Zeynel Korkmaz: 'What is truly important is the raising of awareness among the opposition base'

The second of the panel series titled "The State of the Opposition and the Democratic Consciousness of the 'Opposition Base'," the first of which was held on April 11, will take place on Saturday, May 9, at the Ankara I.T.U. House between 14:00 and 16:30. The meeting, which will be attended by Prof. Dr. Ahmet Saltık, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatih Yaşlı, and retired Brigadier General Dr. Haldun Solmaztürk, will be moderated by lawyer Aybars Akdoğan. Lawyers Doğan Erkan and Melek Neslihan Özfidan will also deliver speeches at the event.

Writer, translator, and publisher Zeynel Korkmaz, one of the supporters of this series of meetings, answered our questions.

- You are the editor-in-chief of the Germany-based "PoliTeknik" (politeknik.de) magazine, which you have been publishing regularly for over 10 years, and we know that you have supported this initiative, which is seen as an "initiative for the democratic awakening of the people," from the very beginning. What do you think is happening? Why was such an initiative needed?

ZEYNEL KORKMAZ - The main idea that makes this initiative necessary is the belief that a hegemonic clique within "opposition politics," which has accepted all the lawlessness perpetrated by the administration for 25 years both "de facto" and "de jure," has eroded the democratic consciousness of the people to extraordinary dimensions. As a result of having the public accept 25 years of lawlessness through this clique in "opposition politics," we see that all forms of struggle other than "elections" have been criminalized. This hegemonic clique that has emerged within "opposition politics" has systematically destroyed the people's ability to organize and their will to resist. Therefore, the task of this initiative is, first and foremost, to subject "opposition politics" to criticism in all its aspects, without hesitation, in order to rebuild this will for resistance.

- But there are many who believe that this criticism will weaken the opposition against the AKP government, that is, it will play into the hands of the government...

ZEYNEL KORKMAZ – There are those who believe that. True. However, it is very clear that this criticism will not cover those who serve interests other than the democratic expectations of the people.

- Why?

ZEYNEL KORKMAZ – Because it cannot be said that they have made "mistakes" from the past to the present; on the contrary, by directly accepting the administration's lawlessness as "de facto" and "de jure," they have engaged in actions that fall within the scope of "crime." The target audience of the criticism is a base that is organized within this "opposition politics" and needs to be liberated from the hegemony of the clique that works in harmony with those who disregard the law, or in other words, a base that needs to be won over. A real struggle can only begin with the elimination of this anti-people political focus that appears to be "one of us." The campaign to be carried out for the awakening of the people never refrains from holding the administration itself, which is the main source of lawlessness, to account. The activity of criticism also continuously encompasses this plane.

- Meanwhile, Tuba Torun, the wife of the imprisoned former MP Aykut Erdoğdu, made a statement. In this outburst, which was also published on social media, she used the following expressions: "The failure to request the release of Aykut Erdoğdu, who is being tried for a single crime, has already served his sentence, and is also a creditor to the state for the entire year he has served so far because he benefited from the execution amnesty, is the absolute bottom of lawlessness! (...) If Aykut Erdoğdu is not released, I declare it here, this is a declaration of war! It is a declaration of war!" Is it possible to find a way out of this?

ZEYNEL KORKMAZ – This expression, "the absolute bottom of lawlessness," corresponds to an important outburst that must be examined closely. Because this is accepting that lawlessness extends into infinity. Since there will be a bottom of the bottom of what is already the bottom, this clearly expresses a bottomlessness. A similar version of these words is: "The law receives a deep wound," in other words, the law does not ultimately end, it just continues on its way by receiving endless wounds.

This presupposition, that is, the belief that law can never end in a system, is essentially nothing more than granting "infinite credit to lawlessness" in that system. In the end, even atomized law has a physical existence as "law." This antagonism stands before us very clearly.

- So, what do you think is the reason for this flexibility?

ZEYNEL KORKMAZ - Because even if one says "It is a declaration of war!", there is actually a segment that says "Life goes on!", there is a happy tomorrow, imprisonment will end, and it is known that one will return to warm homes and old wealthy relationships. Therefore, words like "the legal system is finished" or "the bottom of the bottom" do not fully reflect the political positioning of the person uttering them; on the contrary, they produce an illusion. The end of the law is never actually declared as a final decision; otherwise, one would be forced to move to a higher stage of struggle. By granting "infinite credit to lawlessness," a compromised opposition with the system continues. And this opposition is not the kind that would be described as "nothing to lose but their chains..."

In short, despite so much "rebellion" against lawlessness, lawlessness is essentially accepted; the failure to release a free person is considered a "declaration of war," but the deprivation of their freedom for even a minute, despite all the anger, does not lead to a permanent rebellion, and for a whole year at that, in a state that makes one ask, "where is the rebellion in this?" This is the situation on the stage as we see it.

QUESTIONS: OSMAN ÇUTSAY