PSL statement posted to Liberation News:
International Workers Day—popularly known as May Day and celebrated on May 1—in Turkey was marked with the brutal repression of the protests around the country by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its police.
In Istanbul, in an overt display of its ever-increasing fascism, AKP regime deployed twenty thousand riot police, sixty water cannons and 5500 barricades in order to stop hundreds of thousands from celebrating the May Day in Taksim Square. The square is a historic location for the Turkish struggle the site of massacres of communist forces in 1977 and the epicenter of the “Gezi Park” struggle in 2013.
This year, the police violently attacked the people with tear gas, plastic bullets, water cannons. Many people were wounded and 240 were unlawfully detained, 29 of them being members of the Communist Party, Turkey.
Three of the detained CP members, namely Ali Adıgüzel, Deniz Sinan Tunaboylu and Bahtiyar Şahin have since then been under arrest. They are being charged with “resisting an officer” by AKP’s courts which could turn into a long term imprisonment.
An international solidarity campaign demanding the immediate release of the three CP comrades has been organized by CP, Turkey. We urge our readers and supporters to support that campaign by providing their signatures at the link below:
http://hukumsuzdur.net/index-en.php
As the Party for Socialism and Liberation, we stand in solidarity with our CP comrades who have been unjustly jailed by the regime. We send our revolutionary greetings and solidarity to all our comrades in CP, Turkey, who with great courage and determination continue to wage the struggle for socialism against the reactionary and repressive AKP regime.
Free Ali, Deniz and Bahtiyar prisoners immediately
Long live CP, Turkey!
Long live Socialism!
Victory to the people’s struggle!
I will say that the Communist Party in Turkey is reported as being involved in numerous acts of terrorism, violence, and attempts at overthrowing the government. However, all indications I’ve seen point to this particular event being the Communists & other leftist groups trying to assemble for a peaceful protest in a restricted area, and the government overreacting, similar to how the police handled protests here in America, in Ferguson & Baltimore. The State was the instigator here, not the CP.
Generally speaking, I have a hard time respecting commies. I know that the vast majority of them have good intentions. But, they’re promoting an absolutely disgusting, dehumanizing philosophy and/or economic system.. Nevertheless, they absolutely should not be imprisoned for their political or philosophical views. That’s even more disgusting.
Of course, I don’t know that that’s the case here. If it is, I’m with the PSL on this one.