2025-04-10

Please, if possible, tell us about the organization you come from. People in Iran may not know about you.

I’m a member of Kaldıraç Movement. Kaldıraç Movement is revolutionary socialist movement along Marxsist-Leninist lines that has been waging a political struggle around the Kaldıraç Magazine since 1994. As a part of the world revolutionary movement, it aims at the working class government through socialist revolution in the Anatolian geography. We especially value revolutionary solidarity in our common region, and salute the Iranian peoples and working class!

These days we are witnessing large demonstrations in Istanbul and other cities of Türkiye against the policies of Erdogan’s government. What are the reasons behind these demonstrations and what are the demands of the protesters?

Ekrem İmamoğlu is the presidential candidate of the main opposition CHP (Republican People’s Party). He is also the mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Masses expected him to be the winner in the next election against Erdogan. Imamoğlu’s diploma was canceled and a legal obstacle to his presidential candidacy was created, which was followed by his arrest.

Although the resistance that started on March 19 seems at first glance to be a reaction to Ekrem İmamoğlu’s arrest, in fact, this was only a spark. As the protestors emphasized, it was not only about İmamoğlu; this arrest was the “last drop” that allowed for the expression of the anger that had been growing for a long time. The resistance is a mass movement that exploded spontaneously, just like the Gezi Resistance.

The main reason for the uprising is the authoritarian practices of the Palace Regime and the deep frustration of the society with it.
The complete dysfunctionalization of the elections, the constant coups against the will of the people through trustees, and the judiciary being waved as a sword over the entire society have caused the masses to feel that “enough is enough”.

Poverty and the cost of living are also one of the main dynamics underlying the protests. At the same time, young people have been forced to live without a future. Unemployment among young people has exceeded 30%.

Although the masses do not have a clear program on what kind of life they want, they have a common feeling that they “do not want to live in this regime”.

The oppression that the palace regime has been applying for years, the looting and profiteering regime they have established, and their attitude of escalating the war at home and abroad has become unbearable.

The action of Istanbul University students inspired large sections of society by turning this feeling into action.

While students played the most critical role in the expansion of the resistance, Istanbul University students breaking through the police barricades had a huge impact both symbolically and in terms of the moral value they created.

This action has given the masses, who have constantly faced physical and symbolic barriers since Gezi, the belief that “resistance is possible”. The breaking down of the barricades opened the way for a mass movement into the streets and turned into a collective refusal against the current regime.

There have been over two thousand detentions and hundreds of arrests during the demonstrations, arrests on so-called legal pretexts for so-called crimes such as participating in demonstrations or posting on social media, which according to regime’s own laws are not grounds for arrest even for a single day.

The majority of the 301 detainees are university students, young workers and unemployed youth.

The Palace Regime responded to the movement by increasing repression. It wants to spread fear with mass arrests, but there is a tendency among the masses to overcome the wall of fear. In fact, the detentions and arrests against more organized groups, which have been going on since before the resistance, continue to spread with the resistance.

The developing protest movement slowly forms demands that are gradually becoming widespread, although its demands are not yet fully crystallized precisely because of the spontaneous character of the movement.

In particular, we can observe demands such as the immediate dismissal of the trustees, the release of arrested politicians and activists, the punishment of the police officers who attacked the protesters and those who gave the orders to come to the fore.

The absence of Kurds in these demonstrations is noticeable. What is the reason for their non-participation in the demonstrations?

There are three factors that unravel the state of Turkey. One is the war between the imperialist powers. The second is the Kurdish revolution. The third factor is the resistance movement that started with the Gezi resistance in 2013 and is rising again today.

The state pursues an open policy of annihilation against the Kurdish people. This policy has turned into an imposition of “either you are with us or you are destroyed”. At the same time, this approach is a reflection of the strategy of “war at home and abroad”. This situation to which the Kurdish movement is subjected is also directly linked to regional dynamics.

In addition to the Kurdish movement, the rulers are also afraid of the resistance movement that started with the Gezi Resistance and continues to this day with fragmentary and local actions. Especially, the situation where these two resistances come together and carry out a parallel struggle, even if they are not gathered under one roof, is the greatest fear of the rulers, the Palace Regime.

Furthermore, the Palace Regime had Öcalan make a statement with two key points. In this February 27 call Öcalan called for the decision to disarm and dissolve the PKK. As far as we can learn from reading between the lines, this call was made within the framework of an agreement with details still unknown but reached following negotiations that have been continuing since the summer of 2024 and brought to the agenda within the framework of the US policies in the region, especially concerning Syria and Iran.

Although there has been Kurdish participation in the protests, the DEM party and some trade unions in Kurdistan have been on the ground, it can be said that Kurds have not taken to the field as a visible effective body. The above conditions have been effective in this regard.

Does your party also participate in the demonstrations? What is your party’s opinion and policy regarding the demonstrations? What is your assessment of it?

As a movement, we have been involved in the resistance from the beginning.

In addition to the bourgeois main opposition party CHP chairman Özgür Özel’s statement that we should use our power from consumption, we should call for using our power that comes from production.

CHP is implementing a selective boycott, especially to pressure the media bosses and increase the visibility of the demonstrations and its own statements. However, under the leadership of the student movement, the masses are willing to turn this into a general boycott of non-buying one day every week, especially for their imprisoned comrades, most of whom are students.

We must expand the boycott, strikes and resistance. We can defeat this attack with a general political strike.

In order to kick out all the trustees appointed to municipalities and universities, for the release of those arrested for resisting side by side with us, to end poverty, futurelessness, injustice,and to defend our lives and our future, it is necessary to make this resistance permanent.

For this, the movement must establish and expand its own councils to ensure its continuity. In addition, in order to make the developing rebellion reach victories, the power coming from production must be put into absolute use.

For a general strike, it is enough for the millions in the squares to decide, to spread the idea in the workplaces and to set a date. It is observable that this idea is spreading among the masses and the call for a general strike will be answered. It is certain that the general strike is the Palace’s nightmare and it will have to back down against it.

The Palace Regime did not come with elections and will not go with elections. Only we can take control of our own lives. Workers, pensioners, women, students, peoples have the power to build the life they want for themselves. Persistence and continuity are necessary to win.

We must build the United Labor Front where all these social strata will fight together.

How active are the left and communist forces in these demonstrations and what is their message, including your message, to the protesters?

A large part of the left forces are taking part in the resistance. There is also a tendency of the masses towards leftist views. However, unlike the Gezi Resistance, this stage of the resistance is not at a point where the left-communist forces become the hegemonic power.

While the CHP is trying to control this movement on the street and channel it to early elections, a part of the revolutionary and socialist movement is trying to propagate the path of general strike, general resistance and turn the movement towards organized resistance.

However, it is clear that the common platforms of the left have not been activated and included in the movement at the level they should be at the moment. In this respect, unfortunately, we cannot talk about a common clear message of the left movement as a whole. We predict that efforts will increase in this regard.

April 2025