After the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) had announced earlier that they would run independent candidates in the upcoming general elections on June 24, the election campaign with the title “This Social Order Must Change” started on May 10 with the introducing of the candidates in Turkey’s capital city Ankara.
In the meeting which was attended by a large number of people in the 1st Electoral District, the TKP Secretary-General Kemal Okuyan delivered an opening speech, explaining the position and the reasons behind the decision of the party.
Stating that the TKP had announced its position as soon as the date of the snap polls was revealed, Okuyan said that the TKP would run independent candidates since the party’s right to run in the elections was usurped by the government, and would cast invalid votes for the presidential election.
Underlining that casting invalid votes is not the same as boycotting the elections, Okuyan explained: “Casting an invalid vote means consciously directing people towards the polls, saying that we deny the options you put forth. The TKP has to adopt an attitude and direct. It has to be the voice of those who want to change this social order.”
Kemal Okuyan also reminded that revolution was the biggest right of people in the early 20th century, and stated: “Now they tell us to withdraw this demand, because these are extraordinary times now … If nobody defends the right to revolution in Turkey, the TKP must do this.”
After Okuyan’s speech, legist Ali Rıza Aydın, the candidate of “This Social Order Must Change” Platform, took the stage. Aydın told that he had been in the socialist struggle since 1976 and that he would not ask for votes in the election.
Aydın emphasised the difference between the TKP and the parties that project the continuation of the capitalist system, maintaining: “In every election, we encounter political parties who do not allow anyone lay a finger on the capitalist system – parties who say ‘you cannot touch the NATO’, ‘We advocate the strike bans’, ‘We advocate the rights of the capitalists’ … I do not ask you to vote for the candidates of the ‘This Social Order Must Change’ Platform on June 24. We ask you to vote for this order to change, for the right to socialism, for the right to revolution.”
“This Social Order Must Change” Platform also runs a candidate, Özge Aydemir Güney, in the 3rd Electoral District in Ankara. In the meeting in the 3rd District, the attendees and Güney with Devrim Koçak, a member of TKP’s Central Committee, discussed what could be done for the improvement of the campaign.
