The People's Assembly of Turkey has determined its representatives for the Anatolian side

The People's Assembly of Turkey (THTM), held its first preparatory meeting on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, at the Türkan Saylan Cultural Center in Maltepe.

THTM is an initiative that has set out for a secular, independent, and sovereign country, a state-led planned economy, and a social system where all citizens can achieve prosperity and enlightenment in equality and brotherhood.

REPRESENTATIVE CANDIDATES DETERMINED

According to the news on Sol Portal, THTM will hold its first meeting in Ankara on January 7th, with the participation of the initial members as well as representatives to be elected at meetings across Turkey. At the meeting held in Maltepe, the election of representatives from the Anatolian side of Istanbul took place.

In the first session, after TKP General Secretary Kemal Okuyan, academic Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cangül Örnek, journalist-author Aytunç Erkin, journalist-author Barış Terkoğlu, and journalist-author Murat Ağırel completed their speeches, candidates who wished to be elected as representatives submitted their applications to the meeting's presiding board.

In the second session, all candidates delivered their speeches from the podium. Subsequently, 27 people from the Anatolian side of Istanbul were determined as representatives for the THTM.

"THIS ASSEMBLY WILL CONSIST ONLY OF REPRESENTATIVES ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE"

The opening speech was delivered by TKP General Secretary Kemal Okuyan. Expressing that they are embarking on an important and exciting journey, Okuyan explained that work towards the THTM (People's Assembly of Turkey) has been ongoing for some time. He announced that those present in the hall for the first time would select the initial participants of the Assembly, which is set to convene on January 7.

Okuyan began his remarks by noting that there is a group that could be called "appointees":

“There is a group we could call ‘appointees.’ We had to start somewhere. This Assembly will consist only of representatives elected by the people. We determined the ‘appointed’ names from among people who have been struggling for secularism, independence, revolution, populism, statism, and patriotism in Turkey for years; you already know them as well. The proclamation of the Republic is the pinnacle of an honorable struggle that began in 1919. 1923 was met with great excitement by the people of Anatolia, as well as by peoples in many parts of the world. No one can ever dispute the importance of the gains of the Republic. There is a real success story between 1919 and 1923.”

“On the other hand, I suppose none of us are happy to be living in a country where stupidity, ignorance, injustice, and inequality run rampant a hundred years later. The Republic was not founded for this. This means there is a problem. This problem cannot be solved with sighs, complaints, reminiscing about the past, expecting heroic solutions from others, or expecting modernity from the wealthy. The issue is everyone's issue. We are unhappy with where this country has arrived a hundred years later.”

"COMMUNISTS ARE AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE STRUGGLE FOR THE REPUBLIC"

“So, what are socialists and communists doing here? After all, the republican accumulation in Turkey is a founding accumulation. What is happening to the revolutionaries and socialists who have been marginalized, subjected to injustice, and slandered throughout Turkey's history?”

“Some think—and there are those who say this from both the right and the left—‘It is as if everyone discovered the Republic because of the AKP government during this period, and we just followed the trend.’ I beg your pardon, but I ask you to watch carefully. I will clarify one point. The history of the idea of a republic is very old, but when we say republic, the first is the 1789 French Revolution. At that time, the poor and the laborers bore the entire burden of the struggle leading to the establishment of the republic. The term ‘sans-culottes’ comes from there. The slogan was equality, liberty, fraternity. Equality was cast aside over time, and the exploiters and the exploited remained the same. What happened, happened to the poor who rose up against the palace. But in the 1830s, the people rose up again.” 

Communism in its modern sense began with Marx, but the idea of communism is very old. Those who led the struggle against the palace in France were the ones who called themselves republican communists. I am explaining the French example for this reason: Revolutionaries and socialists always have a republican character. We did not become republicans later on.

Germany is the second example. Germany is the culprit behind the trap set for Turkey in World War I. Towards the end of the war, there was an uprising against the palace in Germany. Who rose up? Sailors and workers. Workers established the republic in Germany. Later, they took the republic from the hands of the workers and brought fascism. At the root of the 1918 German Republic, there are revolutionaries and workers.

When Franco attacked the Republic in Spain, who defended it? Revolutionaries and communists.

We are not guests in the fight for the republic. Everywhere in the world, communists are at the forefront of the fight for the republic and the fight for the homeland.

Today we have reached such a point... In the past, even if only for show, republicanism, secularism, and independence were upheld. Now they want to get rid of them completely. In Turkey, holdings and religious sects, the two fundamental powers, have not only buried the 1923 Republic in darkness, but are also trying to kill the very idea of the Republic. Therefore, something must be done."

"NO COMPROMISE ON SECULARISM, NO COMPROMISE TO HOLDINGS OR RELIGIOUS SECTS"

Describing the framework of the THTMs, Okuyan explained that this is not an alliance, but an Assembly where realities are organized:

“We are fighting for a classless society free from exploitation. A part of this is the republic, a part is secularism, and a part is independence. This struggle is not under anyone's monopoly. This struggle has its principles, its direction, its friendships, and its alliances.

There are different ideologies and views that bring this Assembly together... But we have agreed on one thing. We do not want a Turkey where capital, holding companies, and religious sects run rampant. You do not have to be a communist to not want the dominance of holding companies and religious sects. That is why our party will leave all duties to this Assembly after fulfilling its role as the convener. There is no place in this Assembly for those funded by foreign interests or defenders of imperialist interests. There is no compromise on secularism. There is no compromise with holding companies or religious sects. This is our path. We are talking about a path that is somewhat uncharted. This Assembly is not a political party, nor is it a political movement. This is a place where Turkey's republican accumulation comes together around certain principles, around our non-negotiables.

We will not get involved in establishment politics. We do not care about the internal balances of this or that party. We will produce a common mind and will, and whoever benefits from the output of this—whether it be a party, an association, a journalist, or an academic—let them benefit. We are establishing a real assembly for this accumulation to stand up. There are different views in the Assembly. There are different views among us as well. But our principles are common. We are not opening our unchangeable provisions to debate.”

Following Okuyan, one of the first participants of the THTM, academic Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cangül Örnek, took the floor. Örnek began by explaining that she was born as the child of a working-class family and said, “As a Kurdish woman, as a Kurdish woman trying to be an intellectual, even the name of the Republic excites me, but the history of the Republic is not over.” 

“WE WILL PAVE THE WAY FOR INCLUDING THE WORKING CLASSES IN THE STRUGGLE”

Recalling the 1960s, Örnek stated the following:

“The coming together of people who embrace the Republic and fighting shoulder to shoulder was happening in the 60s, even if it wasn't named as such. For example, in 1961, immediately after the coup, the left began to rise. Then came the Yön magazine published by Doğan Avcıoğlu. When you look at Avcıoğlu, who is an intellectual we have been made to forget, you see an image very different from today's Kemalist image. Because Avcıoğlu was also asking at that time, 'Where is the country stuck?' At that time, those seeking an answer to this question reached the conclusion that the capitalist class was blocking the steps the Republic was trying to take forward. 

The liberal segment always called those who reached this answer 'coup plotters'; in this way, they forgot and made others forget this question and its answer. One segment, a segment that defines itself as Kemalist, also forgot how to read. They put aside what the left-wing Kemalists were criticizing and what conclusions they reached. They began to think of the capitalist class, led by the Koç Group, as people who uphold the values of the republic.” 

Doğan Avcıoğlu made a major mistake in 1970. He found the working classes weak and thought he would not be able to draw enough strength from them. But his mistake stemmed from this. The result was the March 12 junta.

We said there would be no hopelessness in this hall. Avcıoğlu's diagnoses were correct, but the segments he relied on were wrong. However, we need to recreate this accumulation. And to the extent that we look at it from a class perspective, we will pave the way for involving the working classes in this struggle as well.

There was a republican accumulation that we were made to forget. In subsequent generations, the political angle between this line and revolutionaries began to widen. Looking back at what the Kemalists in the 1960s saw as missing in the republic will be one of the first steps to closing this angle.

Erkin: One of the prerequisites for being a leftist is to embrace the Republic and the War of Independence

Another speaker to take the podium was journalist and author Aytunç Erkin. Erkin quoted a speech by Mehmet Ali Aybar, the former Chairman of the 1st Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP), and stated, "It is not important whether Mustafa Kemal Pasha and his friends were aware that they were leftists; the path they took is a path that leads to the left."

"I DESIRE FOR THIS COUNTRY TO COME TO AN INDEPENDENT, POPULIST, AND SECULAR LINE"

Erkin said the following:

"November 23, 1994. Prime Minister Tansu Çiller. The privatization law passed in Parliament. She said, 'Turkey had become the last socialist state; when you tell your grandchildren about these days, you will say, we tore it down.'"

Defending the republic today is a duty that must be undertaken not only by socialists and communists but also by those who call themselves Kemalists. Yes, I am a journalist, and I try to tell the truth to the public. But I also desire for this country to move toward an independent, populist, and secular path.

On one side, there is the government. On the other, we see liberals who became opposition figures only after the red carpet was pulled out from under them—those who once said 'we destroyed socialism, Kemalism is dead'—now reclaiming Atatürk. But we also see leftists taking the stage. In the coming period, a struggle will take place among these three segments.

In Turkey, the military and the bureaucracy formed an alliance with Islamists against leftists and left-wing Kemalists, and they destroyed the Republic. That is why, in this geography today, one of the prerequisites for being a leftist is to embrace the Republic and the War of Independence.”

Journalist-Author Aytunç Erkin

"UNLIKE THEM, WE ARE FULLY INDEPENDENTISTS"

Journalist-author Barış Terkoğlu, who began speaking after Erkin, stated that this meeting was actually long overdue. Referencing the lines of Turgut Uyar, Terkoğlu said, "We should have gathered at the time when he said, 'I came from the adventure of those years / It was all gunpowder, dust, and revolution.'"

Noting that the name of the People's Assembly of Turkey (THTM) resembles the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM), Terkoğlu answered the question, "What are we doing in the THTM?"

“No one gave us seats. Soviet, council, assembly... All three have the same meaning. Remember, when the February Revolution took place in Russia in 1917, Lenin returned to the country and said, 'All power to the Soviets.' 

But this is not unique to Russia. All revolutionaries did the same. They established an assembly and declared 'all power to the Assembly.' Mustafa Kemal Atatürk did this as well. He established the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) and seized power.

The TBMM, established in 1923, is a revolutionary organization. Our assembly—I am referring to the TBMM—is an assembly of dual power. From 1919 to 1922, the TBMM was our power against the power in Istanbul. Secondly, the TBMM managed the separation of these two powers. Our laws against their laws. Our compromises against their compromises.

Furthermore, the struggle in Turkey was not only fought against external forces. We experienced a civil war. The TBMM fought against reactionism everywhere in Anatolia.

The TBMM waged a struggle for independence. Today, on the centenary of the Republic, some are saluting our navy from the Vahdettin Pavilion. That pavilion is not actually the Vahdettin Pavilion. Vahdettin had registered that pavilion in his concubine's name before he left. Unlike them, we are proponents of full independence.

The TBMM declared, 'We reject Turanism, Islamism, and Ummahism,' and adopted the National Pact (Misak-ı Milli).

In a struggle waged against occupation, the poor people bear the main burden. As a matter of fact, the soldiers of the armies that came to occupy us are the same. When the victory was won on August 30, while Atatürk was speaking of the victory on the battlefield, he said the following:

'I look at the hundreds, thousands of poor Greek people's children lying on the battlefield. If the Greek king is not present in the square of prisoners today, it is because it is the nature of those who wear crowns to only participate in the pleasures of their nations, and in the disastrous days of the battlefields, they think of nothing but their palaces.'

In the assembly hall, there was a debate for hours over whether the sultanate should be abolished. Mustafa Kemal entered the hall and struck the table. The sound that emerged at that moment is the voice of revolutionaries. This is the role of force in history.

If we look at how reactionism has dismantled all the gains of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM), and if the TBMM has become this discredited, those who are tasked with defending the TBMM also share the blame. Those who tell you in every election, 'Don't take to the streets, wait for the ballot box, vote strategically,' and who do not say a word on issues that will most determine the fate of the poor, have a large share in the TBMM becoming this discredited.

As I said, we are holding a meeting now that we should have held years ago. The Republic is an achievement, whether you go to France, the Soviets, or Turkey. The Republic is a revolution of secularism, development, constitution, language, and culture. 

Friends, our National Anthem says, 'Do not fear.' It was written in a period when fear prevailed. Those who said 'do not fear' a hundred years ago overcame fear. Struggling is the most important method of overcoming fear. Today, in the centenary of the Republic, if fear is so prevalent, we must first overcome fear in these assemblies. Are we going to leave the defense of the Republic's revolutions to those who salute the navy from the Vahdettin Pavilion? Instead of asking each other, 'Are you a republican, are you a socialist, are you this or that,' don't we have to make this defense?

Journalist and author Barış Terkoğlu

Ağırel: We believe this Assembly will succeed

The final speaker of the first session was journalist and author Murat Ağırel. Ağırel expressed his great happiness to be a part of this long-overdue and righteous struggle.

"THIS ASSEMBLY WILL SUCCEED"

Ağırel stated the following:

"We all have a rebellion. We are voicing this rebellion as much as we can to change this order of exploitation.

I am a Kemalist, and I have never hesitated to say so. But I have never agreed with those who try to confine Kemalism to certain definitions. In this respect, the speech by our dear professor Cangül Örnek also put my own speech at ease. Figures like Doğan Avcıoğlu represented a line that we also hold in very high regard.

We must clearly declare that we are hand in hand with revolutionaries against reactionism and bigotry, on the path to full independence for this country, which has been deliberately condemned to darkness. Yes, we are late, but we are strong. And they are afraid of us. They are afraid of the people. They are afraid of the righteousness of the working class and the laboring masses.

Do you see the Islamist segment facing police violence at protests today? Yet, whenever leftists take to the streets, their fears surface. During the Israel protests, when the police used tear gas due to unrest, the Islamists, encountering pepper spray for the first time, said, 'What kind of thing is this, we can't breathe.' I told them, 'Welcome.'

All the revolutions of the Republic have been destroyed. A group that wants to eliminate patriots and revolutionaries has currently seized power in Turkey. Turkey's first factories, schools, and facilities were built with 776 million dollars. The current government has collected many times that amount from all of us over 20 years and has not built a single factory. Sugar factories were privatized on the grounds that they were losing money; the money received cannot even be compared to the cost of the Palace that was built.

In this hall, people with various worldviews have come together. They want to prevent us from coming together, but they cannot. We believe that this Assembly will succeed. 

Everyone who believes in revolutions and enlightenment must support this struggle under this roof, without any ifs or buts. As a Kemalist, patriotic journalist, I state once again that I will contribute whatever I can to this struggle."

Journalist-author Murat Ağırel

CANDIDATES ELECTED

27 representatives elected on the Anatolian side of Istanbul

The first session concluded following the speeches. After the first session, candidates wishing to be elected as representatives submitted their applications to the meeting's presiding board. In the second session, all candidates delivered their speeches from the podium. Subsequently, 27 individuals from the Anatolian side of Istanbul were designated as representatives for the THTM.

The elected names are as follows:

Gökmen Dumlu

Gizem Batı Ayaz

Mustafa Ovacık

Buket Sarıbıyık

Dicle Gündüz

Hürriyet Yaşar

Muhammed Münircan Özdemir

Ozan Yılmaz

L. Firuze Tanıl

Satı Tokgöz

Fahri Kaan Arslan

Şenay Yavuzbilge

Güney Çalağan

Aysel Çakır

İlyas Salman

Özgür Özkan

Serkan Keskin

Süleyman Reyhani

Tunahan Kayran

Eren Hakvar

Hülya Eryılmaz

Gülşen Babacan

Ercan Küçük

Hasan Doğan

Yener Coşkun

Ömür Yaşayan

Berivan Pektaş