Labour and Freedom Alliance announced election consensus declaration

The Labour and Freedom Alliance announced its 14 May Election Consensus Declaration to the public at a meeting held in Ankara. "We can establish a social order dominated by the people on the basis of labour, peace and democracy values," the declaration said.

Labour Movement Party (EHP), Labour Party (EMEP), Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), Socialist Assemblies Federation (SMF) and Social Freedom Party (TÖP) will participate in the elections in 81 provinces with joint lists under the umbrella of Green Left Party. The Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP), which is part of the alliance, will enter the elections with its own lists in 49 provinces and 52 electoral districts, and will support the Green Left Party in all other provinces and electoral districts.

"WE WILL WIN THE ELECTIONS"

In the election consensus declaration, it is stated that the alliance aims to put an end to the one-man regime in the parliamentary elections as well as in the presidential elections; for this purpose, it aims to come out of the elections with a great popular support and to ensure a strong parliamentary representation in favour of labour, peace and democracy, "We believe that the decision will serve to ensure that the Labour and Freedom Alliance, together with all its components, of the exploited and oppressed peoples, workers, labourers, women, youth and all segments of the people against the one-man regime, will come out of the elections victorious".

The prominent headings in the declaration are as follows:

AN ECONOMIC ORDER WHERE PEOPLE CAN WORK AND LIVE HUMANELY:

The programmes and actions of this government are based on a political understanding and practices that prioritise the interests of the capitalist class and its own crony companies and holdings. The economic and social destruction caused by the policies of exploitation and oppression on workers and labourers, poor farmers, peasants, tradesmen and oppressed segments of the population has become the first concern of the society. Taking concrete steps to solve the problems of cost of living, low wages, unemployment, poverty, subsistence and housing, and improving the working and living conditions of workers, labourers, oppressed masses of people is a burning and urgent issue for everyone today. Based on this fact, it is imperative to pursue policies that will make domestic and foreign monopolies pay the heavy bill of the economic crisis and multifaceted social destruction, and end the precariousness and futurelessness experienced by the labourers.

In this context;

1. It is the greatest social need to stop raises, to raise wages to a level above the poverty line to live humanely, to ban layoffs, to increase employment, to abolish taxes on basic consumption items, to tax less from those who earn less and more from those who earn more, to follow an economic programme that will eliminate poverty.
2. Mobilising budget resources not for palaces, wars and cronies, but for the economic security of the people and direct income supports are the first steps.
3. The basic needs of the people such as electricity, natural gas, water and internet should be provided free of charge to everyone whose monthly income is below the poverty line within the scope of a 'social rights programme'; it is an urgent need to solve the problems of those who are stuck in retirement age (EYT), young people who are victims of the Credit and Dormitories Institution (KYK) and teachers who have not been appointed.
4. Improving the living conditions of retirees, cancelling the debts of poor farmers, supporting the tradesmen, whose grievances have increased tremendously, are among the first things to be done.
5. Especially in the fields of energy and transportation lines, health and education, it is imperative to take urgent steps of nationalisation that include the control of workers and labourers in order to provide qualified, free and public services.
6. Our priority is to implement policies that will end women's poverty and ensure their equal and effective participation in all areas of economic life.
7. The use of 18 and under child labour as wage labour will be banned.

URGENT ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN REGARDING THE EARTHQUAKE:

1. First of all, damage assessment should be carried out accurately in the destroyed cities and the shelter-food needs of the earthquake victims should be met regularly. It is imperative to create healthy and humanly habitable shelter areas and to allocate all facilities, especially the empty housing stock and public social facilities, to meet the needs of the earthquake-stricken people.
2. It is a priority to establish temporary shelters with container structures and to provide humane living conditions in terms of heating, nutrition and cleanliness. After the removal of the rubble in the cities, it is vital that the necessary steps for an earthquake-friendly construction plan-policy are taken with the direct participation of scientists and professional organisations.
3. In order to prevent the occurrence of infectious diseases and to provide complete health services, the necessary infrastructure and health units must be established together with the relevant professional organisations and trade unions, and a sufficient number of health workers must be assigned to the earthquake zone.
4. All energy, transport and health services in the hands of capital must be utilised for the needs of the people.
5. All building stocks, especially in cities located in earthquake zones, must be inspected, and coordinated work must be carried out with universities, professional organisations and relevant national-international institutions for the demolition or improvement of buildings that do not comply with earthquake conditions.
6. It must be ensured that the earthquake taxes collected so far are used for their intended purpose and that the amount transferred to capital is returned to the public sector. All political-bureaucratic individuals and organisations responsible for the consumption and plunder of these resources must be identified, held to account and their properties seized.
7. Online education in universities and other educational institutions, especially in earthquake zones, must be terminated and necessary steps for face-to-face education must be taken as soon as possible.
8. Since it is clear that the central search and rescue structure has collapsed, locally organised Search and Rescue teams should be established with the participation of the people in the cities under earthquake risk, necessary trainings should be given, and equipment and hardware should be provided for them to carry out the first intervention.

A DEMOCRACY BASED ON THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE PEOPLE:

1. For decentralised and local governance, strong participation mechanisms of the people will be established, based on the transfer of authority and resources from the centre to local governments. Local governance must be handed over to people voted by the people and local people's assemblies and the trustee regime will be ended.
2. All workers and labourers will be guaranteed the right to unlimited trade union organisation, all kinds of (rights, solidarity, political and general) strikes and collective bargaining. The daily working time will be 6 hours and lockout will be banned.
3. A true secularism that encompasses democracy, demands for equal citizenship and freedom of thought, belief and conscience for all believers and non-believers will be built. The right of Alevis to equal citizenship will be guaranteed.
4. The right to equal citizenship based on respect for different cultures, identities, beliefs and lifestyles is a fundamental principle.
5. The "Readmission Agreement" will be cancelled. A peaceful environment will be established in the region for asylum seekers who want to return to their countries, refugee status will be granted to asylum seekers who demand to stay and the conditions for coexistence will be built.
6. For a democratic order based on popular sovereignty, the usurpation of rights created by Decree Laws will be eliminated with all its consequences. All forms of discrimination in public recruitment and appointments will be ended.
7. There is an urgent need for policies in favour of peace at home, in the region and in the world and for long-term cooperation between peoples. For this, the interests of the peoples, not the interests of the imperialist powers and their collaborators, will be taken as a basis. Abandoning expansionist policies based on war and conflict with other countries, especially with our neighbours, and military show of force; conducting a principled and peaceful foreign policy based on equal rights is imperative for a real sovereignty of the people.
    

PEACEFUL, DEMOCRATIC SOLUTION TO THE KURDISH QUESTION

1. For the solution of the Kurdish question, which is directly linked and intertwined with democratisation, it is imperative to take steps for a democratic and peaceful solution instead of the politics of denial and suppression.
2. Instead of war policies, weapons and conflict methods, policies will be pursued in accordance with the fact that dialogue and negotiation options have historically imposed themselves and are current.
3. It is of great importance to establish and strengthen the ground for dialogue and solution; to pave the way for the future for the whole society through democratic negotiation methods; within this framework, it is of great importance to make the necessary arrangements for the recognition of all universal identity rights, especially the right to mother tongue.
4. There is an urgent need for a general amnesty for political prisoners whose freedom has been confiscated as a result of investigations and trials created by this government.

JUSTICE, EQUAL RIGHTS AND FREEDOM FOR WOMEN

1. It is imperative to provide all kinds of guarantees for women to be equal and free in all areas of social life. Our basic principle of struggle is to ensure equal representation of women in all fields, especially in politics.
2. Together with women's dynamics, we will continue our comprehensive struggle against systematic male violence against women and femicides arising from male-dominated mentality and practices.
3. We are based on protecting and developing all the gains of women for their rights and lives. We will continue the struggle to re-validate the Istanbul Convention, which was won with great struggles, and to implement it in every field. Law No. 6284 on the Protection of the Family and Prevention of Violence against Women, we will never give way to attacks aimed at abolishing it.
4. All political, administrative, economic and cultural obstacles to gender equality for women and LGBTIs will be urgently removed.

FOR THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF YOUTH AND CHILDREN

1. With an approach that respects the life choices of young people, all obstacles in economic, social and political fields, especially in education and culture, must be removed so that they can express themselves freely and live freely.
2. Education at all levels must be free, scientific, mother tongue, secular and democratic.
3. Young people should be supported economically and encouraged to participate more in governance in all areas. Youth policies to be pursued on this basis will serve to make creative and progressive ideas more decisive in society.
4. A social organisation in which everyone, especially young people, can do sports, in which the sexist approach to sports is abandoned and free public sports facilities are made widespread will be ensured.
5. Children are subjects of society with their own rights. This will be recognised as such and all discrimination they are exposed to will be decisively combated.

DISABLED AND DISADVANTAGED GROUPS

1. More than 10 million disabled citizens live in our country. Disability should not be handled with a medical approach that is reduced to the body. Policies and practices that create awareness in society in every sense should be prioritised.
2. All kinds of arrangements should be made by the public in order for disabled people to benefit from public services as equal citizens.

HARMONY WITH NATURE, RESPECT FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND CULTURAL HERITAGE:

1. A state of emergency will be declared against the climate crisis.
2. All projects, especially Canal Istanbul, which are the focus of crimes against nature, destroying forests, agricultural areas, rivers, destroying the ecological balance, destroying forests, agricultural areas and rivers, destroying nature and the environment for the sake of profit and rent, will be stopped.
3. An approach that does not destroy nature in all policies, especially in energy, transport, urbanisation, economy and agriculture, is both urgent and imperative. The right of every living thing to live in a healthy ecosystem will be protected by effective laws.
4. The plunder of historical and cultural assets will be stopped.
5. Resettlement will be made for cities that are resistant to disasters and do not destroy nature, and urbanisation policies will be in line with this.
    

The declaration made an appeal to all institutions, organisations, parties and individual citizens who care about the bright and democratic future of Turkey and said: "Let us all take responsibility together. Let us carry the country, which was turned into a fire in the 2nd century of the Republic, to the future with common demands and an understanding of struggle together. Let us rebuild on a democratic and free basis. The peoples of Turkey are not condemned to discrimination, hate speech, polarisation and a dominant politics stuck between the People's Alliance and the National Alliance. We can establish a social order dominated by the people on the basis of labour, peace and democracy values. The way to achieve this is to rely on the transformative power of the exploited and oppressed masses of people. We invite everyone to a common and united struggle in line with this understanding and call." (EVRENSEL DAILY)