‘We are not the CHP, we are not socialists, but a reformist new left to counter the AK Party’

Yeğen underlined that a new leftist party should take the democratic reforms of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) as a starting point and should improve on them. In an exclusive interview with Today’s Zaman, Yeğen also said such a new leftist party should be extremely sensitive to the Kurdish question but should not let itself to be placed under the tutelage of it.

Yeğen is involved in an initiative to form a new leftist party based on grassroots activism. He stressed that the group is discussing every subject within the initiative and they are at the stage of outlining the party’s bylaws. Yeğen said there will not be strict party discipline and the ideas that he mentioned during the interview are his own.

The initiative will be known as something along the lines of the Radical Democrats or the New Left Party, but the name has not been finalized yet. There are many well-known intellectuals within the initiative, including movements and parties such as the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP), the Social Democratic People’s Party (SHP) and the Dec. 10 movement, which was launched by the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers’ Unions (DİSK).

There are many prominent names within the movement, such as Professor Fuat Keyman, Professor Mithat Sancar, Professor Burhan Şenatalar and Süyelman Çelebi, the chairman of DİSK.

Right time for a new leftist party

Yeğen said it is the right time for a new leftist party for several reasons. “The struggle for democracy has improved a lot, the diversification in the left between the statist and militarist left and the democratic left is very clear. The second group is also very clear on the core issues such as the Kurdish question and the headscarf issue. In addition to that, the Alevis are looking for a new party.”

Turkey’s Alevi community has traditionally supported the Republican People’s Party (CHP) unconditionally, but it has been looking for other options for some time. Another prominent name in the new left movement is Ali Balkız, the head of the Federation of Alevi-Bektaşi Associations (ABF).

Yeğen recalled that there have been attempts to form leftist parties in Turkey since the late 1990s but they were all unsuccessful for some reason. However, when he was asked what had changed to make them think that this time such an initiative will be successful, he answered that the people involved in the initiative had revised their ideas.

“We are not founding a socialist party. This is a great change for us. However, we are not planning to create a social democrat party either. It is very important that the people who are familiar with the socialist tradition are suggesting that we don’t need a socialist party, but that we need a reform party instead. The source of this change is the people themselves,” he said.

He added that the failures of the previous initiatives taught them important lessons. They also realized that it was not possible to make progress in the leftist movement while lost in nostalgia for Turkey’s left prior to the Sept. 12, 1980, coup d’état.

“In the past, when we asked ourselves who are the supporters of the left, the answer was limited to workers, Alevis and Kurds. Of course they are important, but our vision is not limited to them. In the past, the left was considered to be an extension of the CHP, but this is not valid anymore. Also, for the first time in our political history, we are openly discussing our position regarding the Alevis. Even the CHP was not able to discuss it very openly. For us, the Alevi identity is very important, they have important demands and we own these demands; but this does not make us an Alevi party, it makes us a democratic party. These are very important changes.”

Yeğen, however, admitted that the previous unsuccessful attempts have created obstacles for them.

“There are many people who sympathize with us, but due to the previous attempts they are hesitant to join in, although I strongly believe that once our movement has formed, many people will join us in a very short period of time. I can see the enthusiasm for it,” Yeğen points out.

Our counterpart is the Left Party in Germany

When describing the differences between the new leftist movement and previous attempts to form a leftist party, as well as other leftist movements, he underlined that their attitude regarding Turkey-European Union relations is clear:

“A part of the Turkish left was categorically against the EU and some of them still are. We don’t have any relations with this part. Some of the left says both yes and no. I think this undecided language will disappear once we have formed the party. We have not yet discussed what kind of an EU we are thinking about, but we are sure that Turkey should say yes to the EU. However, it does not mean that we would accept the EU as it is now. We will try to transform Turkey in favor of the left and we can spend some of our international energy transforming the EU in favor of the left, too. Europe is squeezed in between the Sarkozy and Merkel camps; it has closed itself to immigrants and other cultures. We will not be anti-European but we will defend an EU which is more egalitarian, open and respectful to the other identities and more tolerant towards them. There are parties in Europe defending these ideas and we can be their counterpart in Turkey,” he said.

Yeğen underlined that their counterpart among the European parties could be the Left Party in Germany, but he added that while saying this he has still some reservations: “The experience of the Left Party in Germany is important for us for several reasons. One of the reasons which made their experience possible is that the Blair school was not able to meet some demands and there is a similar situation here. Secondly, they are based on grassroots activism, which is also a reference for us. But in my view, unless Turkey spends some years as an EU member, it is not really possible to make comparisons such as this one. In the end, we are a society whose social dynamics are different to those of Europe. Another international reference for us could be the experiences in Latin America, which are based on the elimination of the autocratic regimes and are also against neo-liberalism. These two factors lead to the revitalization of the left. There is a suitable atmosphere for the movements such as ours throughout the world.”

Yeğen emphasized that there is a suitable atmosphere for a party such as theirs in Turkey and there are many reasons for this. One of these reasons is the socialization which was a product of the conflict between secularism and conservatism.

“Every conflict produces socialization too. The conflict between secularism and conservatism resulted in socialization as well. Turkey has gone through this conflict, especially after the Feb. 28 process, but the different sides in this conflict learned about each other and discovered that they don’t have to harm each other. Such a feeling prepared the psychological ground for a new type of politics,” he said.

We should use the same language as conservatives on the headscarf issue

Yeğen underlined that their target is not conservatism.

“We are not aiming to replace the CHP to defend similar ideas; neither are we aiming to create a political party which correspondence to the AK Party on the left. What we aim to do is to build a counter-AK Party on the left,” he said.

Yeğen said that to be against the headscarf ban is accepted as a moral value in Turkey, but added that this initiative should go further. “I personally suggested that we should use the same language as the conservatives, for example, we should also call this ban oppression.”

He pointed out that when it comes to the structure of the Religious Affairs Directorate they are suggesting that it be downsized.

“To open a department for Alevis in the Religious Affairs Directorate would mean putting religion under the control of the state even more, what comes next is opening a department for Protestants and Assyrians and all sects and religions in Turkey. We are not suggesting the total withdrawal of the state from religion, but instead leaving this area largely to the communities. For example, symbolically important mosques like Sultanahmet can be financed by the state but the rest should be left to the mosques’ communities,” he said.

According to him, when they voiced such ideas in the past, especially on the headscarf or military tutelage, they were confronted with the question of what is difference between them and the AK Party.

“The AK Party is a collage and our movement will dissolve this collage,” he said. According to Yeğen, they are different to the AK Party in many ways, and not only on the subject of economic policies.

“It is not only that they are neo-liberal and we are egalitarian, there are some other differences, such when it comes to tutelage. The AK Party is trying to create a compromise; we don’t have such an attitude at all.”

When it comes to the tutelage of pro-Kurdish politics over the Turkish left, Yeğen pointed out that their party will put an end to this, too.

“Our party of course defends ideas such as education in Kurdish and strong local administrations but it does not mean that we will participate in an umbrella party, despite many calls from them, at least until the PKK militants withdraw from the boundaries of Turkey,” he said.

Another effort on the left is to establish an “umbrella party” with the participation of the small political parties from the Socialist Party and the Free Left Platform to the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) which replaced the defunct Democratic Society Party (DTP).

“We think that joining them will not be useful for them or for us. They will not overcome their legitimization problem and we will not flourish in western Turkey. As long as the [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] PKK continues its military activities, we should have separate paths.”

But Yeğen underlined that this does not mean that they will not cooperate with the pro-Kurdish political parties. In the western cities they are aiming to get the votes of the Kurds, in Anatolia they are hoping to collect the votes of the Alevis.

“But it does not mean that we are limiting ourselves to these groups, while they are important for us to increase our momentum, we are aiming to become a party for the masses. I think that if we can organize and plan to-the-point campaigns, we will be able to get at least 15 to 20 independent seats [in Parliament] at the beginning,” he said.

“Turkey did not split because of the Kurdish problem or conservatism in the last 15 years and for me this is a very good and hopeful sign for the future. The tutelage is about to end, from now on we have to look forward and politics should be based on the question of where can we go from this point. What we want to do is to transform Turkey in favor of the left.”