TKH statement on Hatay: Erdoğan is the President of contractors, sects, and NATO, not of Turkey

Ercan KÜÇÜK - 12punto.com.tr

President Tayyip Erdoğan, at the candidate introduction meeting in Hatay, which was devastated by the earthquake, said, "If the central government and local government do not join hands, if they are not in solidarity, that city will not receive anything. Did it come to Hatay? Currently, Hatay has been left alone, left sorrowful." A reaction to Erdoğan's words also came from the Communist Movement of Turkey (TKH).

TKH Central Committee Member Kurtuluş Kılçer stated that Erdoğan is the President of only a segment of the country, not the entire nation. Stating that Erdoğan cannot govern Turkey, Kılçer said the following:

“Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shows that he has lost the quality of being impartial, which is a principle of the presidency written in the constitution. In other words, he has revealed that he does not possess this quality. This is the first point.

Secondly, President Erdoğan has effectively said that he is not the President of Turkey. With this statement, he has engaged in discrimination, divisiveness, and sectarianism. He has shown that he is not the President of this country, this people, and this society as a whole, but rather the President of a segment—and in our view, the President of contractors, the wealthy, the NATO-aligned, and sects.”

‘ERDOĞAN CANNOT GOVERN THE COUNTRY’

“Tayyip Erdoğan cannot govern the country. Because he cannot govern, he has placed the judiciary under tutelage. Because he cannot govern, he is effectively reducing the parliament to a rubber-stamp institution. Because he cannot govern, he changes the Central Bank governor constantly. There is a picture where 4 Treasury and Finance Ministers have been changed in 4 years. This means he cannot manage the economy, and he cannot manage foreign policy either.

We think he is trying to fool children by marketing starting with F-35s, turning to F-16s, failing to operate the S-400s, and fulfilling all the demands of US imperialism as a 'firm stance' and 'principled foreign policy' in Turkey.

I can say that we are facing a mentality so surrendered to its own ambitions that it can say this to a city that has lost thousands of its people in an earthquake.”

LÜTFÜ SAVAŞ’S CANDIDACY

Kılçer also reacted sharply to the CHP re-nominating Lütfü Savaş as a candidate in Hatay. Emphasizing that the mentalities of the AKP and CHP are the same, Kılçer announced the candidate they will field in Hatay as the TKH for the first time to 12punto. Kılçer said:

“The issue is that the mentality is the same. Now, the issue is this: The Republican People's Party (CHP) had been describing itself as 'center-left' for years. In our view, for the last 10 years, perhaps even longer, the Republican People's Party has shifted from the center-left to the center-right. It has now shifted to the center-right.

In our view, the Nation Alliance in the last elections was not a left-wing exit or anything of the sort. It was a right-wing front, a right-wing alliance. It was actually one face of the People's Alliance established by the AKP and MHP.

With the election results, the CHP served the right-wing shift of Turkey and the formation of the ground for the AKP-MHP government, or paved the way for their politics. Afterwards, with the change of the chairman in the CHP, they relied on another manipulation and perception: 'The CHP is changing, the CHP is turning its face to the left.'

But the result reached, the candidate preferred in Hatay, shows that the Republican People's Party has not turned the steering wheel to the left, cannot turn it, and will not be able to turn it. Now, this is an example.

The nomination of MHP-affiliated candidates from Ankara, and the nomination of names originating from the MHP or the IYI Party in all districts, shows that the CHP is now a center-right party.

As the Communist Movement of Turkey, we owe nothing to anyone.

'Let's not make the left lose. Let the AKP not win.' Well, you are preferring a mentality in Hatay and Ankara that is worse than the AKP mentality. In that respect, the CHP winning does not mean the left winning in this country. We think fundamentally differently from some left-socialist parties in this regard.”

‘WE WILL FIELD A CANDIDATE IN HATAY’

"We will field a candidate for the Metropolitan Municipality in Hatay. We have our comrade Nuray Yenil, who is a child of that place. She will be our candidate for Metropolitan Mayor there.

We will hold a candidate introduction meeting within a week. We will announce it there. We will also have a candidate in İskenderun at the same time. We believe that a socialist candidate, a revolutionary, left-wing candidate should emerge for the metropolitan municipality."