ISTANBUL, June 5 — The working class is rising in Turkey, involving 3,000,000 across 60 cities. Mass demonstrations with as many as 250,000 people have occurred on a daily basis since May 29, centered in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, a place where workers traditionally voice their grievances and show their strength. They are outraged at the Islamist government of Prime Minster Erdogan. On June 4, 240,000 government workers in the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions walked out as part of a general strike. They are protesting the arrest and trial of 72 members on phony terrorism charges. They are also striking against the current wave of police repression of massive anti-government protests that started last Friday.
On May Day, the trade unions staged their annual march, with tens of thousands of workers carrying red flags despite warnings not to enter Taksim Square. Workers responded to police attacks by hurling rocks, paving stones and bottles, and destroying police vehicles.
Since then, the government announced plans to erect a shopping mall, bulldozing hundreds of trees that form a park in the Square. This plan further enraged the masses. Huge protests began as hundreds blocked the bulldozers. The government responded with water cannons, tear gas and police batons, wounding over 1,000. Police have shot gas cannisters at people’s heads, killing one and blinding 12.
Protests have spread to the capital city of Ankara, Izmir, and the port of Bodrum on the Mediterranean Sea. The protesters are demanding the resignation of the Erdogan government.
Over the past six years Turkey has experienced rapid economic growth, but the working class has seen little benefit. As a result, the unions led a strike wave this past year. The Erdogan government responded by arresting hundreds of trade union leaders and rank-and-file militants, charging them with serious felonies in order to smash the power of the unions.
Turkey has been crucial to U.S. imperialism’s influence in Iraq, its aim to undermine the Assad regime in Syria, and U.S. conflict with Iran. Instability in Turkey could weaken U.S. influence in the region and strengthen Russian and Chinese imperialist influence.
The parallel to Egypt is quite evident. Like Egypt, there is a succession struggle between the rival political parties, neither of which has the worker’s interests at heart. By trying to change the constitution, Erdogan is attempting to pave the way for him to circumvent the term limits on being Prime Minister by becoming President. So, the crackdown on the sit-ins in front of bulldozers and its subsequent uprising, are now being co-opted by opposition political parties.
For courageous workers in Turkey, the essential lesson from this struggle is that a mass communist party is necessary to up the ante to a fight for workers’ power and an egalitarian communist society. PLP embraces this struggle against tyranny and looks to aid the working class in building that international party in Turkey. We ask all workers to organize rallies at Turkish embassies, consulates and Turkish Air Lines protesting the fascist Erdogan regime.