Marches and press statements and practical organization of the struggle that involves drawing various mass organizations, trade unions and labour-professional organizations into the struggle are of critical importance here.
İhsan Çaralan
Popular opposition continues to the trustees in the provinces of Diyarbakır, Van and Mardin where trustees have been appointed.
With provincial governors banning the actions, the police have no compunctions about using violence against the people who are protesting the appointment of trustees.
The charging to the municipal budget of “gifts” costing more than 600,000 lira that the Mardin trustee-provincial governor gave various officials from President Erdoğan to Interior Minister Soylu in the previous trusteeship period also remains firmly on the political agenda. There is not a peep from either the gift-giving trustee-provincial governor or the recipients of the gifts, Erdoğan, Soylu and other officials, about the “gifts” that have been spoken of for days and have also been substantiated through official documents! They probably think, “This is Turkey. It’ll be spoken about and spoken about and then forgotten.”
As to President Erdoğan’s comment in the speech he made in Trabzon, “We will stand up for Istanbul that is entrusted to us from Fatih. We will block this sacred city from being delivered to supporters of the separatist organization,” this has brought debate to the fore of politics as to whether a trustee is being readied for Istanbul.
Travelling to Mardin and Diyarbakır, the visit by a CHP delegation including CHP members of parliament Ali Şeker and İlhan Cihaner to elected Metropolitan Mayors Ahmet Türk and Selçuk Mızraklı is seen as being a step forward by the CHP. But it is open to debate just how far forward this step was.
For, Kılıçdaroğlu’s comment following the appointing of trustees to the three metropolitan municipalities in the region, “We are opposed to the trustees but do not find it correct for the people to go into the street in opposition to the trustees” received a rough reaction from both progressive democratic circles and a significant section of the CHP’s base.
The visit the CHP delegation paid to Diyarbakır, Van and Mardin and the continued making of harsh pronouncements by CHP spokespersons do not come across as being enough to remove the barricade Kılıçdaroğlu has placed in front of the CHP base.
Nor can any fresh reaction be said to have been forthcoming from the CHP following Erdoğan’s speech that amounted to the threat to appoint a trustee to Istanbul.
The auguries emerging from events and the political realities of the period serve to vindicate those who say, “If the struggle against the trustees in the region is not at a level that will repel the ruling party’s attack, trustees will come to Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir …”
The reduction to reacting with harsh words by the CHP of its stance in opposition to the appointing of trustees has encouraged Erdoğan and his team. And the point Erdoğan has reached, with talk of “We’ll appoint trustees to Istanbul” claiming that, “Cronies of terrorists (being Kurds who do not vote for the AKP) have become installed in municipalities” is not just aimed at causing a stir, it is kite flying!
Far from it. Like all rulers battling for survival, Erdoğan and his party will resist with a force one thousand times greater than before not to lose what is in their grasp, and are doing so! So, if they can gain a small portion of what they have lost, there is no such thing as, “No, they won’t go that far.” This also includes initiatives that would be deemed “craziness” under normal political conditions! In fact, had we told those whole follow politics to a degree one month ago that the government would appoint trustees to Diyarbakır, Mardin and Van, they would have said, “That’s not on. Have they gone crazy!” But the government has committed this craziness and it would simply be a stating of the truth to say that they can do it again and go further.
In appointing trustees to the three metropolitan cities, the AKP and Erdoğan are making the HDP and the Kurds who do not vote for them pay the price for their electoral defeat. They will now wish to broaden the front further and regain what they lost through election using other forces at their disposal. So, for Erdoğan and the AKP, the appointing of trustees to Istanbul, too, is not just a threat against their rivals, but their need in economic, political and ideological terms!
Indeed, the increased signs of division within the AKP, preparations to establish a new party and the mounting cacophony in the party as the pressure applied to get people into line behind the AKP and Erdoğan loosens the more it is tightened like a worn screw forces Erdoğan and his team ever more in the direction of moves that will assemble the nation around the “AKP’s survival.”
The sole way to repel this threat and potential moves by the Erdoğan-AKP rule is struggle against the trustee policy. And this struggle will involve the multifaceted struggle without any restriction of progressive democratic forces and circles opposed to the “single-man regime”.
The HDP and progressive democratic forces are venting their reaction by coming out into the street. But joint initiatives conducted in parliament and local authorities are important for this struggle to spread nationwide. In particular, marches and press statements and practical organization of the struggle that involves drawing various mass organizations, trade unions and labour-professional organizations into the struggle are of critical importance here.
1 September World Peace Day events must also be used to good advantage so that this debate and these initiatives spread and steps are taken in local authorities.
(Translated by Tim DRAYTON)
Bülent Falakaoğlu
Hakkı Özdal
