The Bread and Justice Campaign, launched by the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party in July, is gaining momentum as it continues its nationwide efforts to fight inequality and revitalise agriculture across Turkey. The campaign focuses on engaging with marginalised communities, including farmers, workers and women, to address pressing social and economic issues.
As part of the Bread and Justice campaign, on 25 July, Tülay Hatimoğulları, co-chair of the DEM party, at a public meeting in the Kurdish-majority province of Ağrı, strongly criticised the government’s use of secret funds and austerity measures that disproportionately affect the communities who are not controlled by the ruling parties. “This government is using secret funds for dark purposes while imposing austerity measures on the people,” she declared, underlining the campaign’s commitment to justice and equality.
Hatimoğulları and other DEM party leaders have been actively meeting with local farmers, workers and other oppressed groups to discuss the challenges they face.
Speaking recently in Iğdır (Îdîr), Hatimoğulları emphasised the purpose of the Bread and Justice meetings: “Our aim is to make these problems visible and to find solutions. The DEM party is working to bring people together across Turkey, wherever they are, to confront these issues. Farmers and workers alike are struggling to make ends meet in this country where both agriculture and production have been brought to the brink of collapse. This is a struggle and we will continue to stand with the producers, farmers and workers. We are doing everything we can to be the voice of workers, especially women workers, both in parliament and beyond.”
Public outreach remains a cornerstone of the campaign, with DEM party members actively engaging with citizens across the country. In Istanbul, DEM MP Çiçek Otlu joined volunteers in Kadıköy to distribute leaflets and raise awareness of economic, social and environmental issues. “The oppressed in this country deserve a decent life. We are fighting for fair wages and rights,” Otlu told the crowd in Kadıköy.
The ‘Bread and Justice’ campaign aims to travel to different regions of Turkey, including Çukurova, the Aegean, Marmara and Kurdish areas such as Diyarbakır and Van – all of which are important for their agricultural production.
As the Bread and Justice Campaign progresses, it will continue to address the deep-rooted issues affecting Turkey’s most vulnerable populations and to advocate for a more just and equitable society through grassroots mobilisation and solidarity.
