TKP on currency crisis: What should our people do against the depreciation of our currency?

TKP released a statement on current currency crisis in Turkey, declaring Turkey 'has become the playground of international monopolies, companies and banks'
Tuesday, 14 August 2018 14:31

Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) released a statement on depreciation of Turkish lira.

The statement of TKP highlighted that the crisis is "the result of the liberal economic policies that have been pursued for years" by the government.

Full statement of TKP:

What should our people do against the depreciation of our currency?

DO NOT BE DUPED ANY MORE

Our country has become the playground of international monopolies, companies and banks, the names of which we cannot even pronounce correctly.

This is a result of the liberal economic policies that have been pursued for years.

They have made our blood, sweat and tears a present for foreign capitalists whom they invited to the country saying that “we have cheap labor”.

They have plundered the natural resources saying that “we burn down forests, poison rivers, and no one would even dare to call us to account.”

Pillaging natural and social resources without restraint, they have established a loan economy which brings them windfall profits, and they have taken pride in its growth.

It was evident from day one that they would hit the brick wall as a result of this rotten development. Turkish economy would slide into a crisis even if the United States have not interfered villainously.

The communists have been highlighting how Turkish economy has become fragile for years. But what is fragility? Fragility is vulnerability, it is being powerless to resist against negative developments.

This system of exploitation, which has no future, which has been sustained by depleting all resources and rendering the economy more dependent every passing day, is fragile.

This system of exploitation has rendered Turkey defenseless.

RECOGNIZE THE PERPETRATOR

They point to the US administration as the agent responsible for the depreciation of Turkish Lira. This is true. Besides wars of aggression, coups and invasions, the United States also resorts to economic sanctions, even sabotages, to maintain its dominant position in the imperialist system.

However, the United States is not the sole perpetrator of the current crisis.

It is true that the AKP government has a responsibility in the current crisis. The economic policies adopted by the AKP, which has been in power for 16 years straight, have reinforced exploitation, plunder, looting and injustices. Further to that, these policies have drifted the country into a deep crisis. Yet, it is not true to put all the blame of the current crisis on the AKP.

The real perpetrator is no one but the capitalist class that does not care a hang about anything but its profits; this social order which is based on exploitation. The natural result of the fact that our economy is based on the enrichment of a small minority rather than pursuing social and national interests is nothing but sliding into successive crises.

STAND UP AGAINST IMPERIALISM

Turkey is a NATO member. The United States has military bases and troops in Turkey. Turkey has been engaged in military operations in various countries, most importantly in Syria, along with the United States and other imperialist countries. Until yesterday, the ruling party in Turkey was boasting of its strategic partnership with the US. Yet again, it was the AKP that was in a festive mood when they made progress in the European Union accession process. The communists were standing up and struggling against the NATO, the European Union, foreign military bases in our country yesterday as they do today.

You cannot fight against imperialism by negotiating with it. You cannot be “independent” by declaring countries friend one day and foe the other day. The AKP government has rendered Turkey a key country in a fight within the imperialist system, which in turn made the country prone to all sorts of military, economic and political operations. A country which blesses the so-called “free markets”, which is a member of the NATO and a candidate member of the European Union is defenseless against such operations. Our people should stand up against imperialism altogether and show the moneybags who fear the “strained relationships with the US” the real owners of this country.

TURN A DEAF EAR TO THOSE WHO ASK US TO MAKE SACRIFICES

Those who have nothing but their labor to sell to make a living, the wage-earners, are poor; they are exposed to the threat of being laid off every day. Now, they ask our people to make sacrifices claiming that “we are all on the same boat”.

In the coming days, they will start to declare “stabilization programs” one after another. International monopolies and the fat cats will weep together and call for sacrifices while managing their affairs as usual with pleasure! Those who put Turkey in such a fix, those who accumulate enormous wealth, have already started to “turn the crisis into an opportunity”. We shall not let them take the bread out of our mouths, make working conditions even worse.

Today, the workers, the toiling people, are the most vulnerable, the most disorganized section of the society. The moneybags and their government will do everything at their disposal to lay the burden of the crisis on employees. We have to get organized against this.

The saying, “a people united will never be defeated” should be taken seriously. And we should know that disorganized people are bound to become impoverished.

FOSTER THE CULTURE OF SOLIDARITY

We must stand up against poverty and unemployment by getting organized everywhere. We must get organized against wage cuts, against the extension of working hours, against dismissals.

Poverty, having nothing to sell but one’s own labor power, turning an honest penny are not things to be ashamed of. On the contrary, getting rich by exploiting others, by plundering social and natural wealth is shamelessness, a crime. We should revive the “culture of solidarity”, one of the dearest values of our people which has been hushed up, forced into oblivion, by the reign of money.

We should not remain deaf to our neighbor’s poverty, to our co-worker being dismissed.

The capitalists are bunching together and they also hold the political power; our only assurance is our association, our solidarity.

CHANGING THE SOCIAL ORDER IS AN INCONTESTABLE RIGHT

Before June 24 elections, the Communist Party of Turkey said that “there is a big crisis on the horizon, we must be ready”.

We should get organized, get up against injustices, against the efforts to lay the burden of the crisis on the shoulders of workers and the toiling people.

More importantly, we must stand up against this social order which condemns us to imperialist operations, to impoverishment at almost 20 percent in a single day, to unemployment and starvation. We would have no peace in this system of exploitation. Comfort, peace, prosperity, abundance is nothing but sheer fantasy in this system. The system of exploitation is the pleasure of a small minority.

This social order must be overthrown at once.

The reign of capitalists must come to an end.

COMMUNIST PARTY OF TURKEY

13/8/2018