Çağrı SARI
İstanbul

The May 28 elections are in the final stretch. Both the opposition and the government have accelerated their work. The opposition is working hard to close the two and a half million vote gap between the two candidates and put an end to the one-man regime. But will this election go this way?

Labour Party members are also working in workshops in the neighborhoods. We talked to Selma Gürkan, Chairperson of the Labour Party, about the results of May 14, what the two candidates of the Labour Party from the Green Left Party will do in parliament, the strategy of the Nation Alliance for May 28 and how they will ensure the security of the ballot boxes. Gürkan says it is possible to win and adds: We will rely on our organized power, solidarity and determination.

The Labour Party quickly convened its General Executive Board after the elections. How did your party evaluate both the election process and the election results?

Our party will make detailed evaluations of both its own work and the country’s general election process after May 28th, when the runoff is concluded. The results we have drawn from the first round are that despite the propaganda, lies, manipulation, inequality, interference in ballot boxes, vote counting and voter lists carried out by the People's Alliance by relying on all kinds of state and public facilities, Erdoğan could not win the election in the first round. Although he increased the number of his allies by receiving external support even though he was not in a direct alliance like HÜDA PAR, the decline in popular support could not be stopped and there was a serious decrease in the vote rates compared to previous periods. We can say that the Labour and Freedom Alliance, of which our party is a component, faced a very tough race due to these conditions. Now the runoff is coming and our party will do its best to overthrow the weakened ‘one man order’.

CONTINUE THE FIGHT FROM WHERE WE LEFT OFF

It is said that the darkest parliament in history has been formed, and HÜDA PAR members are among the components of the People's Alliance. The Yeniden Refah Party is on the rise. It would not be wrong to say that there are reactionary elements within the Nation Alliance as well. The opposition could not gain the upper hand in the parliament. How do you see the Parliament in the coming period?

We can foresee that the People's Alliance government, if it comes to power, will attack with all its might the remaining remnants of democratic rights and political freedoms, especially the gains women have achieved through struggle. It is also obvious that economic policies that will radically solve the poverty experienced by the people today, eliminate unemployment, and use the resources in line with the needs of the people will not be implemented. Therefore, labour and democracy forces, popular forces will have to struggle under all circumstances. Throughout the election process, we did not only call on workers, laborers, citizens we met, women and young people to vote, we called on them to organize and fight for their demands and gains, and we will continue where we left off.

PARLIAMENT IS ALSO AN ARENA OF STRUGGLE FOR OUR MPS

There are also names in the parliament who come from the people, who can voice their demands at the parliament. Two members of your party have been elected as MPs. There will also be MPS from the Green Left and Workers Party of Turkey (TİP), with whom you are in alliance. How will these names affect the parliament? What will your MPs İskender Bayhan and Sevda Karaca do?

If we limit the power of change to the abilities, numerical strength and skills of the MPs in the parliament, their speeches from the rostrum and the votes they will cast, our evaluation will be limited. The sources of nourishment and the pillars of power of the MPs who enter parliament as the voice and representative of the people, the working class and laborers, women and youth will be the segments they represent. The experience and strength of workers struggling for decent working and living conditions; of women fighting for their rights and lives; of peasants struggling to protect and preserve their air, soil, water and produce; of those fighting for democracy, freedom and peace are also the basis and strength of the MPs who are the spokespersons of the people in parliament. That is why İskender Bayhan and Sevda Karaca will also stand by the workers who act for their economic and social demands, the Kurdish people who demand equal citizenship, the Alevis, the women who want equality and freedom, who want to protect their lives, and the youth who fight for their future. But parliament is not just a place to make noise.  Parliament is a position of struggle. Today, the components of the People's Alliance are shaping the people from the parliament. HUDA PAR is already fighting on how to eliminate women’s rights. Therefore, parliament is also a field of struggle for our MPs. The parliament will be the voice and position of these struggles. They will feed their work in parliament from life. Whatever is happening in real life, parliament is both a reflection of it and a place for attempts to regulate it. Our MPs are responsible to the people for their work in parliament.

REFUGEES ARE USED AS A TOOL OF POLITICAL EXPLOITATION

The runoff is just a week away. Work has also begun. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has shifted his line to a more nationalist discourse compared to May 14. What do you think of this strategy?

We said we would vote for Kılıçdaroğlu in the first round and we did. But this does not mean that we approve or support the economic and political program of the Nation Alliance. We criticized this program, we criticize it. For the runoff, we also criticize the more reactionary, racist, chauvinistic, anti-refugee policies and approaches preferred. We will vote for Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in the second round to end the one-man rule. But that’s it. After that, we will fight for the economy for the people, democratic rights, political freedoms, true secularism, a democratic populist solution to the Kurdish question, women’s equality and freedom, and to establish a political system where real democracy is established. An expanded unity of struggle with the forces of labor and democracy, including the Alliance for Labour and Freedom, can create an alternative option for the future of the country, and this opportunity should not be overlooked.

What is the danger of this refugee-hostile style of politics for tomorrow?

From the government to the opposition, refugees are used as a tool of political exploitation. We have not forgotten how the political power used migrants as a bargaining chip at the table with EU countries and the U.S. The result of this blackmail politics was the death of countless migrants on the migration route and the deep poverty of millions more. Today, migrants in Turkey are the target of racism and chauvinism, which are being fueled in increasing doses every day. At the same time, the native population is being antagonized against immigrants. As long as immigrants are blamed for the high cost of living, unemployment and low wages, the government is also subtly in favor of this. Because then an enemy is found for everything that goes wrong and the destruction of working class unity becomes possible. The anger and reaction shifts from the boss and the government to the worker working next to them.

The capitalist class and their political representatives, of course, reap the benefits of this division. Therefore, nationalism, racism, chauvinism and hostility to refugees cannot and should not be the attitude of the working class and laborers. The main goal is to ensure the unity and brotherhood of the working class and laborers and to unite the struggle around common class interests. It is not that we are not concerned about this. As a result of the wrong foreign policies of the government, our country is faced with an influx of refugees that is not limited to the victims of war and the civilian population, but also allows the infiltration of those who have committed crimes in this war. The October 10 Massacre case was also documented. We have witnessed how the borders have been jammed by jihadist forces in cooperation with elements from the intelligence and armed forces. With this uncontrolled migration, we know that murderers and army members who are soldiers of the jihadist war in the Middle East, especially in Syria, have settled in the country. This is a matter of great concern.

However, the remedy for these concerns is not through hostility to immigrants, but through the establishment of a democratic mechanism that will weed out those who commit crimes, those who are enemies of the people, prosecute them and deport them.

WE WILL WIN ON MAY 28TH

Next week on sunday, we will go to the polls. What kind of a road map should the opposition follow till then? There are intense calls for people to stay away from the polls. The same goes for ballot security...

We must follow a line that will disperse the politics of polarization with an exposure based on the one-man order’s practices against the people in the economic and political order, the loss and violations of rights, the bans, especially strikes, the anti-women, anti-environmental policies, and call on the people to organize and take a united stance. Because this election is not a race between 2 candidates, in the routine of politics and under democratic conditions. Every vote is a vote to take another step towards closing the road to fascism. In addition, as the May 14 elections showed that this government resorted to all kinds of fraud and irregularities in the ballot boxes, it was also seen that with organized intervention, this injustice and lawlessness will not be allowed to pass. The May 14 results should not demoralize us, we won, and we will win again on May 28. They tried to steal votes in the first round, but we have also seen that vote theft can be prevented with precautions and organized intervention. Therefore, we invite all our people to mobilize for ballot security in the 2nd round. We will rely on our organized power, solidarity and determination. But of course, our horizon is not limited to the ballot box, whatever the result of the ballot box, for us the struggle starts again on the morning of May 29th.