Communist Party of Turkey (2001)

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Türkiye Komünist Partisi / Communist Party of Turkey




Leader	Aydemir Güler

Founded	2001
Headquarters	Konur sokak No: 5 / 5, Kızılay, Ankara

Political ideology	Communism
International affiliation	none

Website	http://www.tkp.org.tr

TKP demonstrators at the EU summit in Thessaloniki 2003

This article is about the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) formed in 2001. For the party formed in 1920, see Communist Party of Turkey

Communist Party of Turkey (Türkiye Komünist Partisi, TKP) is a political party in Turkey. They are known as TKP since they had changed their name Party for Socialist Power (Sosyalist İktidar Partisi, SİP) in 2001. It is legally registered with Turkish authorities with this name although Turkish legislation manifestly bans the use of the word "communist" for a political party. The party participated in 2002 general elections with this name and received 0.19% of total votes as the party that got the least votes (59,180 votes). By the year 2005, they started to organise a Patriotic Front (Yurtsever Cephe) against "EU and liberal collaborators". Since then, TKP has carried most of its activities (such as the 2006 May Day parade in Kartal) with this front organisation.

TKP has its roots in Socialist Power (Sosyalist İktidar), a group founded by expellees from the Worker's Party of Turkey (TİP) in 1978. After the coup d'état, the group was dissolved. In 1986, some prominent names of the group founded the review Gelenek (Tradition) around which they organised a new political movement. Its name was a reminiscent of the notion "traditional left", i.e. Soviet communism. Gelenek is still the main theoretical publication of TKP. Party for Socialist Turkey (Sosyalist Türkiye Partisi, STP) was founded by Gelenek cadres in 1992 but it was banned by the Constitutional Court for alleged separatism (in 2003, ECHR reached a verdict that the ban violated the Article 11 of the Convention). As a successor to STP, Party for Socialist Power was founded in 1993.

TKP maintains close relationships with KKE and shares the staunch anti-NATO stance of this party. TKP is also a dedicated supporter of the Castro régime in Cuba. TKP defends the point that the traditional Leninist formula of alliance of industrial proletariat and peasantry is defunct and its flag carries the cog wheel and hammer (çark-çekiç) instead of Hammer and sickle known in Turkish as orak-çekiç ("sickle-hammer").

TKP enjoys a limited support among students and left-wing intellectuals, usually confined to Istanbul. Besides attempts to organise other mass movements such as Worker's Council (İşçi Konseyi), the party sees Patriotic Front activities as an essential medium to reach a broader public. Along with the Worker's Council, TKP maintains three other "related organisations" (University Councils Association, Left Council, Nazım Hikmet Culture Centre) and two "fraternal organisations" (José Martí Association for Friendship with Cuba and the Peace Association).