This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic. Contrary to what Kemalists *1 say, the Republic was never the protector of the unprotected. Sadly, those who criticised the Republic and its founding ideology have always been oppressed, imprisoned, and even executed in the past. When we look at the cadres that established the Republic, we see entirely the personnel who carried out the 1915 Armenian genocide under the Unionists *2 implying that the Republic actually embraced Unionism as its official ideology. We always point out this while criticising the official ideology; the official ideology accepted and acknowledged only one identity.
And what was this identity? The Turkish and Sunni Muslim identity.
Yet, various ethnic and faith identities live in our geography. But all of these were ignored with the Republic, aimed to be assimilated into a singular Turkish identity. Within these 100 years, we were squeezed between Kemalists and Islamists *3, who were shown as enemies to each other, while they in fact had no differences at all on the red lines of the official ideology.
When we look today, do we see any difference on fundamental issues such as the Kurdish issue, Armenian genocide, or military presence in Cyprus, between the factions forming these two sides of the official ideology? No. Therefore, this is actually the summary of the Republic. The society squeezed between Turkishness and Islamism could never find a way out, never allowed the strengthening of a third way, and the official ideology discussion was never held. This is not only true for the ruling political parties, but also a large part of the leftists in Turkey did not open the pain existing at the foundation of this Republic to discussion. For example, the Armenian genocide. It has not been fully discussed even in socialist circles to date. This situation actually reveals that those defining themselves as rightists or leftists in Turkey are – except for exceptions – nourished from the same source. Let’s look at the socialists, for example. Today, all Kemalists and even non-Kemalist sections embrace many revolutionaries who fought like Deniz Gezmiş*4, in the name of Kemalism. But for example, you cannot see Ibrahim Kaypakkaya *5 in any programme, they do not mention his name anywhere because Ibrahim Kaypakkaya openly criticised Kemalism.
On the day this article was written, it was the anniversary of the Lice massacre *6, 22 October. Other than Kurds and some socialists, for example, is there anyone else remembering the massacre in this geography? No one remembered.
For example, no one discussed the militarist policies implemented in Lice on 22 October 1993, talked about the children who died there, or ever talked about the Dersim genocide *7.
Today, those who are rightfully upset about what is happening in Palestine, those who oppose the bombs there, those who loudly say no to child deaths, are very right; can they show this demand for Rojava *8 today? They did not show for Dersim yesterday, they did not show for Lice, and they do not show for Rojava today either.
Those who defend the Republic without any discussion, have they discussed the Eastern Reform Plan *9? Which leftist circle, that says ‘I am a leftist’, discussed the Eastern Reform Plan -forming the basis of all the insolubilities we experience in the Kurdish issue – sufficiently?
So, actually, what needs to be done in this 100th year is this. How much do we resemble the state, how much have we internalised the official ideology? This discussion definitely needs to be held. If some sections hold this discussion, then, only then, can we understand what the source of all the problems we experience today.
*
1. Kemalists: followers of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s ideology, emphasising modernisation and secularism.
2. Unionists: refers to members of the Committee of Union and Progress who were in power during the Ottoman Empire’s final years.
3. Islamists: advocates of Islamic political ideology, including the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
4. Deniz Gezmiş: a revolutionary in Turkey during the 1960s.
5. Ibrahim Kaypakkaya: a communist revolutionary leader in Turkey during the 1960s.
6. Lice massacre: the Lice Massacre refers to a military operation conducted on 22 October 1993 in the Lice district of the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakır (Amed), Turkey. The operation resulted in the deaths of 16 individuals. In addition to the loss of life, the operation caused extensive property damage, affecting 242 businesses and 401 residences. The incident also led to the forced migration of hundreds of people from the area. The operation and its aftermath have been the subject of legal scrutiny and public debate, particularly concerning human rights violations. However, the official court case related to the incident, known as the ‘Lice Case’, was fraught with procedural issues and was eventually dropped following the death of the only surviving defendant, Eşref Hatipoğlu, in August 2022.
7. Dersim genocide: refers to a series of events in Dersim, Turkey (now Tunceli) in 1937-38 involving mass killings and deportations.
8. Rojava: a de facto autonomous region under Kurdish-led administration in northeastern Syria.
9. Eastern Reform Plan (Şark Islahat Planı): a proposed governmental plan aiming to solve issues in the Kurdish-majority provinces of Turkey through assimilationist modernisation projects.
