Where do civil society organizations stand with respect to the referendum?
by
MAHMUT ARSLAN*

Civil society organizations can readily explain why they intend to vote “yes,” but they cannot justify to themselves voting “no.” To say “no” merely because of rancor and ideological obsession stemming from opposition to the ruling party is to annul their own their legitimacy, consistency and ability to guide the general public in a progressive manner.

This referendum is making civil society organizations, confederations and trade unions choose between asserting their “ideological preferences” as a bloc and upholding “rights and freedoms.” In this context, the “no” campaigns waged with ideological militancy by the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers’ Unions (DİSK) and the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK) will certainly be recorded as a major “contradiction” in both their own histories and the history of Turkish civil society. This is because in Turkey, a country lacking fully democratic practices, to reject such an opportunity is like a patient rejecting the pills that will treat his terminal illness. As such, civil society organizations and trade unions cannot offer any reasonable explanation for saying “no” to the constitutional reforms without subjecting themselves to a historic contradiction. Demands for greater freedoms should not fall prey to the illusions of civil society organizations.

Given the fact that most of these groups experienced the horrors of the 1980 coup first hand and were closed down or saw their leaders jailed for extended terms, there is only one explanation to the “no” campaigns being waged by certain confederations and traditions: They do not believe in their own advertised principles and cause.

In this sense, it should be emphasized that the Confederation of Turkish Real Trade Unions’ (Hak-İş) campaign advising voters to say “yes to the light of democracy from the darkness of coups” does not leave it in a self-contradictory position.

In the Sept. 12 referendum, which will accelerate Turkey’s progress by amending its “unmanageable” coup Constitution and pave the way for the creation of a completely new constitution, it is the “no” votes, rather than the “yes” votes, that should be questioned.

On Sept. 12 Turkey will decide its future. Our people will assert their rights and workers will seek their freedoms. Our democracy will be liberated from shadows, tutelage and defects.

Our society will question the dark spots in the history of our democracy in which freedoms were suspended and anti-democratic practices abounded, as in the nightmares of May 27, 1960, March 12, 1971, Sept. 12, 1980, Feb. 28, 1997 and April 27, 2007.

Turkey now has an important opportunity to get rid of the Constitution that was forcefully imposed on our society. This is a historic opportunity that must not be subjected to political abuse. Instead, this opportunity must be turned into an achievement.

For this reason, all workers must say “yes” for the bright future of the country on Sept. 12!

The importance of reform in concise terms

On Sept. 12, 1980, Turkey’s already imperfectly functioning democratic system suffered a major blow, the partial recovery from which has become possible only now, 30 years later. Our entire state structure was changed according to the whims of the coup’s perpetrators. Turkey had to live in a coma under the siege of the coup’s laws.

The 1980 coup did the most severe damage to working life. The working class suffered the deadliest blow, and the majority of workers and employees paid and continue to pay the price of Sept. 12.

The prohibiting of trade unions, the banning of collective strike and bargaining systems and the blocking of the right to organization under laws 2821 and 2722 are outcomes of the 1980 coup. In a word, it turned the country into a “courtroom” it has been unable to leave for 30 years.

Our society is now disorganized, in the clutch of certain powers and deprived even of its right of appeal. On the anniversary of its subjection to the most aggressive form of social engineering, the referendum will serve as a litmus test for all civil society organizations, especially trade unions.