Harsh manifesto from the TKP to left-wing politics: 'A left in the shadow of the CHP and DEM Party has abandoned its principles'

The Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) made comprehensive assessments regarding the current state of left-wing politics in Turkey in a written statement shared with the public. In the text published under the title "Our Stance and Our Call," views were listed regarding identity politics, the independence of the socialist movement, the relationships established with the CHP and the DEM Party, and the future of the left.

The TKP's call is as follows:

Our Stance and Our Call

The left cannot be part of an identity-based debate. The ethnic or sectarian origin of our citizens cannot change the direction of a struggle that will carry Turkey toward enlightenment, equality, freedom, independence, and prosperity. No criterion other than the worldview, diligence, dedication to the people, patriotism, knowledge, skills, and honesty of the person who will hold this or that office is of any importance.

It is a clear fact that there are ethnic and sectarian inequalities and discrimination in this country. What is important is how this reality is approached and how solutions are produced. It is impossible for a polarization where identities are pitted against each other to help with any solution. The solution lies in eradicating the sources of the deep exploitation, severe poverty, and injustice that Turkey is currently experiencing, while simultaneously eliminating this inequality and discrimination with a unifying perspective.

The Turkish left has forgotten this very simple truth and has followed identity-based policies that divide our working people. It is the left's inability to escape the impasse created by identity politics that leads to statements that should have no place in the political and public sphere, such as "An Alevi cannot be elected President" or "We would not support a presidential candidate whose native language is Kurdish."

In the midst of all this wavering, a segment is developing hostility toward the left with unfair accusations and generalizations, and is organizing campaigns to target the socialist movement with nationalist delusions and declare it a scapegoat. Yet, if the left had stood tall from the beginning against all forms of nationalism and liberalism without calculating anything else, remaining loyal only to its own ideological-political principles and revolutionary goals, protecting its independence, and building its unity and alliance relationships on this ground, we would be living in a completely different country today.

The left has principles that cannot be debated, and it is possible to multiply and become a force while protecting these principles. As we have been saying for years, a left in the shadow of the DEM Party and the CHP is a left that has abandoned its principles. Anti-imperialism, the defense of secularism, and being against capitalist exploitation are not sectarianism or small-mindedness. On the contrary, Turkey's future will be built based on these principles.

The TKP has been loudly stating for a very long time that the socialist movement cannot develop in the shadow of the DEM Party and the CHP and that these parties should not be followed. The fact that the left has reached a point where it conducts politics by relying on the CHP for a period, then the DEM Party, and then the CHP again, is one of the most important reasons for the hopelessness and lack of organization in society today. Those who see it as a positive development that some left-wing segments have abandoned DEM Party-centered policies to conduct politics in the orbit of the CHP fail to grasp the essence of the matter. Undoubtedly, the DEM Party and the CHP are products of different historical and ideological dynamics. However, these differences become insignificant when it comes to the independence of the socialist movement in the struggle to rid Turkey of exploitation, tyranny, and injustice.

It is under these conditions that we reiterate our call once again with all our sincerity:

A left that is independent of establishment politics; revolutionary, patriotic, anti-capitalist, detached from all forms and institutions of imperialism, Enlightenment-oriented, and Republican must become a social and political force; this is an inevitable necessity.

If the "buts" and "howevers" can be set aside, the left will gain a real identity and become a political power center in its own right. The "unity of the broadest forces" approach, which distances the left from its principles, must be abandoned immediately. The struggle against the AKP government can only succeed by correctly identifying the sources of that government. For a left that postpones settling accounts with religious sects, holding companies, NATO, and the European Union, who and what it wants to form the "unity of the broadest forces" against remains a huge uncertainty for the working people. Yet, the left can only give hope to the desperate poor segments of the public and create an alternative with a clear, simple, and consistent political-ideological identity.

Since the costs and dead-ends of the left's attempt to gain positions on ideological-political grounds foreign to itself have been clearly seen with recent developments, then it is time to draw lessons with courage. The TKP is ready to put aside past discussions and points of disagreement to focus entirely on the future and fulfill its responsibilities.

News Source: 12punto