Kemal Okuyan on alliance and Kılıçdaroğlu: We did something we will not do again

TKP General Secretary Kemal Okuyan explained the TKP's policies for the upcoming period at a breakfast meeting with a group of journalists. Okuyan stated that they would attempt to build an alliance between communists and republicans. Okuyan also said that they would increase their distance from the left that operates in the shadow of the CHP and HDP.

Evaluating the election at the beginning of his speech, Okuyan started by saying, "No one can distract the Turkish society with fake solutions ever again." Using the expressions, "Erdoğan losing might have relieved Turkey. However, Turkey would have entered a chaotic process. Neither Turkey nor the TKP was ready for this process," Okuyan said the following:

"The Turkish society needed to face this and see that as long as one avoids a real struggle, this will be the result. Therefore, we are not reading this as a total disaster."

Explaining that expectations before the election created an illusion, Okuyan said, "There was the direction of big capital and a sensitive international equation; when we look at it, there was no weight that wanted the AKP to leave."

"THERE IS NO OPPOSITION"

Commenting on the crisis experienced by the opposition, Okuyan made the following assessments:

"Turkish politics has been brought to such a point that resistance against the AKP has been destroyed. A healthy resistance would be a secular, pro-independence, Republican, and pro-labor resistance. This has been completely eliminated. An opposition was developed that opposes the right from the right, criticizing the AKP for not being 'Americanist' enough. Now, unfortunately, the stability of the AKP era will be experienced. This will happen despite the economic crisis. Because there is no opposition."

"THE TURKISH LEFT CANNOT CREATE A REAL LEFT-WING OPPOSITION WITHOUT OVERCOMING THE CHP AND HDP OBSTACLE"

Stating that "we have gained time to create a real opposition against the AKP" for the upcoming period, Okuyan said, "The Turkish left cannot create a real left-wing opposition without overcoming the CHP and HDP obstacle. We said this openly. Both parties entered a crisis after the election. In this respect, we are not pessimistic about the election result."

Commenting on the vote percentage received by the TKP, Okuyan said:

"The TKP received 64 thousand votes. Everyone knows that this is not the true measurement of the TKP. The effect of the vote received by the TKP, which carries statistical value, lasted one day for us. No one could tell us that we received a low vote. On the contrary, the low vote received by the TKP created a protected area for us during a period when everyone was disappointed. 64 thousand votes or 300 thousand votes would not have made a difference. We were not affected by the election results. We do not evaluate the effect of the TKP's vote with 64 thousand votes. For this reason, we did not question ourselves at all."

"ALLIANCE OF SOCIALISTS AND REPUBLICANS"

Stating that they do not regret the TKP's support for Kılıçdaroğlu but that they will not repeat it, Okuyan used the following expressions:

"We did something we will not do again. We have no regrets. But with this election, we have decided to further distance ourselves from those who conduct politics in the shadow of the CHP and HDP."

Okuyan explained that the political line they have established for the upcoming period is an alliance between Republicans and socialists:

"Secondly, there is a Republican accumulation in Turkey that has been left ownerless and that some think has ended. For the first time in Turkey, this accumulation has realized that it is no longer the host of itself. It is in search of something. Some call it a 'Kemalist-Communist alliance'; if we can save this alliance from certain malfunctions, if we can take it out of taking nationalist or even racist positions from time to time, we think that a space has opened up. We see that the Republican accumulation is looking more from a class-based, pro-labor perspective, that anti-capitalism is increasing, and that hostility towards Kurds is decreasing. In the coming period, we will do our part for a healthier interaction between Turkey's Republican accumulation and the socialist movement. We are making initiatives to establish a People's Representatives Assembly on dates coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the Republic. There will be intellectuals, workers, and peasants elected from all over Turkey. We are thinking of making it work like a real Assembly. Because we are facing the most reactionary Assembly in Turkish history. And in the coming period, this Assembly will have a place in the political-cultural work of the TKP. It will not be an institution of the TKP. It will be a platform for many different segments. This formation will emerge on October 29."

Okuyan explained that the People's Representatives Assembly they will establish does not aim for a power union of left-wing parties, but is an alliance of socialist and Republican ideas:

"We do not think of this as a platform that will ensure the unity of the Turkish left. Those who are separate need to remain separate. This can be viewed as an alliance between Republicans and communists in Turkey."

"WE WILL INCREASE SOCIALIST MUNICIPALITIES"

Okuyan also explained their policy for the upcoming local elections as follows:

"Local elections are coming. The dynamics are a bit different. At least there is no threshold. And the TKP has a responsibility. In the previous election, for the first time in Turkish history, a TKP member became a provincial mayor. Our alliance with Fatih Maçoğlu and his political movement has reached 8-9 years. This alliance continues. We want to increase its examples. We have the intention to increase the number of socialist-left municipalities, not in the form of an alliance on the Turkish left, but in the form of mutual assistance. It will most likely be in the form of clearing the field. We will do this by supporting some candidates. We also want to increase the number of TKP-run municipalities. The scenario where intra-left solidarity is realized seems to be the most realistic possibility. There is an opportunity to multiply left-wing, socialist, and communist municipalities in the local elections."

"THE WORLD LEFT IS COMING TO TURKEY"

Okuyan announced that they will announce their local election policies in October:

"We started the work early. We will announce it in October. We will show solidarity with the left. However, when we say solidarity, we do not mean the CHP and HDP. The TKP will say to those who say 'do not split the votes', 'an election is a platform where votes are split'. For us, there is no difference between Mansur Yavaş or Ekrem İmamoğlu and the others."

Announcing that the TKP will host an international meeting of communist and socialist parties in October, Okuyan said that there are also debates on the world left due to reasons such as the Russia-Ukraine war:

"The TKP is an internationalist party like every communist party. The inside of the left in the world has also become active. The world left also presents a very fragmented image. There is a China-Russia-oriented left, there is a left that supports the European Union and NATO, and there is a left that argues that the left should act independently. The TKP is within the 3rd Line. The TKP will host the meeting of world communist movements in October. There is a network in the world where over 100 left-wing and communist parties are together. This meeting was held in Cuba last year. We will host it this year. Representatives of communist parties from every continent of the world are coming to this meeting. Representatives of ruling left-wing parties such as China, Cuba, Vietnam, and Laos are also coming. It will be an interesting meeting where many discussions will take place. At the end of that meeting, on October 22, we will hold an event in İzmir explaining the TKP's perspective on the 100th anniversary of the Republic. International representatives will also attend that meeting."

"NOTHING HAS CHANGED IN THE CHP"

While answering questions, Okuyan also announced that the Socialist Power Union has ended. He said that they tried to bring the Dev-Yol and TKP traditions together in this formation but failed. Okuyan said they do not want to experience the same thing again.

He said that the People's Assembly is not the same thing as the Socialist Power Union, that they are not participating as a party, that everyone will participate individually, and that they have invited some left-wing parties to have their members participate here as well.

Responding to a question about the TİP, Okuyan said, "We find the vote received by the TİP important, but we do not think that the path for an anti-establishment left has been opened." Okuyan added, "I wish there had been revolutionary energy behind this one million votes."

"WE DID NOT VOTE FOR İMAMOĞLU BEFORE EITHER"

Commenting on the possibility of their fielding a candidate in Istanbul causing the AKP to win, Okuyan said, "If the TKP fields a candidate in Istanbul, it does not say 'let the AKP win', it says 'vote for the TKP'. We did not vote for İmamoğlu before either." Okuyan said that they will not conduct politics in the shadow of the CHP and HDP, and that they have maintained this stance for years.

Okuyan said that the CHP has harmed the opposition due to the mistakes it has made in Turkish politics:

"The base of the CHP is very valuable to us. Our responsibility is to break them away from this establishment politics. The responsibility for the representation of secular sensitivity dragging on the ground in the political arena compared to 10 years ago is not the AKP's, but the CHP's policies."

CHANGE DEBATES IN THE CHP

Okuyan also commented on the change debates in the CHP with the words, "Özgür Özel, Ekrem İmamoğlu, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu... I cannot answer which one is further to the left." He said they are distant from this debate.