In late February Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) called on members of the organization to lay down their arms and disband after over four decades of conflict with the Turkish state. The Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) have responded with a clear class-based analysis.
Introduction
Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), has called on members of the organization to lay down their arms and disband after over four decades of conflict with the Turkish state. The PKK, founded by Öcalan in 1978, has waged an insurgency since 1984 using Maoist guerilla tactics to achieve its strategic objective in Turkey and the Middle East, particularly across the northern parts of Syria, Iraq, and Iran. For most of his leadership of the PKK Öcalan was based in Syria, which provided sanctuary to the PKK until the late 1990s. After being forced to leave Syria, Öcalan spent a brief period in Europe and was abducted by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) in Nairobi, Kenya in February 1999. He has been imprisoned in Turkey since then.
In terms of aims and ideology, the PKK has first and foremost always been a nationalist organisation. The PKK had originally aimed at the establishment of a united state of Kurdistan, a so-called “people’s republic”. Based on Öcalan's engagement with various new left thinkers, particulalrly the US anarchist Murray Bookchin, for the PKK the ultimate aim of self-determination in recent decades became the development of ‘radical democracy’ . This resulted in a reconceptualization of self-determination as consisting of a project not of state building (let alone workers' power) but of ‘council democracy’.
From 2014, the United States has trained and used the PKK’s Syrian militia, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), against the Islamic State. Writing in the US Military Review (2020), Lt. Cmdr. Joshua M. M. Portzer, U.S. Navy, states that “in the summer of 2014, the U.S. government began aiding the YPG via air support … U.S.-led airdrops continued through 2015. Vis-à-vis this partnership in the ‘global war on terror,’ the YPG became a nonstate proxy-extension of the U.S.”
In its response to Öcalan’s declaration, the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) states that while recognising the cessation of the conflict as a positive step, there is a danger that an alliance between Turkey and Kurdish forces “might lead to expansionist and conquest-driven strategies” by the Turkish state. As a secularist Marxist-Leninist Party, the TKP is also concerned that “efforts to establish ‘democracy and fraternity’ in Turkey based on religion are extremely dangerous”. The TKP makes the point that “the PKK is not a Marxist organization. At a time when the self-termination of this nationalist-based organisation is on the agenda, we will not remain indifferent to the government's cunning attempt to shift the responsibility for the past onto revolutionaries and socialism. Marxism is fundamentally incompatible with nationalism infused with liberalism or with having alliances with the United States or Israel”.
The TKP statement can be read in full below.
To Our People,
The Communist Party of Turkey is closely monitoring recent developments, which have accelerated following statements by MHP (Nationalist Movement Party) leader Devlet Bahçeli, intensified with the jihadist group HTS (Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham) taking control of Damascus with the support of various countries in Syria, and entered a new phase with the written statement from Abdullah Öcalan. Our party’s authorized committees are evaluating this process in all its dimensions. Today, we would like to share some of our observations:
1. The cessation of the conflicts—referred to as the "silencing of the guns"—is a development that cannot be opposed. These conflicts have led to the estrangement of citizens based on ethnic origins, dragged them into a bloody confrontation, divided the working people, and distanced them from real solutions to Turkey’s problems. TKP views calls for peace and any resulting agreements reached or to be reached in this regard as a positive step.
2. However, it is crucial to examine the objectives, basis, and methods of the ongoing process. The statements and positions of the involved parties, as well as our observations on the ground, do not allow us to share the optimism expressed by some circles.
3. First and foremost, the claim that this process is driven by Turks and Kurds is inaccurate. The key players are the political power or the People's Alliance (ruling alliance led by AKP), and the PKK and its affiliates, which have called for self-termination. A process shaped by certain class, ideological, and political preferences cannot represent all Turkish and Kurdish people. In this context, the phrase “Turkish-Kurdish fraternity,” especially used by government circles, does not reflect reality.
4. The notion that "if Turks and Kurds form an alliance, Turkey will become the most significant power in the region”—an argument put forward a decade ago—is once again being promoted by those involved in the process. However, Turkey’s problems will not be solved by manoeuvring within regional power struggles; on the contrary, such moves will only create new challenges. TKP warns that, as in the past, any attempt to advance Turkey’s regional ambitions through a Neo-Ottomanist perspective will come at great cost. The expansionist and conquest-driven strategies that have been openly advocated in the media for months will lead only to disaster for our country and our people. Instead of making claims beyond our borders, we must build an independent, sovereign, and prosperous country within our own territory—where all citizens live in freedom and equality.
5. Similarly, efforts to establish “democracy and fraternity” in Turkey based on religion are extremely dangerous. None of the issues in the public sphere can be resolved through religious references. In fact, many of Turkey’s current problems stem from the erosion of secularism and the influence of religious sects, which feeding off the country just as monopolies do. While TKP firmly upholds freedom of belief and worship as an inalienable human right, we also emphasize that religion must remain separate from politics and state affairs.
6. We are also struck by claims from ruling party circles that this process represents a major step forward for democracy in Turkey. The reality today is starkly different: extreme poverty and deep social inequality prevail, justice has been entirely eroded, and tyranny and unlawfulness have become the norm.
7. Contrary to what is implied in Öcalan's statement and often asserted by pro-government circles, the PKK is not a Marxist organization. At a time when the self-termination of this nationalist-based organisation is on the agenda, we will not remain indifferent to the government's cunning attempt to shift the responsibility for the past onto revolutionaries and socialism. Marxism is fundamentally incompatible with nationalism infused with liberalism or with having alliances with the United States or Israel.
8. The Communist Party of Turkey is determined to ensure the fraternity of the oppressed, the poor strata, and the working class by fighting against imperialism, exploitation, monopolies, and the rule of religious sects. We seek to unite the vast majority of Turks, Kurds, and all others—regardless of ethnic origin—who have been deprived of this country’s wealth, not through heroic references to the past but through the realities of today.
Communist Party of Turkey
Central Committee
