Report from soL international.
While Turkey prepares for the referendum on April 16, the Governorship of Istanbul banned the rally of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) that was scheduled to be held on April 8 in Istanbul, claiming there was no adequate police force. On the call of the party, thousands of people headed into street across the country on April 8 to show that the government will not be able to silence the voice of the working people.
TKP members and the friends of the party came together in many cities with the party’s weekly journal ‘Boyun Eğme’ (Do Not Surrender). Those who say "Not Enough but No!" distributed tens of thousands of election bulletins of TKP.
Trade unionists, intellectuals, artists and journalists also attended in the campaign that attracted great interest from the citizens.
Simultaneously with the campaign in Turkey, members of TKP, Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE) and its youth organisation CJC came together in front of Turkey’s Consulate in Barcelona to distribute "Not Enough but No" bulletins.
Turkish voters will go to the polls on April 16, for a controversial referendum that could expand the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Workers of Ankara met at a panel held by the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) in Ankara on the upcoming presidential referendum.
Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) central committee members Erhan Nalçacı and Özgür Şen attended the panel as speakers.
As the first speaker of the panel, Erhan Nalçacı elaborated on the final crisis phase of capitalism since the last decades with no sign of the exit. He stated that Turkish capitalism tried to find solutions to this crisis in the 1980s with the September 12 military coup and January 24 neoliberal economic policy plan; in 1990s with Kemal Derviş, the minister of Economy then; and finally in 2002 with Justice and Development Party (AKP). Although each period was marked by different political stances, Nalçacı said, each of them was stench public enemies.
Nalçacı added that the existing social order necessitates authoritarianism. Marked by privatism and anti-enlightenment, the regime itself necessitates despotism, one-man-rule, neo-Ottomanism and reactionism, Nalçacı said.
Commenting upon the recent military intervention of the US to Syria, Nalçacı said that the working class should never be a part of imperialist wars and thus should get rid of the dominant class.
He called on the working class to get organised within the ranks of the working class party for an organised and purposeful no vote in the upcoming presidential referendum.
REFERENDUM IS A GAMBLE FOR ERDOĞAN.
Özgür Şen, the other speaker of the panel, noted that although the general public opinion has been waiting for the referendum as a solution for the atmosphere of uncertainty in Turkey, the referendum result will not be a final answer for that.
He reminded that the uncertainty is related to the crisis of capitalism in Turkey, and imperialism itself that is expected to solve the crisis of Turkey also undergoes similar uncertainties.
"If the route of Turkish bourgeoisie were clear, and there were no political tensions with imperialist centres, there would be no uncertainty in Turkey", Şen said, adding that that's why Erdoğan is taking this gamble of the referendum.
The referendum itself is a challenge for Erdoğan, Şen said, and will not be an answer for the crisis of capitalism in Turkey. Although there will be a huge difference between yes and no results in the referendum, the result will not resolve the crisis of capitalism, he said.
Commenting on the "No" campaign of the Communist Party of Turkey, Şen said that the communists have been campaigning for a no vote in the referendum from the heart, as opposed to other mediocre no vote campaigns. The difference mainly stems from the political stance of the communists pointing at the uncertainties awaiting the post-referendum phase, he said, and the communists are not afraid of struggling with those uncertainties. No result will ease working class struggle in Turkey and yet it will not be enough, he added.
Özgür Şen said that the no campaign of the communists have been systematically and deliberately restrained because TKP has been trying to minimise the uncertainties of the post-referendum phase. He added that the communists will try to direct a possible no result in the referendum to proper channels. A possible yes result will not solve any problem of the AKP government, Şen said, adding that it will cause an irresolvable social tension in Turkey.
Reminding the "not enough, but no" slogan of TKP, Özgür Şen said that yes result will not be enough for the AKP government just like a no result will not be enough for the communists. In the post-referendum phase, more intense and severe opportunities will arise for the working class, Şen said, adding that the working class will keep searching for revolutionary opportunities.
*Yetmez ama hayır!: Not enought but No!.
