Disappointed by CHP, Alevis seek new political choices

Alevi-Bektaşi Federation (ABF) Chairman Ali Balkız announced on Monday that they would consider joining a new political party, as they might collaborate with the Social Democratic People’s Party (SHP). SHP leader Hüseyin Ergün has said that they will become a party for the masses with the participation of the Alevis.

Ergün has been engaged in talks with the leaders of the Dec. 10 Movement, which was launched by the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers’ Unions (DİSK). Their spokesman, Burhan Şenatalar, had said that the CHP is no longer a social democratic party and that Turkey, therefore, needs a new party to fill this gap.

The leaders of the Dec. 10 Movement include Rıza Türmen, a former judge at the European Court of Human Rights, DİSK Chairman Süleyman Çelebi, İbrahim Kaboğlu, a professor of law, and former Ambassador İlter Turan, as well as academics Ahmet İnsel, Mithat Sancar, Fuat Keyman and Erol Katırcıoğlu.

The SHP’s Ergün, who has also been talking with independent deputy Ufuk Uras, also said that they will make their party’s new manifesto public by the end of the year. He added that they will review their name, bylaws and party program too.

“When there is a right choice, everything will change,” Ergün said regarding the situation, which he termed a “lack of alternatives” for the Alevi citizens.

In a Nov. 10 session on the government’s plans to solve the Kurdish issue, former diplomat and CHP Deputy Chairman Öymen made a speech in Parliament in which he said: “Didn’t mothers also cry at the time of the Sheikh Said Rebellion? Didn’t mothers also cry at the time of the Dersim Rebellion?” in response to the government’s use of the phrase “Let no more mothers cry” as part of its efforts to end the Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) campaign of terror. His words left Alevis, who traditionally give considerable support to the CHP, infuriated.

At the same time, Öymen’s remarks brought the 1938 events that took place in Dersim, today known as Tunceli, into the limelight. The issue has long been glossed over. The Kurdish name of Dersim was changed to Tunceli in 1935. The government in 1937 formed a restructuring plan for the city, to evacuate it and issue permits to grant residency in the province. Members of a group that rebelled against the plan were executed by the state. Tunceli now has the lowest population among all of Turkey’s provinces.

‘Radical democrat’

The new movement, which includes the ABF, SHP and leaders like independent deputy Uras, has no name yet. Sancar once said that it could be named the “New Left Center Party.”

They had their first meeting on July 4 and another on Sept. 13. They are expected to have their bylaws completed in January.

Uras said that the party will be a movement basing itself on “equal citizenship rights.” He also said that they will be an alternative to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).

“The alternative to the AK Party will emerge from our left movement, not from a structure that supports Ergenekon,” Uras said, referring to a neo-nationalist gang believed to be the extension of a clandestine network of groups with members in the armed forces which was plotting a coup against the government.

DİSK Chairman Çelebi voiced similar views.

“As the Dec. 10 Movement, we had expressed very clearly four years ago -- before the Ergenekon investigation started -- that we are against all kinds of coups and anti-democratic moves,” Çelebi said adding that he will represent himself, not DİSK, in the new party.

Regarding the views of the movement on economic matters, Bilgi University Professor Katırcıoğlu said they defend the free market economy and support some state interference in the system.

He said Balkız’s statements have been interpreted as though there is a certain agreement on the issues, but they are still working on the principles.

Katırcıoğlu, who is also a columnist at Taraf daily, said that the new movement is “left” and “social democratic” but the best description of it should be “radical democratic.”

His explanation regarding this definition is:

“No matter what social background people have, we would like to be a movement of conscience and justice for the people who were disadvantaged by the present system; be they Alevis, Kurds, religious people, jobless, Roma people or anyone else.”