Barış Atay responds to Hamas criticisms directed at TİP: "We support Palestine, but..."

Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) former deputy Barış Atay was a guest on Fatih Altaylı's YouTube channel.

Speaking about his time as a deputy, Atay said regarding his speeches in Parliament, "We didn't say anything we didn't believe in. I think what left an impact on people was that someone was saying what they themselves believed."

'I DON'T THINK WE DID WRONG, I BELIEVE CAN WILL BE RELEASED'

Speaking about giving up his candidacy spot in the May 14 elections to Gezi prisoner Can Atalay, Atay gave the following response to the question, "Do you think you did the right thing?":

"Absolutely. We have no doubts. If we evaluate it only on the basis that he hasn't been released from prison, then the political action there would have no meaning. This was a message. Can is a symbol. Like many of our friends, he is imprisoned in the Gezi Park Case. And we nominated a name who could defend the rights of the people of Hatay regarding the problems they experienced after the earthquake. Of course, some rumors arise, such as 'Why did you nominate someone you didn't know would be released from prison?', 'Barış already wanted to quit politics', 'There is a problem within the party'. None of these are true. We did a lot of research; I ran for office in Antalya, the largest electoral district after Istanbul. About 140-145 thousand votes were needed to win two seats. And according to public opinion polls, TİP was getting that vote until the last 4 days. In the last 4 days, the strategic voting absurdity of some parties that position themselves in the opposition began. They voted for names they didn't really embrace politically against the possibility of this actually happening. And we fell behind our calculations. Our stance was one that clearly revealed the party's position. I don't think we did wrong. I also believe that Can will be released."

'THE REAL STRATEGIC MISTAKE IS THAT CHP IS NOT IN OUR ALLIANCE'

Responding to allegations that the CHP had offered TİP to join the Nation Alliance and enter the elections on their own list, Atay answered the question "Do you think you made a strategic mistake?" by stating that no such offer came from the CHP and that they had no such demand, adding, "The real strategic mistake is that the CHP is not on our side in the Labor and Freedom Alliance."

RESPONSE TO 'SOCIETY SOL' CRITICISMS

Atay responded as follows to the question, "There are those who see TİP as 'society left' in quotes; how do you evaluate these criticisms?":

"I have heard criticisms that TİP is organized among segments with much higher income levels than it is organized among workers. That is true. But this is not about the inaccuracy of the goal set by TİP. It is about how the form of politics in Turkey has degenerated. If you say this without referring to the right-wing shift of the working-class profile in Turkey since the '80 coup, your criticism remains baseless. We are not blind to what lies beneath the criticisms; we see it too. But it is also related to the transformation of the social structure in this country. I have participated in many worker resistances for 5 years. Many of them were people who voted for right-wing parties. When we went, there were those who said, 'I saw you as terrorists 1 day ago, you were the only ones who came.' As a result, people have to sustain their lives, I can understand that."

'FOR THE FIRST TIME, I BELIEVED THE GOVERNMENT WOULD CHANGE'

To Altaylı's question, "Did you believe there could be a change of government in the elections?", he replied, "I believed it for the first time. Maybe I looked at it too naively, maybe I wanted to hold onto that hope, or maybe I misread the trend. But I think for the first time, the AKP experienced a fear of losing. They didn't expect this result either. I also find it wrong to build an analogy on right-wrong with the candidate's name. There cannot be a criticism like 'Someone doesn't have charisma, they can't be president.' The sentence 'Someone cannot be elected in this country because they are Alevi' should not be allowed to be uttered."

'THINKING THAT TİP COULD COME TO THE SAME LINE AS HAMAS IS AN EXAGGERATION'

Barış Atay, who also responded to the criticisms regarding TİP's statement of support for Palestine, spoke as follows:

"It is an exaggeration to think that any socialist party could come to the same line as Hamas. I understand people's sensitivities. I am a member of the party, but the party's institutional structure is separate. It could have been evaluated whether to make a more accurate statement by considering the possibility of people misunderstanding. However, what TİP said there was this: we are talking about a struggle that has been going on for years in Palestine. It is also true that Hamas has reached these days with the support of political Islamists. What we were trying to say was this: a struggle is going on in Palestine, we support the struggle of the Palestinian people. But it is impossible for us to support any attack on civilians. It is even a burden for us to have to explain that we are not on the same line as Hamas."