[CrashList] Information From EMEP - Turkey

[Mrs. Jela Jovanovic]

----- Original Message ----- From: KIM To: Mrs. Jela Jovanovic Sent: Monday, March 26, 2001 12:33 AM Subject: Fw: Information From EMEP - Turkey       Dear Comrades;   Attached please find 3 latest statements our International Relations Bureau regarding the latest general situation in our country and the conflict in the Balkans. We would like to draw your special attention to the colsing down of our newspaper Yeni Evrensel for yet another seven days!   Wishing you the best of success in your activities,   Comradely Regards,   International Relations Bureau The Party of Labour - EMEP Turkey.   l: +90 212 588 43 32-38  Fax: 588 43 41 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]     March 24, 2001   Following is our party’s general evaluation of the latest situation in the country, taking as basis a public poll, demonstrating the ‘trust’ of the people in the parliament, the political parties and the system in general:   The People are Becoming Alienated from the Bourgeois Parties...   The people of Turkey are losing their hopes of the government and the other bourgeois parties. The results of the IMF policies are causing a decrease in the support given to the parties defending the policies of the IMF. Let alone the statements of the labourers against the government uttered in cafes, buses and workplaces; even the latest public polls are showing that the extent of the people's reaction have reached 'unbelievable' levels. According to the latest poll of ANAR, carried out on the 27th and 28th of February and which was also published by the mass media, the ratio of the support for the five parties in the parliament are as follows: FP (Virtue Party), 9.4 %; MHP (Nationalist Movement Party), 8.9%; DYP (True Path Party), 7.2 %; DSP (Democratical Left Party), 4.9; ANAP (Motherland Party), 4.1. This means that none of the parties in the parliament, making legislations of privatization for looting, taking decisions that are effecting the future of the country, are not able to pass the 10 percent election quota. None of these parties will be able to enter the parliament in a genuine election system through which the people are not forced to "either vote for this party or that". Moreover, the total support for the three ruling coalition parties is only on the level of 17.9 percent. That is to say, the country is presently being ruled by a government which has the support of the 17.9 % of the population. Beyond all these; the ratio of the 'indecisive' voters is 16.9 % whereas the ratio of the voters who have said "we'll have none of them" is 32.8 %. The sum of these two groups makes up a total of 49.7 %, i.e. three times greater than the ratio of the support for the ruling parties! This total proportion was 32 % in last January according to a similar poll. The propagandists and advisors of the capital are drawing out the conclusion that the "Parliament and political parties have lost credit" from these results but at the same time are not neglecting to use the results of similar polls which demonstrate that institutions such as the Presidency, the Turkish Armed Forces, the Police, courts etc. have been gaining credit (According to the poll of ANAR: The President has 'scored' a 7.9 out of a scale of ten, the Turkish Armed Forces, 7; Police, 5.6; Religious Affairs Ministry, 4.5; the business world, 3.8; the media, 2.9; the Parliament, 2.4; the Government, 1.9 and the political parties, 1.8) in order to strengthen these other institutions against the parliament. However, no matter what the relative esteem of the other institutions is, if the parliament of the system, legitimizing the system by presenting it to the vote of the people at least every 5 years has reached the stage of drawing such a reaction from the people (in the poll, TBMM - The Great National Assembly of Turkey- has shared the position of being the last three along with the government and the political parties with a score of 2.4), the discussion will then be about the legitimacy of the system. For, in a parliamentary system, every institution from the presidency to the legal courts can only hold a legitimacy under the conditions that the parliament is considered to have a more or less legitimacy by the people. Whether the relations between the institutions of the system are good or problematic; at the last analysis, the designating factor outside of these relations, is the developments among the working class, labourers and their organizations. And the results of the polls have shown that the people have shown their reactions to this system and the relations exposed by the crisis of the system, beginning with the most hawkish defenders of the system. As a matter of fact, DSP, defending the system most militantly has lost the greatest amount of support. ANAP has followed DSP in this loss and MHP, evading all that has been happenning in a silent way, has lost the least amount of votes. Another point of interest regarding the polls is, the great amout of support lost by the opposition parties. Normally, in an 'ordinary' system, if the ruling parties are losing support, opposition tends to gain it. However, here it can be observed that all the parties defending the system have lost support, moreover they have all fallen under the level of quota which has been determined as a 'protection barricade' for the system! The most realistic and important result to be derived from this poll is that the people are at the beginning of a process in which they will ask for some answers from the system and its parties and 'request' them to pay for their actions. Recently, the challenge of a group of economist lecturers against the free market defenders by publishing a 'national economics programme', and the Labour Platform defending this declaration and stating that it can be taken as a basis for the 'Programme of Labour', the active position of trade unions and labour organizations on such levels as has never been seen previously in many places, the growing tendency of the workers and labourers towards organizing and taking action are all evidence of the stage the people have reached in terms of demanding an answer from the system. The future of the struggle "completely" depends on the role that the labour organizations, the vanguard sections of the labourers, the class party and the other parties on the side of the class will play.   Peace in the Balkans will be the Achievement of the People!   The clashes in Macedonia and in the Balkans are being provoked by the imperialist forces. The withdrawal of Turkey's troops from the KFOR can be a first step in terms of Turkey's contribution to peace in the region.   It is becoming more and more obvious every day that the NATO-US intervention to the Balkans carried out with the claim of 'bringing peace and democracy to eastern Europe', is not being of any use other than to cause war, conflict, mass migration and poverty into the region. The basic reason of the present uneasiness, disorder and ethnical conflicts in the region is the fact that America, breaking Yugoslavia into pieces, is then deploying military forces in 'new countries' with the claim of  'protecting peace and democracy', in collaboration with Germany and by using its hegemony over NATO. The US placing great importance to maintaining an advantage against Russia, Germany and France in the east of Europe in terms of carrying on its world hegemony, doesn't have a single pretext to show its presence as "legitimate" in the region without the state of tumult and war. Therefore, the US strengthens its military presence by maintaining a 'war force' hidden behind the name of 'peace force' in the region and by taking advantage of the numerous problems of the region and the region's ethnical and religious divisions. The scenario, being played on Macedonia as well as concerning Bulgaria and Greece directly, has the potential of pushing Turkey into this regional conflict. The current military presence of Turkey in Kosovo is also a factor that may pull Turkey into the problems of the region. The interests of Turkey are not related with having a role in the region by 'provoking the history' and taking a side with the conflicts in the Balkans. On the contrary, Turkey's interest lies in the withdrawal of the imperialist forces from the region, beginning with the US and NATO, for the establishment of peace in the region and then the countries and people of the region solving the problems among themselves according to the principles of brotherhood and the founding of peace in the region. The withdrawal of Turkey's troops from the KFOR can be a first step in terms of Turkey's contribution to peace in the region. The withdrawal of NATO and US forces from the Balkans is a compulsory condition for the institution of peace in the region. Because, the question of peace in the region can only be solved between the region's peoples and nations who will never achieve anything by fighting among themselves.   A few months ago we had informed you of a ten day closure of the Yeni Evrensel newspaper. History seems to be repeating itself since Yeni Evrensel has been closed down for another seven days due to a recent court decision. Yeni Evrensel, the only voice of the working class and labourers, is trying to be silenced and facing constant pressures. Yet, those so scared of this voice which continues to increase in intensity are only acting out of the knowledge that the day when it will be their turn to be silent –and keep silent forever- is drawing nearer every day. The working class and the labourers, on the other hand, are completely aware of the fact that, no matter how the situation may seem so, history in fact never does repeat itself!   All the obstacles in front of freedom of speech and press should be removed   Once again it has been seen that those running the country don't have the slightest endurance for democracy: The daily newspaper Yeni EVRENSEL (New Universal) has been closed down for 7 days due to the decision of the Istanbul 3rd SSC (State Security Court). The decision is important as it demonstrates the degree to which the judgemental system is independent in our country. Although the pretext put forward for the closure is an article published on the anniversary of (8th of January 2000) Metin Goktepe's death, (a journalist of Evrensel who was beaten to death under police custody), when the conditions of the approval are taken into account, the realities beneath the decision become much more visible. The government is recently trying to put a new IMF Programme into practice. This process is being led by Kemal Dervis, (ex vice-president of World Bank recently appointed as a 'super' minister), who was injected into the veins of the government as 'fresh blood' after being imported from the USA. The Programme of Kemal Dervis who is being presented as a saviour, has already met the reaction of the workers and labourers even before its details have been revealed. It is rejected since it has been clearly seen that the programme is an international programme of the capital designated by the IMF, not a national one as it is being claimed. The Yeni Evrensel newspaper, exposing all the effects and the results of the IMF Programme from the beginning, has played an important role in the recognition of this so called programme presented by Kemal Dervis, by the workers and the labourers. If the intensive response against the IMF programme and the fact that this movement is entering the process of becoming transformed into an organized labourer action is taken into consideration, it can be seen that the declaration date of the court decision (20th of March) is not a coincidential event but rather a concious choice. On the other hand, the closure of Yeni EVRENSEL has once again exposed the already "officially registered" insincerity of the government regarding these issues. However, these obstacles and antidemocratical applications will neither prevent the development of the workers and labourers movement and their victory against the IMF Programmes nor will they suffice to silence Yeni EVRENSEL, the voice of the working class. All the pressures on the media should cease and all the obstacles in front of freedom of speech and press should be removed.   INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS BUREAU v