Some political figures in Turkey have recently been targets of violent attacks. Selçuk Özdağ, the Vice President of Future Party, Orhan Uğuroğlu, a journalist working for a newspaper supporting the ultra-nationalist party İYİP, and Afşin Hatipoğlu, a lawyer and host in a TV program, were attacked. These three names' common points are that they are former nationalists, at odds with current Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) administration.
Turkey’s Solidarity Assembly made a statement about the violence that is increasingly common in the field of politics. The Assembly stated, “Violence, which is increasingly common in politics, cannot be seen as just an internal feud between 'some fascist groups.' Turkey does not belong to those who think bullying is a virtue.”
The statement is as follows:
Attacks on some politicians and journalists are on the news in Turkey nowadays. The responsible for this violence is obvious. Violence, which is increasingly common in politics, cannot be seen as just an internal feud between 'some fascist groups.'
Undoubtedly, it is not surprising that the latest attacks are linked to MHP, which has a big role in the proliferation of violence as a method of intimidation of people. It should not be overlooked that some of the victims of today’s attacks were supporters of the violence against people and revolutionaries in the past. But these facts should not be used as extenuating circumstances for the use of violence in politics.
In Turkey, the violence shows itself in the class struggle most. We see that violence against workers who go on strike or march to seek their rights has become usual.
MHP politics was clearly part of this unilateral violence that always protected the interests of the bosses, especially in the systematic murders before the September 12 coup. Although it seems like only the government’s job to intimidate workers who seek their rights, it is clear that those kinds of “civil fascist” groups will be used against Turkey's working class when needed.
As a matter of fact, the protection of organizations coded as "mafia" can be explained not only by rent-sharing or intimidating a few politicians but by intimidating social opposition. The government’s slubbering and indirect support towards these so-called “internal feud” attacks are part of this policy of intimidation.
Turkey’s Solidarity Assembly protests against the targeting of people based on their political views and preferences and being attacked, and also it underlines the anti-public character of those who planned these attacks and supported them by acting like a mafia. The government that ignores and underestimates these attacks is also clearly committing a crime.
Turkey does not belong to those who think bullying is a virtue. History is full of many examples of an organized people bringing down the oppressors.
