we have to speed up," he said and concluded his words as follows:

“Dear friends, that is why the fact that there is so much support for this outburst regarding the issue of heroism is a good sign. There is a type of politics that is not dependent on individuals. We have to explain, show, and multiply this. After that, it is very easy; they cannot stand against us. I claim that no one can stand against reason, righteousness, and organization. Even if they all came together, they still couldn't stand. Our time is running out. There is only one danger. These scoundrels can eliminate humanity before we do our job. We will not put our heads under the quilt just because this possibility exists. We will speed up. Turkey is a critical country in this respect. If we cleanse Turkey of exploitation and imperialism, a chain reaction will occur; this is a critical country, these are fertile lands. Can this happen in such a dark, such a rotten country? It can. Those chains break from where they rot anyway. In Turkey, this decay can also be a sign of a rising up. Because human beings do not rot in their entirety, you cannot rot them. If there is a lot of decay in one place, the antidote is also settling somewhere there, and that is organized struggle. In the end, it doesn't matter to NATO, to exploitation, to the holding, or to the sect. We are here!"

News Source: 12punto