The results of the Turkish general election announced on 28 May 2023 once again confirmed the impotence of the Turkish left to challenge the authoritarian rule of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP). Despite the deepening economic crisis, devastating earthquakes that killed at least 60,000 people in February, and growing repression, Erdogan has secured another term as President. The main opposition party, the secular Republican People’s Party (CHP), fielded the presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who failed to offer a credible alternative to Erdogan. Instead Kilicdaroglu formed a coalition, MILLET (the Nation Alliance), including left, liberal and right-wing groups including former AKP insiders, in a vain attempt to appeal to the same reactionary sentiments that sustain the AKP’s base.
Erdogan won 49.5% of the vote in the first round on 14 May, with Kilicdaroglu receiving 44.9% and a third candidate Sinan Ogan receiving 5.1%. Ogan formally endorsed Erdogan for the runoff. This was likely to outweigh any votes cast for Kilicdaroglu by supporters of Umit Ozdag, head of the far-right Victory Party, who received 2.2% in the parliamentary vote. Ozdag endorsed Kilicdaroglu, claiming they agreed on a plan to deport all migrants within a year of arrival if the opposition had won. Close to midnight on 28 May, the result of the second round was announced: Erdogan received 52.1% of the vote against Kilicdaroglu’s 47.9%. Even had Erdogan lost the second round, he was unlikely to relinquish power peacefully, with the power of the army, police and his reactionary supporter base behind him.
The AKP secured 267 seats out of 600 in the parliament but forms part of the CUMHUR (People’s Alliance) coalition which has a majority of 323. CUMHUR includes the ultranationalist MHP (50 MPs) and other Islamist and far-right parties. Candidates of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which has been the target of relentless repression and persecution by the state, entered the parliamentary election as part of the Green Left Party (GLP) lists along with other leftists in the Labour and Freedom Alliance coalition which won 65 seats; the coalition did not field its own presidential candidate but urged its supporters to vote for Kilicdaroglu. The GLP’s share of the national vote was 8.8% (lower than the HDP’s 13.2% in 2015), barely passing the 7% electoral threshold to enter parliament. The Turkish left is once again marginalised and divided, while nationalist forces hold the balance of power.
This outcome reflects the historical and material conditions that shape the Turkish political landscape. The country that was founded on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire, which collapsed after World War I. The Turkish ruling class, led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, sought to create a modern and secular nation-state that would integrate Turkey into the capitalist world system. However, this project followed the ethnic cleansing of Armenians and Greeks from what is now Turkish territory and was based on the denial and suppression of the national and democratic rights of the Kurdish people, who constitute about 20% of Turkey’s population and inhabit a large part of its territory. Erdogan has pursued a brutal military campaign against the Kurdish resistance led by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), inside Turkey and in neighbouring Syria and Iraq, where the Kurdish forces have been fighting against the Islamic State and other reactionary forces sponsored by Turkey. The HDP has been systematically suppressed and in 2021 was threatened with prohibition due to the AKP’s accusation that it is directly linked to the PKK, officially a terrorist group.
Erdogan has also exploited the legacy of Ottomanism and Islamism to consolidate his power and appeal to the conservative and nationalist sections of Turkish society. Overwhelmingly these are the petit bourgeoisie, small merchants and family businesses with close ties to the clergy. Among the CUMHUR coalition are groups which are vocally opposed to the 2022 Istanbul Convention, a Council of Europe instrument which is designed to protect women’s rights in Turkey. Erdogan has also used religion as a tool to mobilise his supporters and justify his policies, such as his intervention in Syria and Libya, his confrontation with Greece over maritime boundaries, and his support for Azerbaijan in its war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. The suppression of women’s rights and attacks on LGBT people appeal to his Islamist supporters. Erdogan has skilfully manipulated the contradictions and conflicts within the Turkish ruling class and state apparatus, as well as among the regional and international actors, to maintain his grip on power.
The Turkish left has failed to challenge Erdogan’s hegemony because it has not been able to offer a revolutionary alternative that would address the root causes of Turkey’s problems: capitalism, imperialism, and national oppression. The left has been divided into various factions and tendencies, some of which have aligned themselves with one or another bourgeois party or force. It has been unable to connect with the masses, especially the working class and the youth, who have been suffering from unemployment, poverty, inflation, corruption, repression, and environmental degradation.
The experience of 1977 shows that electoral victories are not enough to bring about fundamental change in Turkey. In that year, the CHP won the elections with a progressive platform. However, this happened at a time when the armed struggle of the left was at its peak, posing a serious threat to the ruling class. The CHP’s victory was not a result of its own strength or popularity, but a reflection of the balance of forces in society. It was unable to implement its programme or defend its supporters from the attacks of the right-wing forces that were backed by the military and foreign powers. The CHP’s government was short-lived and soon replaced by a series of unstable coalitions that paved the way for the 1980 military coup that crushed the left movement and ushered in a period of neoliberal restructuring.
The lesson for today is clear: there is no way forward for Turkish left without breaking with bourgeois parliamentary forces. This means supporting the Kurdish people’s right to self-determination and their struggle against Erdogan’s tyranny.
