Why should land reform be implemented?

Following the Narin murder case, I wrote three consecutive articles on the subject of "Land Reform."

In my first article, titled "Narin's Murder, Feudalism, and the Law of Silence," I focused on the fact that the culture stemming from the region's feudal order was among the root causes of this tragic event, and I stated that "Land Reform must be implemented" to dismantle this feudal culture.

In my second article, "Atatürk's Land Law or the Struggle to Dismantle Feudalism," I touched upon why land reform could not be realized despite Atatürk's efforts to make farmers landowners, both through his speeches at the opening of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and through the clause he added to Article 74 of the 1924 Constitution in the law enacted in 1937.

In my third article, I focused on the topic of "How Should Land Reform Be Implemented?" and noted in summary: "On the basis of Land Reform, cooperative organization should be used to ensure that peasants become industrialists, and necessary support should be provided so that they play a dominant role in matters such as the marketing of their products."

Now, let us come to the question: "Why should land reform be implemented?"

Land reform must be implemented for the transformation from subjecthood to citizenship.

The transformation from subjecthood to citizenship is the foundation of the Atatürk Enlightenment. Those who possess the identity of a citizen can best evaluate conditions and determine their own futures. They do not harbor expectations from others. However, in the East and Southeast, a culture of allegiance passed down from generation to generation is dominant. Among poor peasants, there is a phenomenon regarding the belief that the order dominated by landlords, rather than state organization, is unchangeable, and they experience the despair of this phenomenon of immutability.

Here, I would like to remind you of the film "Erkek Güzeli Sefil Bilo," directed by Ertem Eğilmez, written by Yavuz Turgul, and starring İlyas Salman and Şener Şen.

For this reason, "Land reform must be implemented for the transformation from subjecthood to citizenship."

Land reform must be implemented to prevent the drama of seasonal workers.

Every year in Turkey, seasonal workers are brought from the Southeastern Anatolia Region, primarily from Urfa, Mardin, and Diyarbakır, to be employed in jobs such as greenhouse vegetable and citrus harvesting in Adana; cherry picking in Afyon; hazelnut harvesting in Düzce; cherry picking and sun-dried tomato cutting in İzmir; sugar beet hoeing in Konya-Aksaray; hazelnut harvesting in Ordu; vegetable harvesting in Samsun; cotton picking in Urfa; and sugar beet hoeing in Yozgat-Nevşehir. These peasants are made to work in the most unacceptable conditions.

The most important reason for migration is "economic difficulties," in other words, landlessness or having very little land.

The proportion of those who previously owned any land among those who migrated to the city is extremely low. Only 7 percent of families have agricultural land in their villages, and the average size of these lands is less than 10 dönüms.

"Land reform must be implemented to prevent the drama of seasonal workers."

Land reform must be implemented to prevent forced migration from villages to cities.

Is there work in the cities for the peasants in the East, and especially in the Southeast, who will be left out in the cold due to landlessness or having very little land? Of course, there is not.

For this reason, "There is an urgent need for land reform to prevent forced migration from villages to cities."

Land reform must be implemented to break the power of the separatist Kurdish terrorist organization.

There is massive unemployment in the East and especially in the Southeastern Anatolia Region stemming from landlessness or having very little land. The peripheries of the cities in the region consist of poor and desperate people, and young people who have not been able to find educational opportunities.

Those who speak on their behalf are feudal lords who have entered parliament, industrialists and merchants of the region who have not severed their ties with feudalism, in short, the strata that feed off the Kurdish poor.

These strata and the PKK use the Kurdish poor. The black propaganda of the separatist Kurdish terrorist organization is effective to a certain extent on poor and desperate people, and this is how the mountain cadres are fed.

Let us make an observation: "Can you believe that the children of Kurdish landlords ever go to the mountains? If we soften the question a little; are there any ruling politicians or opposition parties that clearly voice Land Reform?"

In this context, "Land reform must also be implemented to break the power of the separatist Kurdish terrorist organization and weaken ethnicity-based political organization."

Land reform must be implemented to prevent the US and EU countries from provoking the Kurdish issue.

The US and the EU support the PKK/KCK terrorist organization, which is a separatist Kurdish movement, especially due to the oil and strategic importance of the Middle East. The Kurdish terrorist movement in Turkey was also created for this purpose.

In this context, are they not trying to create a second statelet in Syria, allied with the first, alongside a second Israel state that is fully dependent on the US through feudal leaders like Barzani and Talabani in Northern Iraq?

Now let us ask: "When did this process begin and accelerate? As everyone knows, this process began and accelerated with the September 12, 1980, military coup, which hindered the democratization movement in Turkey. The US and the EU, under the pretext of developing democratic rights, supported the Kurdish separatist terrorist movement through various means. They turned a blind eye to the terrorist movement's activities, primarily in arms, but also in drug and human trafficking. In some countries, for example in Greece, camps even existed that trained terrorists."

For these reasons, "Land reform must be implemented to prevent the US and EU countries from provoking the Kurdish issue."

Land reform must be implemented to break the dominance of the culture of allegiance in political parties.

The culture of allegiance that is dominant in the East and especially in the Southeastern Anatolia Region is reflected in all political parties through groupings such as regionalism, ethnicity, and delegate lordship. The culture of allegiance eliminates merit. Alongside party headquarters, provincial and district chairs, and mayors who control the local economy, become decisive in politics.

"Land reform must be implemented to break the dominance of the culture of allegiance in political parties."

I conclude my article by saying: "The answer to the question of whether Land Reform will be part of a capitalist or a socialist order will depend on who controls this tool. If the decisions regarding 'What will be produced, how, and to whom and when the products will be sold' in the Land Reform organization are made by capitalist government institutions, the majority of the profit to be obtained will go to the dominant agricultural industry sector. This is the Land Reform paradigm desired by the ruling classes. Therefore, a good Land Reform for landless or small-landholding peasants will be successful if it can become a tool for a more egalitarian income distribution."

As I conclude my article, I would like to ask a question. Today, "Land Reform" is not on Turkey's agenda. Some say that political organizations aspire to the votes of landless and small-landholding peasants through landlords. I would like to know your answer.