Let’s amplify the struggle for the defence of democratic rights!
On March 23, 45 people including Ekrem İmamoğlu were arrested on charges of corruption. While the arrest decision was rejected in the terrorism investigation opened against İmamoğlu on the grounds of “urban reconciliation”, other arrest decisions were issued on this charge for three people including Şişli Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan. As a result, a trustee was appointed to the Şişli Municipality. It is clear that, all these accusations were manufactured by the judiciary, which acting as the Palace’s sword, with the aim of criminalizing, intimidating, and eliminating the opposition in order to ensure the continuity of Erdoğan’s administration. As the Workers’ Democracy Party, we condemn and reject these attacks against the right to vote and be elected, the freedom of organization, and the most fundamental democratic rights.
The One-Man regime’s aggression—going as far as arresting İmamoğlu, the Mayor of Istanbul and the biggest rival in the upcoming Presidential elections—was by no means a new or surprising development. After suffering a heavy defeat in the local elections, People’s Alliance had already initiated policies to regain political dominance and criminalize the opposition by appointing trustees to municipalities. The trustee appointments that began with the DEM municipalities extended to CHP with Esenyurt Municipality. This aggression continued in the form of corruption operations—as seen in the cases of the Beşiktaş and Beykoz Municipalities—and terrorism investigations under the guise of Urban Reconciliation targeting elected CHP municipal council members and administrators. It was obvious that all these operations were preparations for a move against İmamoğlu. Ultimately, with the cancellation of İmamoğlu’s university diploma on March 18, and the subsequent corruption and terrorism allegations that led to the detention of nearly a hundred people including İmamoğlu, the One-Man regime executed its major attack. After four days of detention and following police and public prosecutor interrogations, İmamoğlu was arrested on corruption charges, while the decision to release him on terrorism charges was under review due to an objection by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office at the time of writing these lines.
In addition to the operation targeting İmamoğlu, it appears that there are plans to appoint a trustee to CHP due to alleged irregularities at its last congress, and that—with the Palace’s intervention—CHP is to be forced into an extraordinary congress. In response to this move, Özgür Özel has announced a decision to take CHP into an extraordinary congress on April 6.
These attacks by the Erdoğan administration against CHP—the main opposition—and İmamoğlu reveal the desperation and entrapment of the People’s Alliance. As a result of its own economic devastation and continuous repressive, anti-democratic policies, which have steadily weakened its electoral support, the People’s Alliance is once again attempting to maintain its power through methods of criminalizing the opposition with pressure and fear. Moreover, these moves further deepen the contradictions inherent in the regime. On the one hand, the aggressiveness of detaining the main opposition’s presidential candidate and sidelining him by appointing a trustee to the municipality ultimately undermines the fundamental legitimacy of the ballot. On the other hand, these moves further destabilize the fragile economic structure and gradually narrow the societal base upon which the regime relies. The initiative process it is conducting under the name “Turkey without Terror” is, meanwhile, encountering new impasses by criminalizing “Urban Reconciliation.” Most importantly, the Palace’s new aggression is facing the mobilization of the masses in the streets, especially among the youth.
The student youth, who mobilized immediately after the cancellation of İmamoğlu’s university diploma and detention operations, also demonstrated a lesson in how to respond to anti-democratic attacks. Following these operations, CHP management—which initially appeared paralyzed and silent—eventually called for action in Saraçhane[1] in response to these developments and the growing social pressure. From day one, and increasingly over time, the masses filled Saraçhane Square and mobilized in defence of democratic rights. Mass actions took place not only in Saraçhane Square but also in many other squares in İstanbul, as well as in İzmir, Ankara, and across the country. The mobilization of the working people became the key factor that undermined the legitimacy of the Palace’s move.
Although CHP management did call the people to the streets under the pressure of mobilization, it showed that it was more afraid of the power and mobilization of the masses than of the palace in the face of this development as it had already demonstrated in the previous breaking points. CHP management carried out its calls to action under the pressure of the masses, attempting to limit, control, and, to the extent it could not, transform them into its own rallies. It did not call on its district organizations, arrange buses from districts, or make any attempt to further advance the mobilization of the masses in order to fill the streets. Nevertheless, the masses filled the streets despite the CHP management’s passive, cynical, and “waiting for the ballot” approach.
As a result of the masses’ mobilization, it appears that the Palace took a partial step back by releasing İmamoğlu from the terrorism charges and abandoning the appointment of a trustee to the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality. However, as evidenced by the prosecutor’s objection to this decision, as long as the current regime continues to exist, the trustee appointments will continue to threaten every aspect of life from the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality to other municipalities, from universities to political parties.
Now, the masses are debating what should be done next and how the mobilization should be sustained. CHP management will soon end its calls to action limited to gathering at Saraçhane Square and will be eager to return to its everyday politics, limited to “waiting for the ballot.” However, the mobilizations that began with İmamoğlu’s detention emerged as a result of accumulated anger against the One-Man regime’s repressive attacks in defence of democratic rights. Mobilizations should continue to spread until all political prisoners are released, the criminalization of political opposition ends, and there is a genuine break from the trustee regime and mentality that extends from municipalities to universities and national government!
Today, millions of people—both CHP supporters and non-supporters—who are angry at the One-Man regime are mobilizing by casting their votes in the primary elections and showing their protest, while the Kurdish people, demanding freedom and an honourable peace, are filling the squares, and the student youth is trying to maintain and expand the academic boycott. All these mobilizations need to be united and expanded in order to defeat the Palace regime. The only and decisive actor that will unite these different dynamics is the working class, which will take centre stage by “using its power derived from production.” General strike calls to unions and labour organizations gain significant meaning in this context. For all labour organizations—especially Türk-İş—to mobilize, the pressure on their leadership, which either buries its head in the sand or is content with symbolic statements, must be increased two to threefold. Accordingly, as the Workers’ Democracy Party, we continue to call for the formation of a Labor Alliance that will combine the struggle against anti-democratic attacks and economic devastation policies with an action plan, addressed to the socialist left and all labour organizations.
Free the political prisoners!
End the criminalization of political opposition!
End the trustee regime in municipalities, universities, and throughout the country!
The solution lies in united struggle, the solution is in a labour alliance!
Workers’ Democracy Party
March 23, 2025
[1] In front of the municipality building.
Yorumlar kapalıdır.