Communist Party of Turkey (current)
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| Türkiye Komünist Partisi / Communist Party of Turkey | |
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| Leader | Aydemir Güler |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Konur sokak No: 5 / 5, Kızılay, Ankara |
| Political Ideology | Communism |
| European Affiliation | none |
| International Affiliation | none |
| Colours | Red, yellow, white |
| Website | http://www.tkp.org.tr |
See also: |
Constitution of Turkey Politics |
- This article is about the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) formed in 2001. For other parties with similar names, 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.
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[edit] History
Party for Socialist Power was legally registered with Turkish authorities with this name although Turkish legislation manifestly bans the use of the word "communist" for a political party (the chief public prosecutor has asked the Constitutional Court to ban the party, but the court has effectively shelved the case so far). The party participated in 2002 general elections with the name of Communist Party of Turkey and received 0.19% of total votes as the party that got the least votes (59,180 votes); in the 2004 local elections, they received 0.26% of the votes. By the year 2005, they started to organise a Patriotic Front (Yurtsever Cephe) against "EU and liberal collaborators".
TKP has its roots in Socialist Power (Sosyalist İktidar), a group founded by expellees from the Workers 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.
[edit] Support
TKP enjoys a limited support among students, workers and left-wing intellectuals, usually confined to Istanbul. Since the founding of the Patriotic Front, the party has carried most of its activities (such as the 2006 May Day parade in Kartal) with this front organisation and sees it as an essential medium to reach a broader public. TKP maintains some other "related organisations" (Association of University Councils and Nazım Hikmet Culture Centre) and "fraternal organisations" (José Martí Association for Friendship with Cuba and the Peace Association).
[edit] Political view
The TKP maintains a close relationships with KKE and shares its staunch anti-NATO stance. The TKP is also a dedicated supporter of Cuba. The 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").
[edit] Election results
- 1999 General Election: 37,680 votes (0.12%) as Sosyalist İktidar Partisi
- 2002 General Election: 59,994 votes (0.19%)
- 2007 General Election: 77,657 votes (0.22%)
In the 2007 election, the party obtained its best result (by percentage) in Ardahan on the border with Georgia, where it got 787 votes (1.42%).[1] TKP does not maintain offices in Ardahan.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Türkiye Komünist Partisi Official Website
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