Monday, April 20, 2009

EMEP: A new period for labourers and the Kurds

02nd April 2009

The results of local elections, reflecting the ambience of a general election, denote a sign of new happenings in our country in the forthcoming process. The clearest indication of this is that AKP (Justice and Development Party) and the Prime Minister, who is very ambitious of being unique party, has been declining and loosing the support of people.

The Prime Minister and his party tried to turn the local elections into a referendum of AKP politics and conducted such an election campaign; but they lost in many cities and had a decrease of 9 points of its votes. So it was bitterly slapped by people. Electors changed their preferences suggesting the end of AKP power after 7 years. The elections showed that, on one side, the workers and labourers, suffering the crisis and social politics of AKP, and, on the other side, the Kurdish people, whose demands had been ignored, have started to get away from of AKP.

As for the bourgeois opposition represented by CHP (Republican People’s Party) and MHP (Nationalist Movement Party), whose politics are away from the interests of people, could not benefit from these elections substantially in spite of the favourable conditions. They got an increase of 2-3 % in Ankara and Istanbul just due to the characteristics of the candidates. The Prime Minister had made a statement before the elections “we compete with ourselves”. Therefore this statement was verified, that is to say, being away from people. It is once more worth seeing the frustration and weakness of opposition before the decrepit power.

AKP made efforts to crash DTP in the cities of region, but DTP became the first party making clear that DTP is the real representative and showing the preference of the Kurdish people. This is one of the most important results of the local elections. This also reveals that demands and preferences of people must be taken into consideration on the Kurdish Question, which is in need of an urgent solution. People’s locals were maintained in Diyarbakır and Tunceli, which were aimed by AKP and play an important part in the Kurdish History. This is a success before the power. Especially, our party made an effort for the continuation of DTP´s management by not running a candidate in Tunceli. This showed how responsibly and consistently our party acted.

The challenges and the policy of our party, established by its foresights, were verified. In our party approach to elections it was not the candidates who stuck out but the forces of people who came together and made a move. The results of elections point out that this approach was fundamental.

Labourers, who will become more impoverished by the crisis and the exploitative system, and the Kurdish reduced to deadlock, in a word, all people point to the unity of labour and democratic forces against the parties who are the conductors of this rotten system.

Our party and people forces will get ready for the next thorny period by taking lessons from the elections. Together will make the gear-wheel of labour, democracy and peace turn fast by discarding the broken cogs of rentier and interest.

Levent TUZEL

President

Labour Party (Turkey)

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