Kurdistan Democratic Communities Union (KCK): Fascism will definitely be overthrown in Turkey

[Editor's note: Nilüfer Koç, Spokesperson for the Commission on Foreign Relations of the Kurdistan National Congress, will be speaking at Ecosocialism 2023 over July 1–2 in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. For more information about the conference, visit ecosocialism.org.au.]

First published at Kurdistan Democratic Communities Union.

On May 14, 2023, presidential and parliamentary elections were held in North Kurdistan and Turkey. Due to the danger that AKP-MHP fascism poses to the Kurdish people as well as to the society and peoples of Turkey as a whole, the elections on May 14 were considered very important and have been the most important agenda in Turkey and North Kurdistan for months. As the Kurdish Freedom Movement, as a requirement of our belief in the democratization of Turkey, the liberation of Kurdistan and the ideal of the peoples living together and equally, we have approached this process positively in terms of the Turkish society, democratic forces, laborers, women, youth and all democratic groups of society expressing their democratic will against fascism.

The fascist AKP-MHP government aimed to prevent the expression of the will of all democratic segments of society, especially the Kurdish people, by putting all state means and all conceivable methods of force, oppression and violence into action. But the patriotic people of Kurdistan overcame all oppression and violence thus achieving a great success by demonstrating a very strong will in the elections. We can unhesitatingly state that our people has shown a strong stance against AKP-MHP fascism in the May 14 elections and has thus taught a historical lesson to the anti-Kurdish, genocidal, colonialist and fascist AKP-MHP. We would therefore like to wholeheartedly congratulate the patriotic people of Kurdistan for this meaningful and historical achievement and salute them for this historical success. Our people have not given way to fascism in any way and have turned Kurdistan into the center of the legitimate struggle for democracy. This attitude of our people represents a very important step that will bring about the end of fascism. It is very clear that in the coming period, the importance of Kurdistan for the democratization of Turkey and the liberation of Turkey’s society from the clutches of fascism will be better understood by everyone and that Kurdistan will play a historical role on this basis.

It is a very important and admirable development that women actively participated in the electoral process, supported the process more than anyone else, led the electoral process and brought about a strong representation of women. In line with our belief in the will and equal representation of women, we see these results very positively. Therefore, we would like to congratulate all women for the results achieved in the elections and express our greetings.

The May 14 elections took place under conditions where anti-democratic oppression was rampant. The fascist AKP-MHP government, which holds the state power and rules the state, tried to prevent the expression of the democratic will of society by increasing the pressure on it all over Turkey. But in Kurdistan and against the Kurdish people, this repression was even more severe. Since the main goal of the fascist AKP-MHP government is to carry out the Kurdish genocide, it has continued the pressure on the Kurdish people uninterruptedly by putting all the state power into action and has increased this pressure even more during the election process. With the genocide and liquidation concept, which was agreed on in the form of the ‘Annihilation Plan’ and put into effect since July 24, 2015, the AKP-MHP government aimed to completely eliminate the will and existence of the Kurdish people. Within the scope of this genocide and liquidation concept, the Kurdish Freedom Movement and the Kurdish people have been subjected to a policy of oppression and violence unprecedented in history. Tens of thousands of people have been detained, arrested and tortured, and dozens of patriots have been murdered. Society was tried to be intimidated and tamed through oppression, violence and starvation. There is not a single patriot left in Kurdistan who has not been investigated and tried in court. The will of the people has been usurped repeatedly, the democratic legitimate institutions of the people have been seized, legitimate representatives have been arrested and trustees of fascism have been appointed in their place. People in Kurdistan have been rendered unable to function and work through detention, arrest and oppression. Those who defend democratic institutions and democratic politics have been detained and arrested again and again. Thus, the people’s institutions have been rendered inoperable and the way for democratic politics has been blocked. On the other hand, by filing a lawsuit to ban the HDP, the Kurdish people, the democratic sectors of Turkey, laborers and women were left without an alternative in the elections and the aim was to exclude them from the elections. The elections in Turkey were held in such an environment. An accurate assessment of the elections can therefore not be made without taking into account the fascist oppression and policies carried out in Turkey in general and Kurdistan in particular.

AKP-MHP fascism continued its policy of oppression and violence not only before the elections but also during the election process, and increased it even more as the elections got closer. Just before the elections, extensive political operations were carried out and dozens of journalists, lawyers, politicians and those actively involved in the election process were detained and arrested. The goal of these operations was to intimidate the public and to prevent and disrupt democratic election activities and preparations. Despite all these pressure, intimidation and operations that took place just before the elections, the people did not give up their democratic stance and dealt a huge blow to fascism in the elections. While the people gave strong support to the democratic forces and democratic candidates, they further weakened the weak presence of AKP-MHP in Kurdistan, thus basically preventing fascism from entering Kurdistan.

The results of the elections are absolutely not like they have been published. AKP-MHP fascism not only tried to prevent the democratic will of the people from being reflected by using oppression and violence, but has also distorted the results by resorting to all kinds of tricks and fraud. In order to eliminate the results achieved by the Kurdish people, the peoples and the democratic groups of Turkey despite all kinds of oppression and violence, the AKP-MHP government has resorted to all kinds of fraud. It has been made public that this was done extensively and that ballots and vote result lists were tampered with. But what has been detected and reflected is only a very limited part of the truth. It has been clearly revealed that hundreds of thousands of votes in Kurdistan were invalidated and many more were assigned to other parties by tampering with the lists, trying to make the Kurdish-hating fascist MHP look strong. Therefore, the real election results are not like the published results. The official results do not mean anything other than proving the extent to which the AKP-MHP government has usurped the will of the people.

AKP-MHP fascism conducted the election process entirely on the basis of hostility towards the Kurds and anti-Kurdish sentiments. It tried to influence the masses through Kurdish hostility by provoking nationalist, racist and chauvinist feelings. Undoubtedly, with the support of intensive media and special warfare, it has influenced a part of the masses in Turkey and has managed to keep them on its side. However, in general, this policy has not been successful and the majority of the Turkish society has shown its attitude in favor of a democratic and political solution of the Kurdish question and of acting together with the Kurds. This is an important attitude and development. Although the nationalist and chauvinist delusions in Turkey have not been completely exhausted, the positive relations of the Kurdish people with the Turkish society represent a very important and strong ground for the democratization of Turkey and the liberation of Kurdistan in the future. In fact, the Kurdish people and the revolutionary democratic forces of Turkey entered the elections with the understanding of a democratic alliance, which was the main factor for the successful results of the elections.

Undoubtedly, with a more conscious approach and work, it would have been possible to achieve much more positive results. The conditions and means for this were sufficient. But narrow and superficial approaches prevented better results. It is important that this is discussed in detail and the necessary conclusions are drawn. While it was a very correct and important attitude for the democratic forces to enter the electoral process by forming an alliance, the fact that this alliance was kept narrow, that it was not handled at a level that could meet the demands of the phase, that the understanding of being content with small results was not sufficiently overcome, and that as a result the forces of democracy entered into a competing attitude when they should have fought against fascism in unity everywhere and at all times, must be seen as an important inadequacy. We believe that the democratic political arena and the socialist and democratic forces of Turkey will analyze the process from this perspective and draw the necessary conclusions.

There is no doubt that the struggle for the democratic solution of the Kurdish question, for the democratization of Turkey and for the liberation of Kurdistan will continue to be waged vigorously in the future. We believe that the Kurdish people and all the peoples of Turkey, women, workers and laborers will further strengthen this struggle and bring it to a conclusion with stronger alliances and forms of unity. As a movement, our support for this process and our struggle on this basis will continue uninterruptedly. Fascism will definitely be overthrown in Turkey and Turkey will be democratized. Fascism has no future to offer to the peoples and to humanity. It will only lead to destruction. The future of Turkey and Kurdistan will be determined and shaped by the struggle of the peoples, the democratic forces and women. The results of the elections clearly show that this will be the case. Based on this belief, we would like to once again congratulate the patriotic people of Kurdistan, the women and the democratic forces of Turkey for the successful results, express our greetings and wish them continued success.