Major public gathering by the TKP: 'Down with the sultanate, long live the Republic'

The Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) gathered in Istanbul following events held in Ankara and Izmir under the title "Why has Turkey come to this state and how will it rise again?" for the 101st anniversary of the Republic. Hundreds of citizens came together at the event held at the Beyoğlu Ses Theatre. During the event, slogans such as "Down with the sultanate, long live the Republic" and "No passage for sharia, fascism, or darkness" were frequently chanted.

The event, which began at 15:00, started with the Ekim Choir taking the stage. Following them, Hande Gündoğdu, a member of the TKP Party Assembly, spoke on behalf of the Women's Solidarity Committees. Gündoğdu began her speech by remembering 8-year-old Narin Güran, who was murdered in Diyarbakır and became a major national issue. Gündoğdu stated, "We have finished one century of the Republic, and I would have liked to say a more beautiful hello as we enter the second century. However, the country's agenda does not allow for this. We look at our phones, a woman has been killed and we get angry. A whole village is hiding the death of a young girl. We are furious, our stomachs cannot take it."

Gündoğdu said the following:

"We have finished one century of the Republic, and I would have liked to say a more beautiful hello as we enter the second century. However, the country's agenda does not allow for this. We look at our phones, a woman has been killed and we get angry.

A whole village is hiding the death of a young girl. We are furious, our stomachs cannot take it.

We see children on the street; they are neither going to school nor playing on the street. They are collecting huge amounts of trash. We are furious.

Education is in a very bad state. We cannot send our children to a good school. We hit a wall, we feel alone.

The Ministry of Health has abandoned all its duties and is issuing fatwas on how women should give birth. They are filming public service announcements. However, they are not inspecting private hospitals. Private hospitals trying to pile profit upon profit are killing our babies. We are furious, our stomachs cannot take it.

The law says equality. The boss says equal work, but does not pay equal wages. They say you will work for low wages, I will not provide security.

Everywhere we are, we feel the weight of being ignored and the threat of being destroyed on our necks. We are very angry.

Only by coming together with this anger can a striking effect be produced.

Anger alone only consumes the person themselves.

What do women need to fight for by coming together? For a better capitalism? To get a little relief from the hands choking our throats? These are archaic debates. It is impossible to be equal under capitalism. There is no such thing as capitalism with better conditions. The solution was simple. It is to come together and fight to change this order."

Following Gündoğdu, Erdenay Bırasoğlu spoke on behalf of the Communist Youth of Turkey (TKG). Stating that "The mission the Republic entrusted to the youth and the mission that enemies of the Republic expect from the youth today are completely different," Bırasoğlu said:

"Every year, tens of thousands of students win a place at university, but because they cannot find a state dormitory where they go, they are forced to go to religious sect dormitories. Children are condemned to dormitories that cost who knows how much. Unfortunately, working while studying has become a rule. Then these are not enough, these pass, we reach a certain age, and in return for years of labor, they give us a three-cent diploma that offers no guarantee of a future. Then they expect the youth to live. There is a very comprehensive movement that the capital order must carry out to make this exist for the youth, to make them accept this. And this movement is the murderer of the Republic.

The mission the Republic entrusted to the youth and the mission that enemies of the Republic expect from the youth today are completely different. The young person will wake up early at 1 o'clock, go to work, go to school from there; their entire shift will be spent rushing somewhere, and they will be alone. They will always be concerned with saving themselves. We communists, the youth profile we draw under republican values is primarily a protruding character. We are not talking about a profile whose head you can bash to take their bread. Friends, they are angry but not grumpy, not whiny. We are talking about a youth that holds people accountable and takes ownership. A youth that carries equality, brotherhood, and freedom. We are talking about a youth that tries to carry this everywhere they go, and a youth that is solidarity-based, resisting, but learning and developing solidarity within the struggle by fighting."

Following artist Orhan Aydın, who took the stage with the verses of poet Nâzım Hikmet, TKP General Secretary Kemal Okuyan delivered his speech.

Highlights from Okuyan's speech are as follows:

"In 1919, occupation and fragmentation were being put into practice. Those we salute ruined the plan in this geography. This is not something to be underestimated; if the plan of imperialism had been realized, they would have reached India, China, Afghanistan, and Iran, and darkened those places even further. A great deed was done in Anatolia. That is why we do not say it as a formality: To everyone who fought for independence, for the republic, for secularism in this country 101 years ago, who put in the effort, starting with Mustafa Kemal, greetings to all of them.

I want to salute everyone who fights for patriotism, the struggle for independence, secularism, and enlightenment; who says let people not exploit each other in this country, let us build a classless and exploitation-free society. Not just for giving us this beautiful hall; greetings to our valuable artist friend Ferhan Şensoy, who with incredible productivity and again raising the struggle for enlightenment, the struggle for freedom, and the struggle for equality.

"WE WILL NOT ALLOW THEM TO WRITE NEW OTTOMAN TALES"

Communists in Turkey have always been republicans. Everyone's faith is sacred, but you cannot put God's will in place of the people's will for people and society. God is the faith within people, but society must be secular. The struggle against religious sects must always be waged. Communists are not guests of the Republic; they always defend it. I fear that perhaps one does not need to be a communist to defend the Republic in Turkey today, but one needs to be a friend. Secondly, one needs to carry the will to change this order because there is no republic in this order. The Republic has no future.

They are trying to rewrite history; they are praising Vahdettin and Abdülhamit. What does that have to do with anything? We will not allow them to rewrite history or write New Ottoman tales from the enemies of the Republic.

Let us look at the French Revolution. Were there not those who defended equality in its front ranks? Were the ones who defended the republic against fascists in Spain not communists? Our foreheads are clear, our faces are open. Wherever there is a struggle for a republic, communists have been there. They will continue to be there.

Another thing is religious sects. Through religious sects, reactionaries have tried to eliminate all the gains of the Republic in this country.

Another problem is anti-communism. Anti-communists in this country did their best to destroy the Republic. Otherwise, who was the person you call Fethullah Gülen? Was he not someone from within the Association for the Struggle Against Communism? Were his relations with America not established there? Now they stand up and call Fethullah Gülen a traitor. But they do not refrain from raising the flag of anti-communism that he left behind."

REACTION TO PRIVATIZATION

You cannot name a single sector where the private sector does good. Then they go and film commercials because it is the 101st anniversary of the Republic. There is such hypocrisy in those films that they must be laughing at them afterwards. You remember, while talking on the phone, they were cursing the country and our citizens. Like that, they are filming a Republic movie to mock it. November 10th will come, those big companies will make Mustafa Kemal movies. Friends, we are saying it in advance: we will ensure this people rise up in this country. And then we will hold the private sector, which poisons us and buries us alive, to such an account that they will disappear along with the darkness that has descended upon this country."

DISCUSSIONS ON THE SOLUTION PROCESS

There is a Kurdish issue in this country. Just as there is inequality towards women and capitalism is at the root of this problem today, it is the same with the Kurdish issue. The source of our Kurdish citizens not feeling equal is this order, the 1 percent segment that has seized 40 percent of Turkey's resources. The way to solve the Kurdish issue will also pass through seizing this resource. Kurdish will be liberated as an equal language in a socialist republic. With socialism, we will not leave a single place in this country that has not been educated or has not been allocated resources. With a centralist approach, a plan, and a statist economy. And yes, by tearing apart that tribal order which is the root of the Kurdish issue."

The meeting ended with the song of Brotherhood performed by the "Brotherhood Choir Against Racism" established at the Tarlabaşı Community House.