THTM determines its Ankara representatives

The People's Representatives Assembly of Turkey (THTM) gathered today at the Ankara Kocatepe Cultural Center to elect its Ankara representatives, following mass preparatory meetings in İzmir and Istanbul.

ANKARA REPRESENTATIVES DETERMINED

The People's Representatives Assembly of Turkey (THTM) had declared its purpose as setting out to dispel the climate of hopelessness that has formed in society against the darkest, most reactionary parliamentary composition in the country following the 2023 parliamentary elections, and to work toward a secular, independent, sovereign country, a state-planned economy, and a social system where all citizens live in equality and brotherhood.

In addition to its convening members, the THTM will hold its first meeting in Ankara on January 7 with the participation of representatives to be elected at meetings across Turkey. Today's meeting at the Kocatepe Cultural Center saw the election of the Ankara representatives.

In the first session of the meeting, TKP General Secretary Kemal Okuyan, academic Burçak Özoğlu, academic-writer Fatih Yaşlı, and academic-writer Oğuz Oyan each delivered speeches. In the second session of the meeting, candidates wishing to be elected as representatives submitted their applications to the meeting board and delivered their speeches.

"WE WILL REVIVE BOTH THIS IDEA OF THE REPUBLIC AND THE REPUBLIC ITSELF"

Delivering the opening speech, TKP General Secretary Kemal Okuyan expressed his happiness at being present at such a meeting in such a darkened country and seeing the will here, before continuing his words as follows:

“I want to start with an impression regarding the meetings THTM held on both sides of Istanbul. First of all, the numbers and the filling of the halls at these meetings are of course important, but there was actually another beauty in these meetings, a truly genuine beauty. People have come together many times until today, yes. The idea that 'unity on the left is necessary, let us all come together' is always accepted in Turkey, but these have generally been ideas that emerged as a result of hopelessness. They are valuable on their own, but they mean nothing when left on their own. Countless times people have come together with such assemblies and forums, but no progress could be made. Being united is not enough. What was positive and beautiful about the meetings I mentioned in Istanbul was this: People had come side by side due to certain common points of sensitivity. In these meetings, more or less similar answers were given regarding the problems the Republic of Turkey has experienced since its founding and the reasons that have led the republic to extinction, and therefore, they came together with a claim. We will revive both the idea of the republic and the republic itself.

THTM has embarked on this journey just in time, and it is a good thing it did. Why? Friends, look, our greatest weapon while holding these meetings is that we speak the truth, that we are honest, open, and sincere. This initiative started with the initiative of the TKP, but the TKP does not need to establish a new organization; it has its own organization. We took a snapshot of the republic in its 100th year in Turkey and said: Is it possible for us to agree on this photo and find common ground on solutions? With whom is it possible? When we talk about the republican accumulation in Turkey, we are talking about those who think more or less similar things about what has happened to the Republic of Turkey.

"WE DO NOT ACCEPT THIS ORDER OF SECTS AND CAPITAL"

This is a fact: The ones responsible for the Republic of Turkey reaching this state are the holdings and the sects. In fact, the republic has reached this state due to a historical alliance established between those who hold the power of the economy and manipulate this place, and those who have seized the reason and conscience of the people, that is, the sects and reactionism. The common will that brings us side by side is our challenging the Turkey of holdings and sects, and we do not accept this order of sects and capital.

I want to give a current example. On one hand, we cannot say anything about Vahideddin, who betrayed these lands during the founding process of our republic, and it is said that you are insulting our ancestors. On the other hand, we cannot say anything about Sheikh Said. What we need to understand there is this: If a segment of the population in a country is pushed into desperation, if you are told 'forget yourself, you are desperate here, you are obliged to remain silent,' you cling to somewhere; you are forced to cling to Sheikh Saids. One of the duties of this assembly is to protect our Kurdish people from the Sheikh Saids.

If we act with this seriousness, if we do not load too much meaning onto the TBMM regarding the upcoming local elections, THTM is a candidate to be a unique experience in Turkey. Come, let us all together grow this beautiful example, this beautiful child we have created, and turn it into a focus and platform that changes the balances in Turkey. The republican accumulation in Turkey will inevitably rise. Greetings to the bright future of Turkey and the world."

"WE WILL RESIST GOING BACK A HUNDRED YEARS"

Starting her words by saying, "Istanbul is the city of our struggle, our İzmir is beautiful, but with your permission, I will favor Ankara a little," here are the highlights from Burçak Özoğlu's speech:

"Ankara is, first of all, the capital of the republic. Ankara is, on one hand, the city of intellectuals, the city of republican intellectuals, but on the other hand, it is also a bit of a provincial town. In Ankara, you see the regular listeners of the CSO, you see those who dress carefully and watch the concerts without ever missing them, and on the other hand, you also see those who open their arms to the 'Ankara's Vineyards' (Ankara'nın Bağları), which is the final closing piece of every wedding in the country. The CSO listener is also an Ankaralı, and the one who opens their arms to the 'Ankara's Vineyards' is also an Ankaralı. There is no sea in Ankara, you eat the freshest anchovies; there is no view, a viewing terrace has been placed on top of every high building. Ankara is like this or that, but it is ours because it is the capital of our republic. This duality in Ankara continues when you go out to the street. On one hand, you see the cultural monuments and symbols of republican history, and on the other hand, in the same streets, you find the vulgarity of today next to those historical places and symbols. For example, you read the story of the AOÇ land, which is one of the founding projects of the republic, you get caught up in the excitement of the founding of the republic, but then you look up and find that vulgar, insolent palace within the same land.

Well, in the struggle against these, reason, will, and conscience are not enough. As an organized communist woman, I consider it my duty to fight against this with all our existence. They claimed that the republic looked down on women, gave rights from above, and imposed things against the traditions and beliefs of society. Based on these fallacies, they are attacking women's equal citizenship gains, they dare to do this. They are trying to caricature women who defend secularism and enlightenment as 'republican aunts,' and to distort being against the headscarf alone as interfering with people's beliefs and worship. We will not allow this, we cannot. We will resist going back a hundred years. We will resist this because we have a promise to our historical sisters, our comrades, Kara Fatma, Şerife Bacı, Maria Suphi, Suat Derviş, Zehra Kosova, and Behice Boran.

These historical sisters and comrades of ours are not enough. We will resist because of our debt to return their honorable, honest, and enlightened pasts with respect to our elders who grew up in republican institutions and became enlightened citizens with secular values, honesty, and justice; and because of our responsibility to build a bright future for our young girls and children whom we protect like the apple of our eye. THTM will be a podium where we organize this struggle, bring this conscience together, and grow this reason. Every name, every representative to be elected who will contribute to this struggle from Istanbul and İzmir already, from Ankara today, and from other provinces from now on, will grow our hope, but at the same time, our reason will grow, our will will strengthen, and our conscience will develop.

Today, we will see these examples in person here, with their candidacies and their words. And we will all together elect and approve them and send them off to that great gathering in Ankara, to the general assembly.

May our path be clear."

"THEY COLLAPSED THIS REPUBLIC, THEY DESTROYED THIS REPUBLIC"

Fatih Yaşlı, in his speech where he started by saying that the establishment parties in Turkey supposedly celebrated the Republic in its 100th year 40-45 days ago with a national secret that everyone knows but only communists and socialists voice, highlighted the following:

"The secret that they hide, both the government and the opposition, is this: In its 100th year, the Republic has been collapsed. Let no one fall into pessimism or hopelessness because of what I am saying. The Republic has been destroyed; the ointment is the republic itself, and those who hide this secret, especially the party that founded the republic, are bleeding it. Saying this secret, that is, that the republic was destroyed through capital and reactionism, is neither hopelessness nor pessimism. It is a situation assessment. Throughout history, every revolutionary struggle, every revolutionary first makes assessments about the situation they are in and sets out accordingly.

Before the October Revolution, Lenin assessed the situation of Tsarist Russia. When Mustafa Kemal went to Samsun in 1919, he assessed the situation of the Ottoman Empire, he assessed the situation of the sultanate and the caliphate. Before the revolution in Cuba, Fidel and his friends assessed the situation of Cuba. The assessment of the situation we will make today is this: In the 100th year of the Republic, there is a republic that needs to be re-established, which has been collapsed by capital, sects, congregations, and religious reactionism. Well, why does the collapse of the republic concern us socialists and communists? Friends, behind the collapse of the republic, there are very clearly the projects of the capitalist class regarding this country and, above all, anti-leftism. Those who entered through the doors opened in the name of anti-leftism collapsed this republic, they destroyed this republic.

With the doors opened from there, the AKP came to power; that is, the project aimed at the destruction of the republic in Turkey did not start only with the AKP; this business has a prehistory. We must know and evaluate that prehistory well. Look, if there is a palace in a country, there is no republic; if we cannot talk about citizenship in a country, there is no republic; if the son of the Somali President can leave this country waving his hands after killing a motorcycle courier worker following a phone call from above, there is no republic in that country.

"IT IS OUR DUTY TO RE-ESTABLISH THE DESTROYED REPUBLIC"

It is our duty to re-establish the destroyed republic, it is our duty to rebuild citizenship, it is our duty to rebuild popular sovereignty. Well, how will this happen? How will we do this? Friends, as I said, we do not fall behind the 1923 republic, but if we do not reunite it with the ideal of equality, freedom, and justice within the year 2023, if we do not reunite it with the idea of popular sovereignty, it is not possible for us to revive the republic and defeat religious reactionism in Turkey. This, however, only passes through the unification of the struggle for secularism, the struggle for enlightenment, and the struggle to be given against the exploitation of labor. They destroyed the republic with anti-leftism, so that the laborers would not wake up, so that social struggles in Turkey would not rise. That is why they put Quran courses, congregations, sects, and imam-hatip schools in front of Turkey.

Look, today the capitalist class of Turkey, with its TÜSİAD and MÜSİAD, is not in favor of a secular republic. The fact that individual bosses live secular lives in their own worlds does not mean that they want the secularism of Turkey. On the contrary, just a few days ago, they opened the TÜSİAD meeting with songs Atatürk loved and closed it by supporting Mehmet Şimşek's austerity policies; they are all enemies of the people, they are all enemies of secularism, they are all enemies of the Republic. At the point we have reached today, without opposing this order of capital, without correctly seeing what this order of capital is, let alone the struggle for socialism, even the struggle for the republic cannot be waged. For this reason, in the Turkey of the future, the struggle for the Republic and the struggle for socialism are intertwined. Those who defend the republic must defend socialism, and those who defend socialism must defend the republic. Good luck to everyone who wants to wage this struggle, may all our paths be clear."

Oğuz Oyan continued his speech, which he started by saying that THTM is an initiative that has come just in time because Turkey, above all, desperately needs a real left-wing option, by saying that this needed to be established as a broad-based formation reflecting Turkey's political accumulations.

"IT HAS MADE A GOOD START"

“Bringing socialists, Kemalists, and republicans together in line with the same goals is perhaps not a new initiative, but it has never been as essential as it is in today's conditions where society is besieged by a religious, despotic capital regime. The TKP management, which is the initiator of THTM, has made a good start by wanting to establish a mechanism that will continue with its own initiative in a way that will determine its own agenda with its own path once this Assembly is formed. This is both a result of this Assembly's claim to represent broader masses and a step that will facilitate the sharing of social problems on a broader scale.”

Touching upon the Solidarity Assembly (Dayanışma Meclisi) established three years ago, Oğuz Oyan stated that he also salutes his friends who contributed to the Solidarity Assembly with gratitude.

Continuing his words by saying that if this Assembly succeeds in putting the weight of the left on Turkey's agenda, it will have achieved its goal, Oyan underlined that this putting of weight should not be only against the government, but also against fake left-wing discourses.

News Source: 12punto