Erdogan's regime prohibits Communists from participating in June elections

According to soL international latest report, Turkey's top election authority has ruled the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) will not be allowed to run in June 24 snap elections. 

Supreme Election Board (YSK) has also not approved the participation of the leftist ÖDP and EMEP. YSK, which acts according to the directives of the AKP government, announced that only 10 political parties were eligible to take part in the elections. 

TKP statement on Turkey's early elections: "We hold our salvation in our own hands"

Following the call by President Rejep Tayyip Erdogan to hold early elections on June 24th, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) issued a statement:

"Turkey is experiencing a political gridlock which binds both the ruling party and opposition parties. This gridlock cannot be eliminated with early elections as suggested by Erdoğan and his partner Bahçeli. 

For at the root of this gridlock, there lies the Turkish economy that has come to an almost complete standstill; there lies the Turkish foreign policy which tosses and turns restlessly within the imperialist world; there lies internal policies which fail to go to the root of the problem but fiddle with fake solutions; there lies the fact that large masses are condemned to despair and helplessness; there lies this social order that persistently creates poverty, unemployment, injustice and tyranny.

KKE Gen. Secretary Koutsoumbas warns of a “hot” incident between Greece and Turkey

“As the situation goes on, I am afraid that we will not avoid a “hot” incident” said Dimitris Koutsoumbas, General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece during a TV interview on Tuesday.

Speaking to ANT1 News, Koutsoumbas expressed his Party's concern about the latest developments in the Greek-Turkish relations. More specifically, he said:

“It seems that the policy of the Turkish bourgeois class, of the Turkish government, of Mr Erdogan, is oriented to put on the table- he already does verbally as well as practically- the violation of Greece's sovereign rights, the challenge of the Lausanne treaty, of Greek islands and islets in the Aegean which are Greek territory." 

Did you dare to criticize Erdogan on social media? You are under arrest!

The government of Tayyip Erdogan escalates repression measures thus increasing the number of the people detained for sharing social media posts which criticize the AKP government. 

As soL international reports, over a thousand of people including TKP members and citizens from other left-wing parties have been detained for sharing social media posts criticizing the government as the AKP tries to criminalize sharing news from soL.

845 Turkish citizens were detained in January and February for sharing social media posts criticising the government or “defaming” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as the number of detentions is gradually increasing every day.

AKEL expresses "deep concern" about the nuclear power station in Turkey's Akkuyu

In a statement today, the Cypriot Progressive Party of the Working People (AKEL) expresses its deep concern for the beginning of the construction of the nuclear plant in Akkuyu, Turkey. 

The construction was launched yesterday April 3, with a ceremony attended by Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin,  as part of the agreement signed between Turkey and Russia in 2010, Russian State Nuclear Energy Agency Rosatom undertook the construction of the NPP in Turkey's southern province of Mersin.

Turkey: Erdogan's regime and capitalists intensify their attack on workers' rights

While President Tayyip Erdogan and members of his AKP government escalate the dangerous and provocative ultra-nationalist rhetoric on foreign affairs, inside Turkey the working people are facing an increasing attack on their rights. 

Despite the governmental proclamations about Turkey's "economic development", the workers and popular strata of the country are struggling hard for decent employment, stable wages and labor with rights.

The news portal soL international has lately published some developments which are indicative of what is taking place in workers' daily struggle in Turkey. 

Erdogan's AK Party members attack young communists in Istanbul

Another violent attack against communists has been occurred in Turkey, as soL international reports, with members of Erdogan's ruling AK Party attacking members of the Communist Youth who were distributing anti-imperialist leaftlets in Istanbul.

More specifically, two members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) attacked on March 27 the members of the Communist Youth of Turkey (TKG) who distributed anti-imperialist and anti-NATO leaflets in Istanbul’s Sarıyer district.

The Communist Youth members, affiliated with the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), were distributing leaflets, reading, 'Those who don't target imperialism cannot defeat imperialists' in front of a high school in Istanbul. Meanwhile, hanging a banner of the ruling party, two unidentified members from the AKP attacked the communists.

Greece-Turkey: Despicable exploitation of children by nationalists, warmongers

Nationalism in both Turkey and Greece has no hesitation to use the innocent image of little children in order to promote warmongering plans and attitudes. The above photos are indicative of the ruthless nature of warmongers-ultranationalists in both sides of the Aegean. 

Anticommunist delirium by Erdogan: He labeled anti-war students as "terrorists"

In a delirium full of anticommunism, nationalism and hate, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lambasted anti-war students at Bogaziçi University who protested other students for commemorating soldiers killed in a military operation in Syria. Spreading more nationalist poison, Erdogan promised to clean “communist and terrorist students” out of universities, the Cumhuriyet daily has reported.

On March 19 a group of students who disagree with the Turkish government's offensive war in Syria protested a ceremony set in memory of soldiers killed during the military operation in Afrin, Syria. Police identified 17 students and detained five of them, while 12 are being sought.

The Communist Party of Turkey demands: "Leave NATO, close down Incirlik base!"

A campaign of collecting signatures against NATO has been launched by the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), demanding Turkey's disengagement from the imperialist North Atlantic alliance and the closure of the Incirlik military base. 

Members of the Communist Party have already started the effort to reach as many people as possible, distributing the party newspaper "Boyun Egme" in the streets. 

In a statement, TKP strongly condemns the policy of Erdogan's AKP government, writing among other things: "The reactionary capitalist class and the AKP government have no other purpose than to find a new role in the imperialist order and continue on the same path as a desirable partner".

Joke of the year: Erdogan will receive a.... "peace award"!

This could be, without doubt, the best joke of the year. According to a soL international report, the International Pediatric Association (IPA) announced on March 11 that it would give the ‘International Peace Award’ to Turkey’s warmongering President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for helping refugee children! 

The award came after the IPA officials visited the refugee camps in Turkey. Announcing the IPA decision, Kerem Hasanoğlu, the head of the association’s external relations department, said that the association decided to award Erdoğan for his government’s role in the services regarding the refugee children.

Utanç Verici! Shameful exploitation of a little girl by warmonger Tayyip Erdogan

What else is Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan capable to do in order to publicly propagandize his government's warmongering plans? As we saw in international media and soL international reports, during an AK Party event in Kahramanmaraş province on February 24th, Erdogan promised  to honour a little girl with the Turkish flag if she were to be martyred.

Erdogan invited a little girl wearing special forces, nicknamed as 'maroon berets', uniform to the podium. As the six-year old girl was crying agitatedly, the President said:

KKE MP: "The Greek government becomes NATO's flag-bearer in the region"

The effort of the SYRIZA-ANEL government to play the role of NATO's flag-bearer in the region, in order to serve the aims of the capital, thus involving the Greek people in great dangers, was underlined by the KKE Central Committee member and MP Giannis Giokas during a radio interview earlier on Friday.

Giokas said that the government's policy is to play the role of NATO's flag-bearer in the region, making agreements for new military bases and arms purschase, as well as by closing a series of issues such as the FYROM name case. Through this way, the government argues that it will contribute to the country's upgrade in the region for the benefit of the people. 

Koutsoumbas' statement on the aggression of Turkish government in the Aegean

Regarding the escalation of the Turkish aggression, the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece Dimitris Koutsoumbas made the following statement:

"The latest events consist an escalation of the Turkish aggression, after the formalization of Turkey's claims during the recent visit of Erdogan in Greece.

Before the- day before yesterday- collision of the Turkish ship, we had:

- Continuous encirclement of islets by Turkish ships

- Nearly a collision of a Turkish ship with a Greek gunboat. 

- Intervention of Turkish ships during the wreath laying in Imia by the Minister of Defense.

Comment by the KKE on Imia incident and Erdogan's statements

Regarding the incident near the Imia islets in southeastern Aegean and the statements made by Turkish President Erdogan on Greece and Cyprus, the Press Office of the CC of the KKE made the following comment:

"Both the incident in Imia, as well as the statements of Erdogan consists an escalation of the Turkish provocation, thus refuting the environment of complacency that the government cultivated during the visit of the Turkish President in Greece and proving that the participation of neighboring countries in NATO, as it has been supported in the case of FYROM, under no circumstances leads to stability and security for the people". 

Source: 902.gr / Translation: In Defense of Communism.

Erdogan's "democracy": Turkish government holding nearly 600 people over Syria criticism

According to a soL international report, the AKP government of Tayyip Erdogan says it has detained 573 people for criticizing its offensive in northern Syria since the operation began earlier this month. 

The government last month launched an air and ground offensive, dubbed "Operation Olive Branch", against the Kurdish YPG militant group in Syria's northwestern Afrin region.

An Interior Ministry statement said Monday that 449 people have been detained so far for allegedly engaging in "terror propaganda" on social media, while a further 124 were detained for participating in protests against the military operation into the Syrian Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin.

Istanbul's new airport: Galley-slave labour conditions and occupational murders for sultan Erdogan's sake!

According to interesting reports by soL international, construction workers held a protest on February 1 at Istanbul’s third airport project site, showing the reaction against the poor working conditions and non-payments. 

Around 1500 thousands of workers protested the working conditions, as their working hours were extended so as to finish the airport project that is still under construction. The workers closed the road to traffic while protesting the project owners.

The protestor workers say their shuttle services are inadequate and the food service is so poor that they have to sleep hungry since their work shifts and shuttle hours are irregular.

Turkey: Erdogan's AKP government bans metalworkers strike as a "threat to the national security"

According to a soL international report, Turkey's AKP government has banned a strike in Turkey’s metal sector, citing national security. 

The government decree, signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, considers the metalworkers' mass strike as a "threat to the national security of Turkey".

Metal workers, rejecting Turkey's pro-capitalist Metal Industrialists Union (MESS)’s unacceptable offer that includes a 3-year validity period for its contract and a 6.4% wage increase, have decided to go on strike on February 2, 2018.

AKEL condemns attack on "Afrika" newspaper: "The moral perpetrator is President Erdogan himself"

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 22nd January 2018, Nicosia.

AKEL denounces today’s attacks by extreme nationalist forces against the “Afrika” newspaper in the occupied areas. The moral perpetrator of the attacks is the Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan himself, whose recent references in Bursa bluntly targeted the newspaper “Afrika”.

As AKEL, we express our solidarity with Sener Levent and the newspaper “Afrika”, which is once again being targeted because it dared to refer to Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus on the occasion of Turkey’s ongoing invasion of Syria’s Arfin region.

Hands Off Syria! TKP and Turkey's Peace Committee condemn Erdogan's Afrin operation in Syria

In a statement published on January 21st, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) condemns the military operation of Erdogan's government against Syria. Noting that Syria has long been turned into an arena for the bloody games of the imperialist powers, and that the AKP government of Turkey has sought ways to integrate in these imperialist projects, TKP underlined that the Turkish AKP government's recent military operation in Syria has "nothing to do with any national interest or security issue of Turkey."