The Regime Escalates Attacks as its Dilemmas Exacerbate

The events of the last few months show how the pit into which the country under the grip of fascism has been pushed has deepened. The country is writhing in the fascist straitjacket forced upon it and tensions are growing in various directions. Issues such as internal and external conflicts, class contradictions, national question, women question, environmental problems, and immigrant problems are all worsening and intensifying. Unprecedented impoverishment, increased inequality, the collapse of health, education, and social security systems, and a visible deterioration in all major aspects of social life create a sense among many people that the country is heading towards a collapse.

In recent months, the fascist government has launched an even more intense campaign against the working masses and various opposition groups. The working masses are facing new and severe attacks that directly worsen their economic and social conditions, while opposition groups challenging the regime from different perspectives are encountering political assaults. Moreover, beyond direct police oppression, new initiatives are further solidifying the regime's repressive and totalitarian nature. Meanwhile, preventable disasters, like the hotel fire in Bolu, which claimed 78 lives, continue to plague the country endlessly. Shortly after this horrific event, a building collapsed in Konya, and several similar incidents occurred.

The offensive by the regime

Before the 2023 elections, the economic policies that were carried out in order to keep the mass support and the state-funded capital alive, burdened the regime in the economic field, and after the electoral difficulties were overcome, a severe programme of attacks against the working masses was implemented. Mehmet Şimşek was brought in from abroad to formulate and implement this programme. The working masses were made to pay the price of the previous economic policies with this move, which was considered necessary to reassure the international capital. While the promises made during the election period were forgotten, the regime, now freed from the electoral pressure, threw the masses, including a significant part of the labourers who supported it, into a process of severe impoverishment and debt.

Despite a slight decrease, the inflation that skyrocketed due to the previous economic policies is still among the highest in the world. Among the 190 countries for which the IMF maintains inflation data, Turkey surpasses 185 countries. The burden of this inflation and the so-called programme to reduce it has been entirely placed on the working class. With high inflation severely affecting their purchasing power, the working class has become even poorer due to the wage suppression policy implemented as part of the programme allegedly aimed at reducing inflation. Wage increases for millions of workers, as well as for retirees and civil servants, have been made below the official inflation rate, while the prices of public services have been increased well above the official inflation rate. Apart from the high increases in service costs, workers are increasingly unable to access basic services such as healthcare, education, and social security. For example, hospital appointments are either impossible to get or the services provided are entirely substandard. Thus, working masses are increasingly being pushed towards private healthcare, private education, and private social security, becoming even more exploited and impoverished.

As the living conditions for workers rapidly deteriorate and they are subjected to increasing repression, their dissatisfaction and anger grow. Throughout the country, there are attempts by workers to unionise and wage struggles for better conditions, achieving gains despite the pressure. However, due to the lack of union and political organisation, these gains remain limited, and the increasing anger cannot be channelled into higher forms of political struggle. Numerous factors contribute to the low levels of consciousness and organisation, including the unique historical development of the country, the absence of a popular revolution, and the current fascist regime. The mass protests in Serbia following the collapse of a train station and the resultant loss of lives, as well as new developments regarding a deadly train accident in Greece two years ago, are noteworthy for highlighting the differences in response. In such conditions, the importance of organisation at all levels for the masses to gain self-confidence is incomparably higher.

The examples of Serbia and Greece are particularly striking. Because a similar tragedy happened in Turkey on the same days with the hotel fire in Bolu. Unfortunately, this tragedy, which shows how rotten the bourgeois order and the present fascist regime are in Turkey, did not produce a similar reaction as in Serbia or Greece. People were individually filled with grief and anger and expressed it in their social circles and social media channels, but this did not turn into a spontaneous or organised mass movement. The fact that 78 people burned to death because of the lack of even the simplest safety precautions, such as fire extinguishers, shows how deep the decay of the order and the regime is. Here we see the boundless greed of the capitalist profit motive, the utter disregard for human life, the rotten nepotism that goes right up to the Minister of Tourism, the complete lack of public control, the bankruptcy of the judicial mechanism and many other scandalous things. Of course, this hotel fire is one case. But similar cases are so many and so frequent that they embody the scene we highlighted at the beginning of this article, that of a country falling apart at the seams.

Under the fascist regime, the de facto elimination of the separation of powers and the judiciary being turned into the crude and direct tool of the executive is undoubtedly a significant aspect of this disgraceful picture. Significant, because this mechanism has become a tool of repression that the regime increasingly uses. However, these days, there is a new development showing that even this state of being a tool is insufficient for the needs of the fascist power. The government, through a new law passed by the now-ineffective parliament, has granted the State Supervisory Council, under the command of the President, the authority of prosecutors and judges, making it possible to directly dismiss any public official during inspections. Moreover, municipalities elected by vote, professional organizations with public institution status (bars and other professional chambers), as well as unions and “publicly beneficial” associations and foundations, fall under the jurisdiction of the SSC. It seems that the regime, despite being under its control, cannot even tolerate the functioning procedures of the judiciary. It wants to handle its business quickly and without any obstacles. This new change in the state structure is a step that further consolidates the totalitarian nature of the regime. The general fascist state structure, where the legislature and judiciary are either rendered ineffective or turned into playthings in the hands of the executive, has been further advanced with this new short-circuit mechanism.

The regime, which removes elected mayors from their positions in most cases with baseless investigations, imprisons them, and appoints trustees in their place, now apparently wants to make this process even easier. Of course, this must be the immediate and direct goal of the regime. More generally, this new regulation places a whole series of institutions under the sword of Damocles, from education and health to semi-public professional organizations. Thus, the entire state apparatus and all public institutions can be purged of those who are not regime loyalists, and it will be possible to replace them entirely with the regime's cadres and supporters.

All opponents are under fire

In the intensified attacks of the regime, the Kurdish movement naturally occupies the forefront. On one hand, the municipalities won by the Kurdish movement through elections are being taken away one by one and replaced by trustees appointed by the regime. On the other hand, the cadres of the Kurdish movement and various leftist groups like ESP that actively support the Kurdish movement are being imprisoned through various police operations. In the last few weeks, another trustee has been appointed to Siirt Municipality after Mersin Akdeniz Municipality. As we have predicted and emphasized in our analyses since the local elections, the regime is increasingly using the trustee threat. Whether this practice is compatible with the process carried out by the regime on one side, giving an impression of a new solution to the Kurdish issue, is another matter. We will touch upon this shortly.

The nature, content, and scope of the process carried out by the regime are not clear, nor is it clear where it will lead. This process is essentially shaped by the latest developments in the imperialist war in the Middle East, especially in Syria. This point is fundamentally important and should not be forgotten at any stage. Although these developments have various dimensions, the aspect that is especially important for our subject and the regime is that the Kurds are gaining significant positions in Syria with the support of the US, Israel, and the West at large. Although the process is a matter of very complex and intricate negotiations/conflicts, this course of events rings alarm bells for the Turkish state. The Kurdish movement gaining a status and power in Syria, as it did in Iraq, and potentially extending to Iran, which would not be too surprising, and finally, the “big deal” being that Turkey is next in line.

This is why the fascist government, which is in a state of alarm, is eager to get through this process with the least possible damage and, if possible, to conclude it with some gains in different directions. It is for this purpose that Öcalan, whose existence was almost forgotten, was suddenly given the opportunity to appear on the stage. However, while the enigmatic talks with Öcalan continue, the pressure on the legal political representatives of the Kurdish movement is being escalated. This situation can be read as an attempt by a wing within the rulers to undermine the “process” or as a message that “you cannot continue this work without me”.

Aside from the pressure on the developments in Syria, the fact that the economic problems of the people and the increasing discontent and anger on this basis constitute a sufficiently risky ground, the gradual decline in the mass support of the fascist ruling forces among the people in recent years and the gathering strength of the bourgeois opposition parties, including the fascist Victory Party, push the regime to tighten its grip even more. The top-down attacks targeting the municipalities have extended to the CHP, the jailing of the fascist Ümit Özdağ, who had declared that he would “undermine the process”, and the launching of new investigations against İmamoğlu (the CHP mayor of İstanbul, who has emerged as the strongest potential candidate in front of Erdoğan), the targeting and eventual dismissal from the army of newly graduated young lieutenants who took the oath of office by referring to Atatürk, the arrest of people like Ayşe Barım (the owner of a casting agency), the swift arrest and detention of many opposition journalists and the opening of investigations against them are all connected to this. Regardless of whether there are special calculations behind them or not, these are moves that have the character of intimidating the public.

Moreover, the regime is also targeting social media and famous artists who have gained a popular identity, and in order to prevent these channels and figures from amplifying the anti-government mood, the regime is not only introducing new prohibitive regulations but also targeting various individuals and making references to the Gezi resistance. Bahçeli, who is in favour of a “Kurdish opening”, is also making high-pitched threats. Both on the occasion of the reintroduction of the Gezi issue into the agenda and on the occasion of the decision to dismiss the lieutenants who took the oath with swords from the army, Bahçeli revealed the essence of the threat by saying, “If you try to make an attempt at a political showdown, you will pay a heavy price”. In short, those who oppose the regime in one way or another will be crushed regardless of the tears in their eyes if they attempt to adopt a more radical form of opposition. Thus, it is seen once again that Bahçeli and those of his mind seek to eliminate or minimise the threat posed by the Kurdish movement by making the minimum possible concessions while the general framework of the regime remains unchanged; goals such as democratisation through the solution of this problem do not exist on their horizon.

It should also be noted here that the prosecutor's indictment for Ayşe Barım includes the charge of “influence agent”. As you may recall, the government had invented this crime and wanted to legislate it, but due to rising opposition, this attempt was suspended. However, the charge of “influence agent”, which has not even been legislated, is now being practically applied by the puppet judiciary. It is, of course, necessary to see that the fascist regime has different kinds of calculations at play in the case of Ayşe Barım. The issue of cultural hegemony, which Erdoğanist forces have always attached great importance to, and its reflections in the field of popular culture play a role here. It is clear that the regime has not yet established the kind of cultural hegemony it desires, despite having all the power of the state and years of effort. It is not convincing to cry “these are monopolies” for people like Ayşe Barım, while they possess an institution like TRT, which can be considered the largest monopoly in this field. It is likely that changes in the distribution of capital and wealth in the field of popular culture are being attempted by force, perhaps even preparing the ground for new seizures. We will see that over time.

It would be useful to present some general facts to conclude the discussion on the intensification of repression. Although the sentences of countless convicts have been executed outside of prisons through parole etc. for most of the ordinary crimes, the prison population in Turkey has now exceeded 300,000, more than the population of 22 provinces. On the other hand, the regime has been feverishly building new prisons.

It is obvious that 2025 will be a difficult year for labourers and dissidents in almost every aspect. The picture, which we have tried to sketch above, indicates the tendency of the regime to escalate its aggression to a higher level with its economic, social, political and cultural dimensions. In order to heighten the struggle against this, building a labour front is of burning importance. While some wings of the bourgeois opposition are hostile to the Kurds and some are playing the “red card” comedy, it is also important to make efforts to free the labourers from the artificial polarisation of “secular-religious”, “Kemalist-Islamist” and Kurdish hostility traps. It is also dangerous for the labourers to get caught up in the air that the regime is trying to spread as if it has conquered Syria. Not only is this air empty, but getting carried away by it also carries the danger of becoming the plaything of new bloody campaigns. A perspective based on the brotherhood of all peoples and the unity of labourers in the Middle East is the only real way out for the labourers.