HATİCE TOPÇU
JOURNALIST – TÜRKİYE

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The price of not being able to analyze and evaluate the historical process well and, consequently, of not being able to foresee the future is high. Our country, which was founded on the basis of complete independence and national sovereignty, is today paying a heavy price for this.

At this point, taking too long to identify the reasons why the forces of the counter-revolution have advanced so far and not giving the necessary reactions will mean that we will have to pay higher prices in the future. This price could lead to the division and disintegration of our country. In fact, the events of the present day show clearly and distinctly that the process has begun.

First of all, I would like to point out that there is a lot of confusion when analyzing our political history from the past to the present. We can verify this by observing the political conflicts in which our country has been involved. In fact, these confusions are nothing more than the processes deliberately and voluntarily created by imperialism and its local collaborators who are ambitious for our country. The areas of conflict that they have generated in our country are also intended to lead us to where they want to take us, to “Sèvres” again, that is to say, to disintegration.

Obviously, the steps taken on the road to the establishment of an independent Republic in central Anatolia, despite the impositions of Sèvres, must be evaluated in the light of the conditions of that time. Following the liberation struggle initiated with the debarkation at Samsun on May 19, 1919, the Republic was proclaimed and the enlightened revolutions and efforts to raise the consciousness of individuals began. In this context, the linguistic revolution, national schools and mobilization for literacy were launched to unite the people with their language. The leader of the revolution personally stood in front of the blackboard and introduced the new letters. Awareness-raising initiatives were taken in cities, towns and villages with the launching of public houses and public chambers. Lastly, with the Village Institutes, an original educational model, suited to its own culture and texture, was brought to our young Republic. Unfortunately, the early death of the leader of the revolution, who accomplished a great work in a short time, disturbed the enlightened revolutions.

The next political forces, instead of developing and completing these unfinished revolutions, rushed to lose the process of transition to a multiparty system and began to make concessions to the forces of counter-revolution. In summary, the steps that paved the way for us to become a unitary, secular and democratic nation-state, achieved on the battlefields yesterday and which led to Lausanne, what we call the deed of the Republic, have been reversed today.

Today, all over the world, including many Western countries, the principles of Machiavellianism, an approach that prioritizes interest over morality, are being applied, and governments are resorting to unthinkable methods to continue to exist. The dictators of the world and their capitalist collaborators, taking Machiavellianism one step further, taking the methods and techniques followed by Hitler who established the “Ministry of Propaganda”, are making the most innocent people, the people, drink the bitter syrup.

Internal and External Factors of the Transition to Multipartyism

Some consider the transition of our country to a multiparty system as a higher level – transition to democracy. This should also be examined taking into account the conditions of the transitional period. The transition to multipartyism in our country has nothing to do with democratization. The transition driven by internal and external dynamics and what happened afterwards, pushed back the Turkish revolution and finally paved the way for the steps of what we are experiencing today.

The internal reason for the transition to multipartyism was the insecurity created by the new taxes implemented by the government to cope with the economic difficulties caused by World War II. As for the external reasons, there are two factors. The first is the security threat posed by the Soviet Union’s territorial and military base claims against Türkiye. Secondly, World War II was won by countries governed by democracy, and democracy was given priority in the post-war order to avoid a repeat of the destruction caused by fascism. The security threats faced with the Soviet Union brought Türkiye closer to the West, and ways to cooperate with the West were sought. The decision was thus taken to move to a multiparty system, which was a condition imposed by the West.

In this sense, it would not be too unfair to say that the young Republic of Türkiye found itself in a political process in which interests, not morality, were prioritized with the transition to a multiparty system before completing the cultural revolution. This is because democracy can only function with the participation of informed, cultured, educated and enlightened citizens. Otherwise, democracy becomes a trolley car to get off at the desired stop.

In a society that has historically been shaped by authoritarian structures, such as feuds and aghas, and has not developed the necessary capacities to govern democratically, democracy is only possible in appearance. In such a context, it would not be surprising that political leaders use the State for their personal interests and consider all means sacrosanct in order not to lose power.

As a natural consequence of this are the practices of past governments, military coups, the spreading of Arab culture as a religion from educational programs to prevent the formation of a democratic consciousness in Türkiye and, finally, the practices of the AKP, the longest-serving government in the multiparty system….

So, is the reason the AKP has stayed in power for so long its ability to implement Machiavellian approaches or the failure of the opposition?

Both of them! The current scenario coincides with the union of political Islamists and ethnic separatists, the goal is Lausanne and the pre-1924 Constitution. Much less in the past, we have not heard a statement from the main opposition focused on full independence and national sovereignty in the current period. The calling for a so-called congress by a bloody terrorist organization, the acceptance by our State of a text that pretends to justify what that organization has done in the past – justifying itself – and is not enough, the idea of forming a commission in Parliament, which came from the ruling partner MHP, accepted by the CHP chairman…. The 1921 Constitution, which yesterday the six-party table pointed out and called an inclusive constitution, and today’s political Islamists, the demands of ethnic separatists and, of course, Özgür Özel’s statements….

What unites the government and the opposition?

To whom do the speeches polished with freedom, equality, peace, democracy serve?

Nonetheless, in the new world order, it is not capital that is liberated and the people that are enslaved?

The same situation exists in authoritarian regimes; it is not the oppressed, wounded and exploited people who assume the power of a liberated state?

Peace, freedom, equality for what, for whom?

That is exactly what happens. Unfortunately, reflection of the victory of the democratic world in World War II is not promising. It is not because almost the vast majority of the countries we call the democratic world have surrendered to authoritarian governments. The domination of capital has enveloped them all.

The “Presidency of Communication” is our country’s version of Hitler’s propaganda ministry and authorization methods. A huge and splendid building in the center of Ankara and a huge number of staff whose number and what they do are unknown. Of course, there is also an unknown army of trolls.

I do not find it necessary to explain in depth how the people’s willingness is used for political interests, because all these events are the steps of Machiavellianism which understands that all means are lawful, turning the crisis into an opportunity, managing perceptions, attacking the opposition, attributing bad adjectives, twisting historical facts, making war a part of governance…

As I mentioned above, I am referring to the ongoing process of counter-revolution. I speak of the steps taken after the death of Atatürk, the leader of the revolution, on November 10, 1938, of the bilateral agreements signed during the process, of the closure of the Village Institutes, of the Religious schools turned into the backyard of politics, of the concessions made to sects and communities, and of what happened after September 12, 1980, the bloodiest coup d’état in the history of Türkiye. I am talking about a planned and deliberate process, whose steps have accelerated in the last 23 years and have brought the country to the edge of the cliff.

Where is Türkiye heading?

The intention is very clear in the text coming from the PKK and the idea of a parliamentary commission?

The discriminatory policies of the new world order, such as nationalism and xenophobia, are about to divide societies…. In other words, Machiavelli’s saying “the goal justifies the means” applies…. To make society ignorant, to degrade education, to push philosophy and logic aside, to move away from reason and science, to take over rains with memorization…. In short, to spread darkness…

What is happening is a system in which political power monopolizes decisions and this system has no chance of improvement. There is no way out of this system by doing the same things. What they call freedom, equality and peace is nothing more than imperialism’s plan to divide our country.

In this panaroma caused by those who brought the nation State to the edge of the cliff, by those who abandoned education to sects and congregations, by those who sold it to capital, by those who made healthcare non-affordable, by those who destroyed production, by those who made sure that everything, even wheat, was bought abroad, is the main problem the need for freedom, equality, democracy and a new Constitution?

Unbelievable. A Türkiye ready for the Greater Middle East Project to achieve its objectives…

This is the multiparty system and where it has taken our country. Pensioners stand in line to get bread. Children in mosques under the name of school, peasants and farmers in the corners of cafes with incentives without planting their fields, marriage programs on television and programs showing domestic violence on screen….

Those in power enjoy luxury and splendor.

It is sad to draw the decadence. The way out of here lies again in the Republic of Atatürk as it was in the past…. In the struggle for liberation and in the model of liberation organization….