As July 24, 2017, marks the 94th anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne, the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) released a statement against Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s controversial message on the treaty’s anniversary.
The Treaty of Lausanne was a peace treaty signed on July 24, 1923, which officially ended the conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Allied powers since the onset of World War I, and defined the borders of the modern Republic of Turkey as a sovereign and independent country.
"We are today celebrating the 94th anniversary of the signing of the Lausanne Peace Treaty, the founding document of the Republic of Turkey. … The resistance that was put up against the July 15 bloody coup attempt, the first anniversary of which we commemorated last week, once again manifested how determined our nation is and what risks it stands ready to take to protect its homeland, independence and will," Turkey’s President and chair of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Erdoğan said, comparing the modern Turkey’s foundational treaty with last year’s coup attempt.
TKP: ‘TAYYİP ERDOĞAN IS AN ENEMY OF THE REPUBLIC’
Indicating to Erdoğan’s inconsistent statements on the Treaty of Lausanne considering his two contradictory messages last year and today, the Communist Party of Turkey said: “The leader of AKP, Tayyip Erdoğan, has dared once again to mock the people of Turkey. Identifying the Lausanne [Treaty] as the founding document of the new State, Erdoğan did not leave out to remember the treaty’s architects with respect. However, even one year has not passed since Erdoğan stated, ‘They tried to foist us the Lausanne as victory,’”
TKP set forth that it would be meaningless to discuss the Lausanne with such a politician who is an enemy of the Republic of 1923: "Tayyip Erdoğan had strived to destroy the Republic throughout his entire political life, and he accomplished in doing so. Having said, ‘They showed us the Sèvres, and they persuaded us for the Lausanne,’ Erdoğan could keep up with those, who had led to the Sèvres in the country, during his long-time collaborationist rule. AKP has turned the country into a plaything of the imperialist plans."
JULY 15 COUP ATTEMPT: THE CONFLICT BETWEEN TWO ISLAMIST GROUPS
Addressing to Erdoğan’s reference to the July 15 coup attempt in his message, TKP stated: "Referring to the July 15 coup attempt in his message regarding the Treaty of Lausanne, Erdoğan insults the memory of Turkey’s people while he is trying to dismiss from minds that he was one of the architects of this attempt. What lies behind the July 15 is the collaborationist policies of AKP and the conflict between the two Islamist groups that cannot be separated from each other."
TKP underlined that the collaborationist and market-oriented policies are the common basis of AKP and other Islamist reactionary gangs in Turkey, adding that Turkey’s working people cannot concede the July 15 as a victory as Erdoğan tries to impose.
TKP concluded the statement by calling Turkey’s people to struggle for a socialist republic today against the enemies of the Republic.
