{"id":25760,"date":"2025-04-09T17:40:22","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T14:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tkp.org.tr\/?p=25760"},"modified":"2025-04-09T17:51:49","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T14:51:49","slug":"tkp-general-secretary-kemal-okuyan-wrote-boycott-republic-and-revolutionary-stance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tkp.org.tr\/en\/agenda\/tkp-general-secretary-kemal-okuyan-wrote-boycott-republic-and-revolutionary-stance\/","title":{"rendered":"TKP General Secretary Kemal Okuyan wrote: Boycott, Republic and Revolutionary Stance\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boycott, Republic and Revolutionary Stance\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kemal Okuyan, TKP General Secretary<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is impossible for the discussions on “”Who\u2019s part of the boycott, why are they included, and who\u2019s in and who\u2019s out of its scope?”<\/i>\u00a0not to shift towards “where does the capital start, where it ends\u201d.<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One cannot dodge the truth. The leadership of CHP (the bourgeois main opposition party) can tweak its stance all it wants. Even some can keep dreaming of a united front against fascism with T\u00dcS\u0130AD (the principle organization of big capital in Turkey), and the government can keep shouting \u201cthey are waging a war on our national and domestic capital\u201d \u2014 but the seal is already broken.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bourgeois politicians will scramble to seal things back up, but we won\u2019t allow it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There\u2019s no such thing as good or bad capital. Period.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“We\u2019re not in the business of picking out the cultured boss, the kind-hearted one, the smiling one, the one who reads books or acts nice to their workers. Yes, such characters exist among bosses. They are rich enough to choose their public persona, after all!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rich enough to buy yachts, when that\u2019s not enough, to buy marinas! Kids from the neighborhood collect bottle lids, the bosses: Sports cars! He can have his lunch in Paris and dine in London.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But all that richness wouldn\u2019t just cut it. He also needs to have \u201csocial responsibility\u201d!\u00a0 <\/span>He organizes festivals, builds cultural centers, and establishes museums. He even writes op-eds, like Murat \u00dclker does.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Speaking of Murat \u00dclker, his writings piqued my attention, I\u2019m reading to see where he\u2019s going to take this. (Murat \u00dclker is a capitalist, whose name ranks first in the list of the richest people in Turkey. He is also known worldwide for his purchase of the Godiva brand.) <\/em>He\u2019s at the top of the list. You see, they\u2019ve ranked the world\u2019s richest people, and Murat \u00dclker appears to be the richest in Turkey .<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His \u00dclker is the one capital group that has been boycotted the longest in Turkey. So, he either hasn\u2019t been impacted at all, or has turned the boycott into a strategic advantage.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anyway, we\u2019ve said time and time again that it\u2019s not a question of ‘good boss, bad boss.’ What needs to be eliminated is the current system of exploitation. For people, the good one serves their country and people without any privileges in a socialist system! \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Secular capital, pro-government capital, progressive capital, green capital, domestic and national capital, newly emerged capital, the Anatolian Tigers, capital of \u0130stanbul, cosmopolitan capital, the interest lobbies…”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These ingredients would not yield liberation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you ever think to place your trust with some of them, believing instead of organizing festivals, they\u2019ll bring democracy to the country; The truth will hit you in the face: There\u2019s no democracy in the country and they are not here to help!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What matters most for capital is a sustainable and expanding environment for profit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s put other countries aside, capitalism in Turkey cannot function without an oppressed and unorganized working class. Therefore, democracy, even if it\u2019s just symbolic, doesn\u2019t exist! Look at it from the perspective of any of the categories of capital listed above.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But you also need to understand this: The country is also going downhill.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the Republic of Turkey was founded, it suffered from the underdevelopment of capitalism. We\u2019ve continuously explained why the transformations that opened the country\u2019s capitalist path represented a historical progress, why the disruption of the imperialists’ game, who never accounted for such a country, had lasting positive outcomes, and why concepts like the Republic, secularism, and enlightenment gained both conceptual and political-social reality throughout this period in Anatolia, giving a significant energy to the present day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s both saddening and unsurprising to see those who fail to understand this truth now \u201cfight against the regime alongside the T\u00dcS\u0130AD capitalist club\u201d in a country being utterly destroyed by capitalism.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The TKP\u2019s growing involvement in the debates surrounding the National Struggle and the Republic reflects its resolve to bring the struggle against the dictatorship of capital to a new phase.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For the capitalist regime has put the very existence of this country, the ground for our fight, in question.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Some thought undermining the foundation of the Republic of Turkey would only direct today\u2019s Turkey towards betterment, freedom and democracy!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Their praises for the Ottoman Empire, sanctifications of Sheikh Sait (a reactionary feudal lord), glorifications of Abdulhamid and Vahdettin (Ottoman sultans), and rituals of discarding official history, became the fuel for the AKP government’s years-long attacks on the working class with their Greater Middle East Project, privatizations, and religious sects.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The expansion of capital into the surrounding region\u2014with the help of Gulenist ideology\u2014under the guise of the \u201cTurkic world\u201d, the \u201cTurkic Olympics\u201d, and \u201cIslamic brotherhood\u201d, marked their hatching. This was followed by the rise of Neo-Ottomanism to the center of the government\u2019s strategic vision, and now, the so-called ‘state wisdom’ openly acknowledging the Republic\u2019s failure. This is not something that can be brushed off with a mere ‘so what?\u2019.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Be it the greed of the capitalist class, the fever dreams of conquest, fantasies of sultanate and caliphate, or open collaboration with an imperialist agenda\u2014it makes no difference. Anyone who, in any form, suggests that the Republic of Turkey must break free from its current borders must confront the very foundations of the Republic. And make no mistake\u2014they are already deep in that confrontation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A certain ‘mindset’ now dominates Turkey\u2014one that sees the Republic\u2019s resolute secularism as having curbed the country\u2019s influence in the Islamic world and rendered the Kurdish question unsolvable. This is how the logic of capital operates. This is how the so-called state mind works. No, not each of them had to become an Islamist, and most won\u2019t.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But that\u2019s beside the point.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No doubt, there are segments that feel uneasy about this process\u2014those who believe unnecessary risks are being taken. But that seal, too, is already broken.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The question is: What do we do from here?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Are we going to accept the expansion (or contraction) of the Republic of Turkey\u2019s borders, its reconciliation with the Ottoman legacy, and the replacement of citizenship with ‘Islamic brotherhood’ under a new set of ideological references?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Can any of this really give rise to any genuine revolutionary aspirations?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In an era where the legacy of the Republic is devalued into Ottomanism by rhetoric of \u201cdomestic and national\u201d, where millions overwhelmed by poverty and a lack of future are being persuaded that \u201ca good and beneficial capitalist class\u201d can exist,\u00a0 <\/span>and where the Kurdish people\u2019s yearning for equality is being surrendered to a Barzani-style capitalist brotherhood, some can still choose to fight against a great founding moment from a century ago and get excited about today\u2019s operation, desperately trying to grab a role today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But today, we take the knee before the heroes of the founding and liberation a century ago, so as not to take the knee before imperialism, reactionism, and capitalism.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They now brought the country on the verge of collapse.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There\u2019s no choice. If you oppose collapse of this country, you have to take up the struggle to dismantle the capitalist system.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you are among those who say “This has never been my country\u201d\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I can but suggest watching the documentary \u201cthe Raft of Medusa\u201d (documentary about recent history of Turkey by soL TV YouTube channel)<\/em> again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boycott, Republic and Revolutionary Stance\u00a0   Kemal Okuyan, TKP General Secretary   It is impossible for the discussions on “”Who\u2019s part of the boycott, why are they included, and who\u2019s in and who\u2019s out of its scope?”\u00a0not to shift towards “where does the capital start, where it ends\u201d.   One cannot dodge the truth. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":22562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[255,258],"tags":[1720],"yoast_head":"\nTKP General Secretary Kemal Okuyan wrote: Boycott, Republic and Revolutionary Stance\u00a0 - T\u00fcrkiye Kom\u00fcnist Partisi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tkp.org.tr\/en\/agenda\/tkp-general-secretary-kemal-okuyan-wrote-boycott-republic-and-revolutionary-stance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TKP General Secretary Kemal Okuyan wrote: Boycott, Republic and Revolutionary Stance\u00a0 - T\u00fcrkiye Kom\u00fcnist Partisi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Boycott, Republic and Revolutionary Stance\u00a0   Kemal Okuyan, TKP General Secretary   It is impossible for the discussions on “”Who\u2019s part of the boycott, why are they included, and who\u2019s in and who\u2019s out of its scope?”\u00a0not to shift towards “where does the capital start, where it ends\u201d.   One cannot dodge the truth. 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