Opening Speech of the Communist Party of Turkey

Dear Comrades,

I would like to open our meeting by welcoming you all and extending greetings on behalf of the Central Committee of the TKP.

We have gathered today to discuss and debate the stance of communists in different countries, and in Europe as a whole, in the face of the war-mongering of the Euro-Atlantic alliance — the imperialist organizations NATO and the European Union — and the consequences of rivalry and conflict within the imperialist system. Our aim is to evaluate recent developments and coordinate our positions.

As parties of the European Communist Action, this is not the first time we are addressing Western imperialism, led by NATO and the EU, the growing threat of war, or the struggle against imperialist aggression. These issues have already been high on our agenda in various contexts, whether in relation to Ukraine or the Middle East.

Since the meetings where we last discussed these topics, however, nothing has occurred that would truly alter the global balance of power...

No new workers’ government has been established.

No revolutionary situation has emerged anywhere in the world.

The number of socialist countries has not increased.

Apart from the relatively late but seemingly long-lasting protests for Palestine, there has been no popular movement capable of genuinely pushing back imperialist powers. Bourgeois governments have freely increased defense spending without feeling any significant pressure from the people —their choices being determined solely by relations with the US, the interests of the EU, and the
preferences within their own ruling classes.

So, one can ask what is there left to discuss without repeating ourselves?

Their degree of consolidation? The scale that their warmongering has reached? How much they have weakened the resistance front standing against the Euro-Atlantic alliance in the Middle East?

How they disintegrated Syria and, despite everything, how the war in Ukraine continues?

Each of these points has merit, and with every new document, statement, or decision that emerges, it remains possible to carry out further detailed analyses.

These points are important because they expose the irrationality of capitalism and its hostility toward humanity, life, and nature, while raising social awareness. They have propaganda value in the struggle against the imperialist system. And they are all directly linked to concrete and urgent struggles facing communists today.

Yet there is also a matter of strategic importance that directly concerns the historical mission of our parties: the imperialist system is increasingly losing its coherence, showing weaknesses, and suffering from internal fractures.

I am not referring only to the natural crises and rivalries inherent in capitalist imperialist system. In addition to economic crises, they face an ideological crisis. They have no project to offer the peoples of the world, nothing that can inspire or mobilize them. Didn’t you notice that they cannot even produce new leaders? Old figures are simply recycled in slightly modified forms.

Their only real advantage is that the organized working class has not yet asserted itself in politics with its own program.

As communists, we must focus on these weaknesses of the imperialist system — not to carve out a place for ourselves within it, but to exploit the cracks, deepen the crises in our own countries, and combine the struggle against imperialism with the struggle to overthrow capitalism.

Our party operates in a region where all the major imperialist powers are trying to shape the game.

NATO is here, the United States is here, Israel is here, the UK is here, and to varying degrees France and other European states are here. Since October 7, all of them have played direct or indirect roles in the course of events. In Syria, we have seen an even clearer picture, with actors physically present on the ground.

The AKP government and the Turkish capitalist class are also among the founders and the players of this game.

And it is increasingly possible that Turkey itself will become the stage of this game.

Turkey’s position is indeed unique compared to other European countries. Erdoğan’s misleading image of pursuing a relatively independent foreign policy by exploiting the contradictions within the imperialist system has reinforced this distinctiveness. Yet we can state without hesitation: 

despite the maneuvering room the AKP government has preserved, unless a socialist revolution takes place in Turkey, there is no structural possibility for Turkish capitalism to break away from the US-NATO-EU axis.

Although Turkish capitalism possesses significant resources, a developed capitalist class, and a New-Ottomanist government whose expansionist ambitions accompany that class — and in this sense displays imperialist tendencies — it also suffers from serious structural vulnerabilities. And recent events confirm this reality.

The AKP government, which has been steadily improving relations with the US, demonstrated once again at the United Nations General Assembly that Turkey remains tied to complex, multifaceted, and unavoidable economic, commercial, and political relations with Washington.

Although it is not the direct subject of today’s meeting, when discussing the Euro-Atlantic alliance in the context of the struggle continuing in our countries, we cannot ignore the ongoing “peace process” in Turkey. This process is closely tied to developments in Syria. Neither the AKP nor the PKK is in a position to act independently of the US, the UK, or Israel. It is now clearer than ever that the process leading to regime change in Syria placed Turkey in front of multiple difficulties and threats. Having once played a role in undermining Syria’s territorial integrity, the AKP government now finds itself needing that very integrity more than ever for the sake of their own future.

The region’s complex web of actors has long been encouraged by the imperialist powers because it made control easier. They have always known how to use “chaos” as a tool. But let us not forget: there are limits to how far the consequences of their actions — especially those of the United States — can be anticipated or controlled.

What we are trying to do is prepare for a more chaotic and crisis-prone period: to identify potential triggers for crises in our countries and to use the miscalculations of the ruling classes to create conditions in which the communist movement can grow roots among the people.

Our comrade Kemal Okuyan, General Secretary of the TKP, writes in his latest book Revolution —soon to be published in English — that communism continues to have a place in humanity’s future.

Yet he adds a necessary warning: if humanity has a future at all.

In today’s world, we must recognize that our struggle is not only about overthrowing the imperialist-capitalist system and replacing it with an egalitarian society free of exploitation, but also about saving the very future of humanity.

Down with imperialism! Long live revolution and communist future of humanity!