On September 10th, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) issued a statement regarding the 98th anniversary since the foundation of the "oldest and youngest party" of the country:
"We will not content ourselves with something less than what is possible. Even though some claim that it is “impossible”, socialism is the only possible future in Turkey and the world.
The rest is nothing but darkness. The rest is nothing but lies.
The hope lies in the party which is both the oldest and the youngest
Communist Party of Turkey was founded during the days when Anatolia was still under imperialist occupation and the resistance against the occupation was still ongoing. At around the same time, under the leadership of communist parties, the workers made their mark on history in 1917 with the Great October Revolution, and stepped in to drive the final nail in the coffin of crumbling capitalism.
Communists who arrived from a country under occupation, the first Turkish Bolsheviks who were freed by communists and got organized after being captured by Tsarist forces and Turkish intellectuals who were trained in the school of scientific socialism in Europe participated in the congress held in Baku. The TKP was founded in the Baku Congress on September 10, 1920.
Today, the TKP is the oldest party in Turkey. It was the youngest, the newest party when it was established. A party that challenged the rotten, the ancient order of the world…
This is still the case.
Communist Party of Turkey is not just history. The historicity of the Communist Party of Turkey is not only a fact of the past. The TKP is historical also because of the place it takes in the bright future of Turkey and the world. It will continue to exist until an episode in the history of humanity comes to an end, and become historical in the sense that it belongs to the past, having made its mark on the past, when humanity creates a free and equal world.
Last year, celebrating our 97th anniversary, we said the following: “Communist Party of Turkey will raise the banner against the order of exploiters who prosper by leeching off people who sweat blood as well as the political parties and institutions that protect such order.
Communist Party of Turkey will intensify the struggle against zealots who condemned our beloved country to darkness, ignorance, bigotry, hostility against arts and sciences.
Communist Party of Turkey will intensify the struggle against policies based on ethnicity and sectarianism, against racism, militarism, the sexist discourse that insults women, barbarism that destroys natural and historical assets.
Communist Party of Turkey will intensify the struggle against imperialism, the plans and projects of imperialist countries, and the so-called emancipation recipes which are ratified by imperialist forces.
Communist Party of Turkey calls for rejecting a world order ruled by Trumps, Merkels, Erdoğans, etc.
A social order without unemployment, poverty, starvation, wars, child death, harassment of women and racism is possible. A social order in which you do not have to worry about rents, utility bills, education and healthcare expenditures, etc. is possible. Equality is possible. Freedom is possible. The fraternity is possible.
Socialism is possible and necessary as it is the only social order which can guarantee all these.
The TKP has rolled up its sleeves for what is possible.”
Today, the TKP celebrates its 98th anniversary.
And once again it proclaims: the hope lies in the party which is both the oldest and the youngest.
We will not content ourselves with something less than what is possible. Even though some claim that it is “impossible”, socialism is the only possible future in Turkey and the world.
The rest is nothing but darkness. The rest is nothing but lies."
Communist Party of Turkey,
Central Committee.
