CP, Turkey: 'For the fraternity of the peoples, we will call them to account!'


ICP, 10th June 2016


Regarding all this process Communist Party,Turkey (KP) released a statement as a response on the AKP government's reaction to the German parliament's resolution on the Armenian genocide.

The full text of the statement is as follows:

"For the fraternity of the peoples

We will call them to account!

The alleged “indignation” created by the resolution of German parliament on Armenian genocide is bounded by the needs of Turkish capitalism. The reaction of the AKP is fake, since Turkish capitalism has deep connections with Germany. It is not possible for the government to question the commercial, economic and military relations with the international capitalism and Germany.

This means that Germany’s resolution is merely a matter and mean of boosting an irrational, nationalistic, chauvinistic demagogy for the AKP government. Genocide agenda is just an instrument which AKP needs.

It is quite ridiculous to mouth off the notion of genocide to this extent. What was done against our Armenian people is a crime against humanity, and this is all that matters for us. What needs to be done is to create the social consciousness about the massacring, exiling, and cleansing of our Armenian people, and to call who is responsible to account. And the analysis, the consciousness and the account must be in class terms.

Conflicts that took place among ethnic and religious groups in the modern era of the Ottoman empire had their foundations in class contradictions with economic aspects, just as in other parts of the World.

Armenian question had erupted as a question of land in the late 19th century. The transfer of the land and wealth did not stem from nationalism; on the contrary, class conflicts took a nationalistic form. 

Just as other non-Muslim elements, Armenian bourgeoisie too was displaced as part of a larger urgent project of creating a new national bourgeoisie. Such project could not have been realized merely by appropriating the wealth of Armenian rich classes. In order wealth to change hands and to obtain mass support, a nationalistic cover was necessary.

On the other hand, imperialist and colonialist powers had the agenda to liquidate the Ottoman Empire, which included countless potential tensions and contradictions. Cultural differences are not the main causes of conflict per se. Yet they can easily be turned into means of political repression politics. The great powers of the time did not hesitate to intervene to the inner contradictions of the Ottoman society and the call for democratization by Constitutionalist revolution of 1908 rapidly evolved into disintegration. Armenian question is a class issue, and its making into an international question is part of the larger plan for redistribution of the “East”, i.e. our region.

Knowingly or unknowingly, those who massacred Armenians served to propertied classes who intended to enlarge their lands, to capitalists who wished to accelerate the primitive capital accumulation, and to imperialists who set their eyes on the natural resources of the region while at the same time searching to gain strategic advantages. Racist and chauvinistic judgments serve to cover all these.

For decades imperialists have been dodging the blame and immodestly made the argument on recognizing the genocide a new instrument of manipulation. Such continuous interventions serve to overshadow the role of imperialism on the issue. Just like it overshadows that the imperialist German state of the period was the mentor and the planner of deportation and genocide practices.

Such interventions are also directed at discrediting the Republic of Turkey, which was founded as a result of an anti-imperialist struggle, and at frustrating our people’s hope for creating a new country and future based on social equality and justice. A country based on genocide(s) instead of a war of independence is illegitimate without doubt. This is why the imperialist campaign on the issue has become part of the re-colonization intentions.

On the other hand, the present scene helps reactionary forces by antagonizing peoples, and functions as a lifeline support to racist and religious chauvinist sections in Turkey. Chauvinism continues to reproduce the hostility against Armenians in Turkey who had indisputably experienced the worst tragedy in our lands. 

The issue cannot be dealt with merely in historical terms, since its results are current and topical! What should be questioned is not the historical legitimacy of our country and people, but capitalism, foundations of which lay on massacred millions. It is imperialism that is illegitimate, which sets up projects to antagonize the peoples in this country.

They must be called to account. They must be called to account for the cleansing of one of the oldest inhabitants of these lands. They must be called to account for their attempts to discredit our people who fought one of the earliest independence wars against imperialism. They must be called to account by our peoples, together, shoulder to shoulder..."

Communist Party, Turkey (KP)
Central Committee