Socialism in Turkey

Socialism in Turkey originated with the formation of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) by Mustafa Subhi in 1920. Since then, several political parties have attempted a communist revolution. Marxism–Leninism, Maoism and democratic confederalism have been the most prominent socialist ideologies. The socialist movement has been closely linked to support for Kurdish rights, Alevi rights, LGBTQ rights and other social causes.[1]

Mustafa Subhi and TKP

The first TKP congress was held in Baku in September 1920, when Mustafa Subhi was elected chairman.[2] The TKP was composed of communists seeking victory against the Western powers occupying Anatolia and aimed to establish a communist state. Many of its early members, including Subhi, had been active alongside the Bolsheviks.[3] Subhi and 14 other communists later traveled to Anatolia, after which the party's activities became more prominent.[4]

Although Mustafa Atatürk and the Ankara Government opposed communism, they maintained close relations with the Soviet Union, which provided aid during the Turkish War of Independence.[5] Atatürk founded a separate socialist party, the Turkish Communist Party (TKF), to curb the influence of the TKP. The TKF applied to join the Comintern, a group advocating for international communism, but was rejected due to pressures from the TKP, which was already a member.[5] The TKF was dissolved in 1921 after the Ethem the Circassian uprising.[5] On their return journey to Azerbaijan, Subhi and his 14 companions were murdered by the ship's crew.[6]

Atatürk's Presidency (1923–1938)

During Atatürk's presidency, the Republican People's Party (CHP) government suppressed socialism by arresting socialists and banning the party.[4] In 1925, Maintenance of Order Law was passed, giving the government emergency powers, including closing political parties. The TKP was banned, though the party continued to operate secretly. In 1926, the party became more critical against the CHP and Atatürk reign.[4]

The party had internal discourse on their position against Kemalism. They largely acted in accordance with Comintern's preferences, though some party members disagreed.[7] In 1927, Vedat Nedim Tör, the general secretary of TKP at that time, left the party and handed party files to the police, starting mass arrests of TKP members.[8]

Socialist magazines like "Aydınlık" and "Orak-Çekiç" have been banned. Similarly, Marxist writers and poets like Nazım Hikmet Ran and Sabahattin Ali have been imprisoned.[9][10]

'68 Generation

Socialism in Turkey rose in popularity after the 1960 Turkish coup, which increased political and worker freedom.[11] In 1961, the Workers' Party of Turkey was founded.

The rightist-leftist conflicts was a major event in the 1970s in Turkey.[12] It was fought between ultranationalists and Marxists. Communist-armed parties had a huge role in these conflicts as they fought for a Marxist–Leninist revolution.[12] In 1970, THKP-C was formed by Mahir Çayan.[13] Their first action was kidnapping Ephraim Elrom, an Israeli consul who they killed in May 1971.[14] Çayan was arrested 4 days later.[13] THKP-C and THKO (another Marxist party formed in the late 1960s) sent their militants to PFLP in Palestine for guerilla education.[13] THKO's first action was robbing a bank in Ankara. Several months later, they kidnapped 4 US military personnel and set a 40,000 dollars ransom. They let the soldiers go as they were not able to get the money.[13]

After the 1971 Turkish military memorandum, the army took an aggressive turn against leftist parties.[15] Deniz Gezmiş, Hüseyin İnan and Yusuf Aslan (leaders and founders of THKO) were arrested days after the memorandum[16] and sentenced to death.[16] Mahir Çayan, who had broken out of prison, made an alliance with THKO.

In April 1972, TKP/ML broke away from TİİKP with İbrahim Kaypakkaya as their first chairman.[17] Unlike many socialists of the time, Kaypakkaya was a Maoist and Anti-Kemalist. He believed the USSR was not Marxist, and that it returned to a state of bourgeoisie. He founded his party on these ideas.[18] In January 1973, Kaypakkaya was shot in the neck in a conflict against the Turkish gendarme.[19] Ali Haydar Yıldız, one of TKP/ML's commanders, died in the conflict alongside other militants.[19] Kaypakkaya survived and escaped.[19] After days of traveling in the mountains, he reached a village where he was reported to the gendarme by a teacher, named Cafer Atan.[19] Kaypakkaya was arrested and sent to Diyarbakır Prison. He was tortured and interrogated for weeks before dying in May 1973.[19] TKP/ML continued operating under Süleyman Cihan.[17]

Several other socialist parties and organizations were formed later, such as MLSPB and Progressive Youth Organization.[13] TİİKP dissolved in 1977.[13] During this decade, socialists highlighted oppression on Kurds and Alevis.[1] Minority rights remains a primary leftist concern.[1] An example is Kaypakkaya, who had Lenin's idea of "The Right of Nations to Self-Determination", and believed in its implementation for Kurds.[18]

Bloody 1st of May (1977)

During the 1st of May celebrations in Taksim Square in Istanbul, a group of unidentified people shot into the masses from the square and a neighboring hotel. 34 people died and 136 people were injured.[20]

PKK, 1980 Coup and Democratic Confederation

In 12th of September 1980, a military coup was done by the Turkish Army headed by Kenan Evren.[21] Economic problems, the rightist-leftist conflicts and the growing idea of Kurdish nationalism were shown as reasons for it.[22] After the coup, 650,000 people were arrested.[21] 50 people were going to be executed, many for political reasons.[21] A famous example is a socialist named Erdal Eren who was charged with murder and was executed while he was 17 years old.[23] It's been claimed that some Kurdish socialists were tortured in prisons.[24]

Abdullah Öcalan embraced Marxism–Leninism in early 1970s. In 1974 he formed ADYÖD, a student organization for Marxists.[25] He was arrested one year later for making "communist propaganda".[25] In 1978, he founded the Kurdistan Workers' Party.

After the 1980 coup, more PKK members got arrested like Kemal Pir who is one of PKK's founding members and Mazlum Doğan who was the general editor of Serxw ebun.[26] Both of these people got sent to Diyarbakır Pr ison where they died due to tortures.[27] In 1984, PKK declared a "Kurdish Insurgency".[26] This started the years long PKK Insurgency.

After and during 1990s, PKK gave up on the idea of a Kurdish nation state, and instead started to fight for an autonomus region inside Turkey.[28] They also gave up on Marxism–Leninism for Abdullah Öcalan's new ideology called "democratic confederalsim".[29] An ideology that took huge inspirations from communalism, Öcalan represented it as a way for Kurds and Turks to live together.[29] In 199, he was arrested in Nairobi and brought to Turkey.[30] He was first sentenced to death which was later changed to life-long imprisonment.[31] Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) was found in 2005 as a political organization that embraced democratic confederalism.[32] It became very active in the Syrian Civil War.[33]

Current Years

Despite having less amount of followers, socialist parties still exist, but most of them are legal and even join elections. Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) not the same with TKP in 1920s, won the local elections in Tunceli in 2019.[34] The Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP), not the same with TİP in 1960s, have 3 seats in the parliament.[35] TİP also heavily supports the LGBT movement.[36]

References

  1. ^ a b c Kakışım, Can. "Sosyalist Hareketlerin Kimlik ve Azınlık Meselelerine Yaklaşımlarının Geçmişi ve Bugünü:Bir Paradigma Değişimi" (PDF).
  2. ^ Atasoy, Emel Sayhan (2008). Türkiye İştirakiyun Teşkilatlarının Birinci Kongresi (TKP Kuruluş Kongresi) (in Turkish). Sosyal Tarih Yayınları. ISBN 9789758683734.
  3. ^ Zenkovsky, Serge (1 January 1960). Pan-Turkism and Islam in Russia. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674653505. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  4. ^ a b c Ulus, Özgür Mutlu (15 January 2011). The Army and the Radical Left in Turkey: Military Coups, Socialist Revolution and Kemalism. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-1848854840.
  5. ^ a b c Aslan, Yavuz (1 January 2007). Türkiye Komünist Fırkası'nın Kuruluşu ve Mustafa Suphi (in Turkish). Türk Tarih Kurumu. ISBN 9789751609397.
  6. ^ Kılıç, Ecevit (14 September 2008). "TKP'nin liderleri denizde öldürüldü". Sabah. Archived from the original on 6 November 2013.
  7. ^ Akbulut, Erden (January 2024). Türkiye Komünist Partisinin Bölünmesi 1928-1932 (in Turkish). Yordam Kitap. ISBN 9786051726489.
  8. ^ Ergüden, Jülide (1978). 1927 Komünist Tevkifatı-İstanbul Ağır Ceza Mahkemesindeki Duruşma (in Turkish). Birikim.
  9. ^ Dağıstanlı, Mustafa Alp (3 June 2019). "Nazım Hikmet Hopa'da:İlk tutuklama,ilk yargılama,ilk cezaevi". BBC.
  10. ^ "Sabahattin Ali'nin cezaevine girme sebebi ne,neden tutklandı? Sabahattin Ali kariyeri Sabahattin Ali neden cezaevine girdi?". Aydınpost. 31 March 2025.
  11. ^ "Analiz:1960 Darbesinin Nedenleri ve Sonuçları". akademikkaynak.
  12. ^ a b Karakurt, Mehmet Süreyya (15 October 2024). Türkiye'de Sağ ve Solun Oluşumu ve 1975-1980 "Sivil" İç Savaşı (in Turkish). Notabene Yayınları. ISBN 9786052604304.
  13. ^ a b c d e f Aykol, Hüseyin (1996). Türkiye'de Sol Örgütler (in Turkish). Phoenix Yayınevi. ISBN 9786055738426.
  14. ^ "Konsolos 3 kurşunla şakağından öldürüldü". Milliyet.
  15. ^ "Yaklaşan Fırtınanın Habercisi 12 Mart". Solhaber.
  16. ^ a b Çelenk, Halit. "1.THKO Davası" (PDF).
  17. ^ a b TKP(ML)'den MKP'ye Bu Tarih Bizim-MKP 1.Kongre Belgeleri (in Turkish). Kardelen Yayınları. 2003.
  18. ^ a b "İbrahim Kaypakkaya Seçim Yazılar" (PDF). marxists.org.
  19. ^ a b c d e "İbrahim Kaypakkaya İşkencede Katledildi". marxist.org.
  20. ^ Can, Celalettin. "1 Mayıs 1977 Katliamı Üzerine". Independent Türkçe.
  21. ^ a b c Özkaya, Tanju. "Demokrasinin unutulmayan kara lekesi:12 Eylül Darbesi". Anadolu Ajansı.
  22. ^ "İşkencenin Adı:12 Eylül Darbesi ve Sebepleri". Ensonhaber.
  23. ^ "Erdal Eren hala 17 yaşında..." Sol Haber.
  24. ^ ""Bir daha dünyaya gelsem Kürt olmak istemem"". Habertürk. Archived from the original on 13 February 2010.
  25. ^ a b Eager, Paige Whaley (16 April 2008). From Freedom Fighters to Terrorists:Women and Political Violence. Routledge. ISBN 9780754672258.
  26. ^ a b Jongerden, Joost. Chronology of the PKK: From Group formation to Party. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  27. ^ "Diyarbakır Zindanında Ölümler". Diyarbakir Zindani. Archived from the original on 11 March 2012.
  28. ^ Şenay, Gonca. ""PKK'nın amacı hala bağımsızlık"". Al Jazeera.
  29. ^ a b Biehl, Janet. "Bookchin,Öcalan,and the Dialects of Democracy". New Compass Press. Archived from the original on 15 April 2020.
  30. ^ Akan, Ali Kemal. ""Terörist başı 60 saniyede paketlendi"". Anadolu Ajansı.
  31. ^ Laizer, Sheri (1999). "Abdullah Öcalan:A plea for justice". Socialist Lawyer (31): 6–8. JSTOR 42949064.
  32. ^ "KCK Sözleşmesi". Vikikaynak. Archived from the original on 24 November 2015.
  33. ^ Boynukara, Adnan. "The issue of PKK/KCK presence in Syria". KritikBakış.
  34. ^ "Komünist başkan Tunceli'yi,Ak Parti iki ilçeyi kazandı". Kanal23.
  35. ^ "28.Dönem Milletvekilleri Sandalye Dağılımı". tbmm.gov.tr.
  36. ^ "Bir ufka vardık ki artık yalnız değiliz sevgilim". tip.org.tr. 17 May 2022.
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