From the pen of Kemal Söbe: The revolutionizing of some circles under fascism in Turkey
Waging a revolutionary struggle under fascism is like doing the impossible. In conditions where oppression turns into a regime, one either stands on the revolutionary line or pretends to be a revolutionary and wants to open a living space for oneself. There are many fake left-socialists and even communists who do not want to face the revolutionary war, or rather those who claim to be left, socialist and communist. The conditions of fascism in Turkey are emerging as a product of Kurdish hostility and many so-called left-socialist circles are giving themselves a position and role accordingly. Approaching the legitimate and just struggle of the Kurds and taking a stance accordingly is actually a mirror of what kind of political line they are on and what they want to do.
Turkey’s current political structure and the genocidal trap in which the Kurds find themselves determine the real faces of some who call themselves revolutionaries. The fact that fascism, persecution and torture are knee-deep in Turkey clearly shows that the majority, with the exception of a few who act together with the Kurds, have nothing to do with revolutionism. As a folk saying goes, “friendship is known in hard times”. The approach to the Kurds also determines revolutionism in Turkey. Fascism is about revolutionary violence and it is the conditions of fascism that give birth to revolutionary violence. Otherwise, Kurds are not in love with weapons and revolutionary violence, but revolutionary violence becomes a necessity when it comes to their national existence and the genocide of the enemy. It becomes a way of existence and survival.
The oppression of the oppressor leads the oppressed to revolt and forces them to rebel. Explaining the state’s oppression and repression as the security of the state and the country, and opposing the legitimate struggles of the Kurds as violence, is not a revolutionary but a counter-revolutionary position. We are not saying to anyone to actually side with the Kurds and openly support them, but to see the Kurds’ struggle for national existence as legitimate is not only a requirement of being a revolutionary, but also a requirement of being at least human.
When it comes to the Kurds, in Turkey, the right and the left, the so-called democrats, the so-called social democrats and the liberals usually sing the national anthem and line up in a single line. In Turkey, being statist has become a kind of disease and is ingrained in the psyche of many circles. Even though there is a leftist mass in Turkey, the reason why the left cannot have a revolutionary stance is because they are against the Kurds. The Kurds are already defending the Palestinian people, but the Muslims who call themselves Muslims oppose the state of Israel and do not give a damn about the Turkish Republic, and we see the same situation, especially in some leftist-socialist and even communist circles that claim to be communists who are supposedly fighting on legal grounds. Just as the religious in Turkey are fake, so are most of the so-called socialists-communists. Their approach to the Kurds ignores the right of nations to self-determination, which is enshrined in socialist ideology.
This alone makes the socialism-communism of these circles problematic, handicapped and crippled. Many of them see the PKK as close to Europe and the USA. However, since the day the PKK was founded, the PKK has wanted to develop all kinds of unity and unity of action with Turkish revolutionaries, especially in the 1990s, when the PKK started its move to power in Kurdistan, the PKK wanted to develop all kinds of unity and help. Let alone their revolutionary approach to the Kurds, these circles did not even have the aim and endeavor to make a revolution in Turkey. In a country, if there will be so much oppression, fascism will enter people’s homes and rooms, but there is no revolutionary development, is it not questionable whether these circles are revolutionaries and socialists? In another country where fascism existed, if there had been such a left mass and left-socialist organizations and parties, there would have been ten revolutions and the identity-national problems of different nations would have been solved.
The end result of backing the state and the system is to become anti-Kurdish. Kurds, on the other hand, are putting everything they have so that Turkey can be democratic and solve its own problems. They see it as progressive and revolutionary to defend so-called secularism and the so-called republic against the political Islamist circles by creating an agenda as if the problem of Turkey is religion and secularism. A mentality that sees siding with the Kurds as feudalism and backwardness is actually the most backward and primitive mentality. Therefore, in Turkey, the approach to the Kurds determines who is revolutionary and socialist or not.
The communist of Turkey is on the side of the Vietnamese, Palestinians, Cubans, Chinese, Koreans and who knows where else, but he is against the Kurds. It cannot be revolutionary to think statist and powerist, to back the denialist regime. It is difficult to call those who do not resist under fascism or who do not support those who resist, even in rhetoric, not revolutionaries, but even normal people. Because ultimately the struggle is for humanity and includes everyone. Revolutionism in Turkey is not done to solve social problems, but to improve the image of being an intellectual. Revolutionism in Turkey has not been able to overcome the classic sectarian mentality. Some circles monopolize revolutionism, communism and socialism by acting as if no one but themselves are or can be revolutionaries. If they opened their eyes a little, they would see that the greatest revolutionism, socialism, communism and socialism have developed in Kurdistan. It is not those who are blind, but those who are brain blinded who cannot see the revolutionary developments in Kurdistan. If this cerebral blindness is accompanied by statist diseases and anti-Kurdishness, this is even more dangerous. Because attacking Kurdish historical values and personalities is not revolutionary, nor is it humanity. Revolutionism starts with humanity. The revolutionism and communism of those without humanity are useless. Those who embrace all peoples, unite all peoples, make all human values vital and livable are true revolutionaries and true communists. Those who want to see communists, revolutionaries, socialists and socialists can turn to the struggle in Kurdistan.