Workers Party of Ireland on the situation in Turkey

At a Central Executive Committee meeting of the Workers Party of Ireland, which took place at the weekend, the current situation in Turkey was discussed.

The Workers Party of Ireland condemns the brutal repression and mass arrests of demonstrators, journalists, trade union representatives, lawyers, artists and political activists, including members of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP).

The authoritarian measures being employed by the AKP government and the repressive tactics being used in an attempt to crush protests, is being actively resisted by the Communist Party of Turkey, which along with democratic forces in the country, is resisting this wave of authoritarianism and repression.

The AKP government controls the courts, the security apparatus and most of the mainstream media. These actions by the government an attack on democratic and people’s rights by the Turkish regime to advance their own goals and interests; their war against enlightenment and secularism; their promotion of religious reaction; their attacks on the labour and social rights of the working class; their commitment to the capitalist social order and their efforts, with the second largest army in NATO, to cement Turkey’s position within the imperialist system.

It is the TKP which continually and correctly insists on the importance of the class character of the resistance and to ensuring that the primacy of the class struggle is not obscured. This period of reaction will be overcome. The Turkish people will prevail. Only the people, led by the TKP, can defend the republic, defend secularism and democratic rights and defeat authoritarianism.

The solution to the problems facing Turkey cannot be resolved within the capitalist framework. The TKP is the vanguard party in Turkey which will lead the working class struggle for socialist power and the construction of socialism in Turkey.

The Workers Party of Ireland and Workers Party Youth (Ireland) send their full solidarity to our comrades in the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) and the Communist Youth of Turkey (TKG). This period of reaction will be overcome and the people and workers will prevail.

April 2025

President: Ted Tynan

International Secretary: Gerry Grainger