The Turkish broad left splits, was it sabotage or the infantilism of ultra left politics.

The article below, which was first published in the pro Ataturk Turkish Daily newspaper Hurriyet, is sadly [yet another] indictment of why sections of the European political left have failed to move into the mainstream political arena, instead preferring to remain on the margins, safe in a small leftist political ghetto, where no one questions the political certainties the leaderships of these groups profess. It also raises questions about whether the Turkish military and Security Services have penetrated sections of the Turkish left.

As elsewhere in Europe, with the rise of the European Left Party, many on the Turkish left decided if they were ever to punch above their weight, influence the national agenda and move beyond a political ghettoized mentality, they would have to put the small print of their differences aside, and join together to form a Party whose platform was based on what they agreed upon. In 1996 the Freedom and Solidarity Party(ÖDP)) was formed after a number of small left groups and independent socialists merged to found the new organization.

Whilst there was no dramatic increase in support for the left, the ÖDP did steadily build a support base within the Istanbul area and in the 2004 local elections it gained control of two local authorities in the far north east province of Artin; and in Yozgat province which is situated in the central Anatolian heartlands. By 2007 it was able to return to the Turkish parliament the first left socialist to be elected to the Grand Assembly in 38 years.

Then the accusations about the Ergenekon network, which revolve around a criminal conspiracy known as the ‘deep state’ finally hit the fan, after leading members of the Turkish secular elite were arrested for plotting to bring down the current AK Party government, along with smearing individuals whose politics it is claimed the leaders of Ergenekon disagreed with and believed were dangerous to the secular State.

Ufak Uras, the then leader of ÖDP and its only MP took a hard line on Ergenekon, believing the power of the Turkish military needed to be curtailed and if the Ergenekon case gave the left an opportunity to help bring this about they should take it, not least because the military, since the Turkish Republic was established has intervened on a number of occasions and removed from office democratically elected governments.

Whilst they refuse to admit this publicly, this apparently upset a powerful faction within the ÖDP and Ufuk was removed as party president at a special party Congress held in January of this year, he eventually resigned from the party on June 19.

Reading the new ÖDP leader Alper Taş statement in the article below would make an uninformed reader believe there has been a sea change in Turkish politics and it is this which has made the new leadership take what amounts to an ultra left position. Yet in reality nothing much has changed, true there is a world recession, but recession is nothing new in Turkey. It was hardly a surprise or a change of direction when the AK Party led government in Turkey attempted to combat the recession with the very same Neoliberal economic policies it used in the boom years. Far from demanding an ultra left turn, one would have thought the current situation made it all the more essential for the more militant section of the working classes to be brought together in a broad left political party.

It is difficult to see what could have justified the new ÖDP leadership in making such a major reconfiguration away from the political direction the party has been going in since it was founded in 1996. The only major change that has taken place in Turkey in recent times is the Ergenekon case has become part of the judicial process, instead of being mere accusations that periodically swirl around sections of the Turkish media.

Yet the new leader of the ÖDP leader Alper Taş has little to say on this if we are to believe Hurriyet, he says “what is needed [is] to determine party policies from a more leftist perspective, in a period that imperialism and capitalism is being debated.”

It is worth reminding ourselves the Turkish secular elite, are also against deepening the Ergenekon investigations and have publicly defended a number of the defendant’s in the Ergenekon case who are up before the courts, including former General’s and senior military Intel officers, businessmen, journalists and the leader of The Workers Party.

The have also partially placed the blame for the bringing of the Ergenekon case on shadowy pro EU/imperialist forces with whom the AK Party allegedly cooperates. That they condemn these ‘imperialist forces’ at the same time as they offer support to Turkey’s NATO membership seems hardly to have 'occurred' to them.

What ever the truth of the semi collapse of the ÖDP, the one certain outcome is the working classes will be left without any viable parliamentary representation after the next Turkish general election. Perhaps we should all pause and ask ourselves who benefits from that?

MH

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ISTANBUL 27 June 2009 - Contrary to some media reports that the ongoing case on the alleged Ergenekon gang divided Parliament’s only socialist party, the newly elected head of the party has rejected claims that the case is the cause for disagreement within the party.

The dispute within the socialist Freedom and Solidarity Party, or ÖDP, seems older and based on ideological and political differences rather than on divergence about the Ergenekon case, which is an investigation into alleged gang thought to be aiming to topple the government.

"We have had different comments on the Ergenekon case, but the divergence started before the case. It is not true to say that it is because Ergenekon," said Alper Taş, the newly elected leader of the party, after ÖDP deputy Ufuk Uras resigned from the party June 17. At the end of January, Uras had lost the run for party leadership to Hayri Kozanoğlu in an extraordinary party congress. Currently Uras is an independent deputy and is continuing his efforts to found a new party.

The social and political conditions in which the ÖDP was first founded in 1996 has changed, causing a need for a change, Taş said. "The period in which we founded the party was a period when socialism was being questioned and the socialist movement was withdrawing. So the party defined itself around a more flexible structure, comprising wide segments of the left. However, the conjuncture has changed since 2000," Taş said. They needed to determine party’s policies from a more leftist perspective, in a period that imperialism and capitalism is being debated, he said.

Uras on the other hand is seeking to continue a political line similar to the foundation period of the ÖDP, Taş said, adding Uras’s group turned to the right of the former ÖDP while they turned to its left.

Alternative to AKP.

Uras, on the other hand, in an interview with news Web site Bianet, said they started working to found an alternative party to the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP.

"While founding the ÖDP, it was a collective decision to gather socialists, social democrats, Alevites, and those who are defending a labor-based struggle. But we could not have a political will to make this up. Then we said let’s not lose time and everyone should do what they know is true," Uras said. As for the breaking point that led him to resign from the party, Uras said, a divergence occurred on the fundamental issue, which is the joint struggle and direction of the left in the near future.