By Michael Karadjis
Turkey's one-year-old Liberty and Solidarity Party's (ODP) annual congress on October 26 was attended by thousands. The ODP brings together various strands of the Turkish left which have fought against repressive regimes for the last 30 years. According to Ertugral Kurkcu, it is "a unity party not only of former left parties but also a motley of anti-capitalist social movements".
As for what kind of socialism the ODP advocates, Kurkcu summarised it as "international socialism, ecological socialism, feminist socialism, for a democratic centralist planned economy, libertarian socialism", with unofficial criticism of past Soviet practice.
A "multi-wing" party, the ODP brings together the "left feminist movement, the left ecological movement, working-class organisations, mass organisations and a series of NGOs". Discussions and decisions are made at various levels in the lead-up to congress.
After one year, the ODP claims 20,000 members, but expects to more than double this over the next year. Public opinion polls indicate that only 3% of Turks definitely plan to vote ODP, but the figure rises to 8% for those "thinking of voting" for it and 17% in Istanbul.
This reflects the impact of the unification of such large sections of the left around a militant program, and the crisis into which Turkish capitalism has descended in recent years.
The acute political crisis of the ruling elite is reflected in the dilemma facing the Turkish people — to support either the repressive "secular" military or the right-wing "Islamic" movement headed by the Welfare Party, which led a coalition government until pressured out by the military mid-year.
Declaring both alternatives "barriers to the emancipation of labour and the establishment of a peaceful world free of exploitation", the ODP has rallied 50,000 people in Istanbul under the slogan "neither the military nor the Islamists".
According to Kurkcu, the military intervention against the Islamist-led government "has taken a huge toll on the workers' struggle" because, "threatened with an Islamist takeover, nearly all mass movements and trade unions have rallied around the new government".
The military aims to give itself a "democratic" mandate in acting against the Islamists, while maintaining its undemocratic control and opposing any real democratisation in a country renowned for massive violations of the rights of political opponents and the Kurdish minority.
A number of trade union leaders who gave greetings to the ODP congress were booed off the stage because they had collaborated with the military and the new government. Those who opposed both governments, including most public employees' unions, were cheered.
Since the new government came to power, the two major trade union federations (TURK-IS and DISK), the main employer federations and the government have set up the Economic and Social Council. Under cover of opposition to political Islam, enormous concessions in wages, taxes and conditions are being forced from the workers.
The fight for democracy, or "reducing the military's powers to zero", is one of the ODP's main campaigns. A campaign to release political prisoners is being waged: delegates to the congress wore T-shirts calling for the release of Esber Yagmurdereli, a blind 53-year-old, who has recently been rearrested and sentenced to serve the remaining 23 years of a 33-year sentence because of comments he made on the Kurdish issue after being paroled.
Hundreds of political prisoners are in Turkish jails for similar "crimes".
The other main campaigns are against privatisation and for peace. Since 1991, there has been a huge push by successive regimes to privatise. Since the Ataturk revolution of 1919-22, the bulk of key economic sectors had been state owned. The turn towards EEC membership has hastened the privatisation drive and the resistance of public employees.
The peace campaign is focussed on the war against the Kurdish minority in the south-east. Official estimates of the numbers killed on both sides have now risen to nearly 30,000. Kurkcu believes it could be up to 100,000 people.
Aside from the official war against the PKK guerilla movement, there is an unofficial war waged by a criminal network of drug dealers, government-backed "village guards" and the fascist Nationalist Movement Party, which has links to leading police chiefs and government ministers of the True Path Party. This secret war has resulted in the murder of thousands of Kurdish civil leaders not involved in armed struggle.
War expenditure is now $6-7 billion annually, on top of a similar amount for other military expenditures; the military consumes 40% of the budget.
The effects on living standards, plus the rising number of casualties, are changing popular attitudes. While several years ago there existed a "very chauvinist atmosphere", now most want a political solution, as advocated by the ODP. The party also calls for recognition of Kurdish identity and the repeal of all anti-Kurdish laws.
On regional issues, Kurkcu said the ODP is opposed to Maastricht Europe, and calls for Turkey's withdrawal from NATO and the EEC customs union, the expulsion of US bases and breaking the current military alliance with Israel and the US.
He believes there will not be war between Greece and Turkey, and says that the current "controlled crisis" between the two countries serves the US interest in dominating the Aegean, through which much of the oil from the Caspian Sea will flow.
The ODP wants Greece out of NATO as well and calls for the two countries to sign defence treaties with each other and with other countries of the region. The ODP believes only the Cypriots can solve their problems and supports UN resolutions for a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation and the disarmament of the island.
The ODP congress was attended by many left currents from the region, with large contingents from Greece and both sides of Cyprus. From Australia, the Democratic Socialist Party was represented.