Politics Service
The discussion series we launched in our newspaper under the call for the country’s progressive, revolutionary and democratic elements to ‘stand side by side for a united opposition’ continues. Today’s pages feature contributions from BirGün writer Bülent Forta, Birleşik Metal İş General President Özkan Atar, poet Şükrü Erbaş and our readers. Today’s analyses centre on a discussion of an organised, united and sustained struggle that will bring together all democratic and progressive elements through a network of bottom-up relationships, in opposition to the current regime, which has no recourse but to rely on repression to remain in power. Furthermore, whilst highlighting the fact that institutional politics has been taken down, a form of politics is outlined in which the people can be the subject.
NEW POLITICS IS NEEDED
“A united opposition movement that positions the people as the subject within the political sphere, uniting the fragmented opposition sectors that have adopted social demands as their guiding principles, is the key to success”
Bülent Forta, BirGün writer:
It is widely acknowledged that Türkiye is being driven towards a critical crossroads. The current regime, constructed in various stages by a political Islamist regime, has, in every sense, reached the end of its ‘shelf life’.
It is no longer possible to secure the regime’s restoration by writing a new narrative and regaining public support. To this end, the current regime has two main pillars of support. The first is to secure the backing of ‘external powers’, primarily Trump and the US; the second is to increase repression in order to divide and neutralise the opposition. Both of these pillars will be pushed to their limits.
The fundamental question is this: will the current regime’s policies be sufficient to stem the tide of change that is taking root in society?
The answer to this question is crystal clear. A united opposition movement—one that unites the fragmented opposition sectors by making social demands its guiding principle and positions the people as the active agents within the political arena—is the key to success. The current institutional politics is being destroyed. A political landscape where political parties and the Turkish Grand National Assembly have lost their influence, where the political arena has been left in the hands of a narrow elite, and where the judicial bureaucracy has filled the political void—this is the death of politics.
From the ashes of such a decaying political system, a new politics will emerge in which the people become the subjects of politics and take their destiny into their own hands. For this reason, the fate of the country—and the fate of peace, democracy and freedoms—depends on this. The poor, the marginalised and the oppressed must unite their voices to become the driving force behind this change.
A NETWORK OF RELATIONSHIPS FROM THE BOTTOM UP
“Joint struggle means that different sections of society can stand side by side around a common programme for democracy and labour, whilst preserving their own identities and specific demands. The path to this lies in genuine solidarity and a united front”
Özkan Atar, General Secretary of Birleşik Metal İş:
Today, Türkiye is facing not only a severe economic crisis for workers, but also an outright political regime crisis. Whilst the government is losing its social support with each passing day, it is attempting to govern through naked repression, increasingly distancing the country from democracy and the rule of law. Following judicial operations targeting municipalities and opposition groups, measures such as the absolute nullification of the right to vote and stand for election, and similar interventions aimed at suppressing political and social opposition, are no longer the exception but have become the regime’s standard mode of governance.
First and foremost, we must accept this: our salvation will not come through a political party or party alliance that seeks to revive the democratic order. We are faced with an organised force that utilises all the state’s resources, has filled the state bureaucracy with loyalists, and enjoys the backing of all sections of the domestic and foreign capitalist class. The struggle against this reality must, therefore, be organised, united and sustained in a way that brings together all the democratic and progressive elements of social and political opposition. A common struggle does not require everyone to think alike or to come together under the same political or social organisational umbrella. A joint struggle means that different social groups can stand side by side around a common programme for democracy and labour, whilst preserving their own identities and specific demands. The path to this lies not in alliances formed from the top down, but in networks of relationships built from the bottom up, and in genuine solidarity and unity of strength.
Workers on strike in factories must not be left to fend for themselves. Resistance at any workplace must become a common concern for all trade unions. Workers of the municipality must stand by the struggle of metalworkers; metalworkers must stand by the struggle of healthcare workers; and healthcare workers must stand by the struggle of teachers. When the rights of a student protesting against the erosion of the right to vote and stand for election are violated, the working class must not remain silent; when a trade unionist is detained, or when strikes are banned, democratic mass organisations must not view this merely as a trade union issue. For the system we face and its supporters are seeking to completely abolish the constitutional framework of law and rights—of which almost only the name remains—and replace it with a regime of uncertainty as a form of political governance. Consequently, whilst the violations of rights are fragmented, the target of the attack is common.
It is worth recalling a moment from our history. Under the leadership of our union’s honorary president, Kemal Türkler, DİSK established the constitutional resistance committees that organised the 15–16 June 1970 resistance against a draft law targeting trade union rights; through these committees, the struggle was spread to the grassroots, The glorious 15–16 June resistance was realised through the decisions taken by workers in these committees and the resolute application of the working class’s power derived from production.
In Türkiye, the working class has for a long time been insufficiently organised in both trade union and political terms. Existing trade union organisations are predominantly under the influence or control of capital and the capitalist regime. In some trade union structures, leaderships more inclined towards struggle have been replaced, and local setbacks have been experienced. However, alongside all this, there are also encouraging developments and struggles within the working class. First and foremost, efforts must be made to establish labour and democracy committees at the grassroots level within existing trade union structures; priority must be given to building permanent trade union organisation amongst those sections of the working class mobilised around day-to-day or short-term demands; Efforts must be made to ensure that trade unions, professional associations, pensioners’ organisations, women’s organisations, youth movements and democratic mass organisations meet periodically to draw up joint action calendars centred on common demands and objectives. Millions acting on the same days, with the same demands and the same determination, will create a far greater social force than disparate voices. It is also inevitable that this organised power rising from the grassroots will find its reflection in the political arena and build its own organisational structure.
Up to now, we have waged many struggles solely out of a defensive reflex. From the Tekel Resistance to the Gezi Process, we have consistently reacted to the erosion of rights. Yet, it is vital to build a line of struggle that sets out a shared hope and a shared programme for the country’s future. For both the class struggle and its politics are fuelled by hope; our people wish to know not only what we are opposing, but also what sort of Türkiye we wish to build.
From the perspective of working people, our most pressing priorities are: a Türkiye where the exploitation of labour is minimised in the short term, where trade union rights are guaranteed, where strike bans are lifted, where the judiciary is independent, where freedom of thought and association is safeguarded, where tax justice is ensured, where everyone can live in dignity, with wages, income and social rights: an equal, free and democratic Türkiye.
Throughout history, the working class has achieved its greatest victories not only through its own strength, but also through the historical alliances it has forged with other oppressed and pro-labour sections of society. That is how we won at Kavel on 15–16 June. This is what we need today as well. We need a struggle based on mutual support rather than competition, resistance that unites rather than divides, and a social opposition marching shoulder to shoulder. No force can defeat an organised people, and joint struggle is the only true path not only to oppose today’s repressive regime but also to build the equal, free and democratic Türkiye of tomorrow.
THERE IS NO MUCH TIME LEFT
“A broad social opposition must be organised, comprising not only those on the fringes of the current regime but also, to put it dramatically, everyone who defends bread and freedom”
Şükrü Erbaş, Poet:
Firstly, I shall not repeat the general truths that anyone can rattle off in an instant whenever they open their mouths: the economy has been ruined, justice has failed, education has become reactionary, healthcare is killing people, democracy is a massive sham, and social life has been hanged on the gallows of hunger, fear and violence… This is the result of 25 years of careful planning by the current political establishment, and its fundamental aim is to drag all the progressive, democratic, working-class and revolutionary forces of society into a state of hopelessness, a nightmare, a sense of helplessness, thereby destroying their capacity for action.
Unfortunately, unless there is a collective resistance, they have reached the point where they will succeed in this too. What we must hold on to is that this very point is also the point at which this power—the state and all its public institutions—will come crashing down. In order to bring about any improvement within these institutions, we are inevitably forced to secure a political force and the gains necessary to manage these structures within the existing legal and social framework, using the current rules and institutions. Unless you’re staging a major revolution, this is, unfortunately, the way it has to be.
Without further ado… A broad social opposition must be organised, comprising not only those on the fringes of the current regime but also as diverse a range of groups as possible—in a somewhat simplified sense, everyone who defends bread and freedom.
It must be made clear to those taking part that this gathering will not be one where anyone is ‘subordinated’ to another. We do not need to make our entire lives identical to one another in order to remove the immediate evil before us. We all need a social and political ground on which we can coexist—even if it means politically choking the life out of one another! At this crucial gathering, a two-pronged and rapid course of action must be pursued. What needs to be done in the short term; how this will be organised and what can be achieved most swiftly; (why shouldn’t the ‘urban consensus’ successfully implemented in Istanbul during the local government elections serve as a model for a ‘national consensus’?)
FROM YOU
THERE IS NO OTHER WAY
“As the essence of the problem has been quite accurately put today, the task is to bring the fragmented opposition together on a joint platform and a common ground for struggle. This brings to the fore not the question of an alliance imposed from above or from outside, but rather how to forge links between different opposition groups. This question also prompts us to consider how new bonds might be forged between people of different political leanings within a neighbourhood, on a university campus or in a factory. The real issue is precisely how to conceptualise this as unity within autonomy, in an environment where the government is attempting to sever the ties between opposition groups. This also involves organising a new form of sociality that will rebuild the social bonds severed by the individualism of the neoliberal era. In this respect, it is about sustaining the fleeting unity of people marching together down a street or gathering together in a square as a lasting bond of life. Of course, if we think within the framework of conventional politics, some might ask: ‘Is now the right time, or is it even possible?’ In fact, what we really need to understand is that there is no longer any other way.”
CREATING CONTINUITY
“The joint line should be understood not as an overarching alliance to be established from above by existing organisations, but as a social capacity to be built step by step through shared needs and struggles. For this reason, the urgent question today is not so much to determine the ultimate form of this common ground, but rather to create the relationships, the subjects and the continuity that will sustain it. No single form—be it a forum, a co-operative, a trade union, a party, a council or an election campaign—is a solution in itself, nor can it replace the social foundation and the capacity for collective action. The ground on which struggles will be linked must first and foremost be sought in the organisation of everyday material needs—such as food, housing, education, healthcare, safe working conditions, justice and a dignified life—as public rights. Protests emerging in different spheres must be brought together with everyday life, and everyday needs must be linked to a political programme.”
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Siyasetin gerçek öznesi halk olmalı, published in BirGün newspaper on July 17, 2026.
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