THE military junta which seized power in Turkey last September declared its intention a fortnight ago to set the country back on the road to democracy.
were examines these developments.
When the Turkish military seized power it pledged to rid the country of 'anarchy' So after four months it has outlawed the Turkish parliament, Donilical Darlies least the right to strike, a free press, numerous intellectuals, thousands workers' leaders and political oppositionists, and most of the democratic rights won over the past two decades.
It nas not managed, however, to rid Turkey of its three-figure inflation, per cent unemployment, increasec orege ceot dro zero growth. and LOVCILY tion have continued to Repression The number of political has gone up 60,000 since the Courieres according to official along with deaths in custody, torture, political refuand executions.
Since the coup repression has reached levels rarely seen in countries which are not fascist dictatorships.
When the military took papiameer the Turkish OCCE unable to elect a head of dustry was running at Just $16 billion was owed to a total of imperialist Danks a mass ve or o and an average of bet15 and WCCHI were being killed daily — mostly youthful victims of right-wing terror. It also announced that 21 new prisons be built in 1981! NICK ROBIN even remely siable was the army. The nervousness of imperialism was helped by lurkey s geographical The Soviet intan, the revolution in we alicall instability of the Middle East, were far removed from Turkey's borders, which bridge Europe and Asia.
Anxious The Turkish bourgeoisie worried;
was NATO and the US State Department cerned; the IMF, which had been bailing out considerable expense, was anxious.
as in olnel 'third countries the IMF's 'monetarist' policies, such as Chile and Argen. tine, the necessity of dards working population Turkey was incompatible parnamentary rule Already in the first 1980, alle 7.5m working days had bter lost through strikes - six times more than in any previous year. In this situation the obvious , tried and tested and Turkey, was the military Luv. KEY FACTS lional independence Turks). It has a population of 45 million.
Union, Turkey as it is today, with martial law in force THE Turkish Republic was founded from the remnants of the Oltoman empire in 1923 after a naMustata Kemal, later known as Ataturk (Father of the Situated between Western Europe, the Soviet and the Arab world, Turkey occupies an extremely sensitive and strategic spot in the global economy. It is a vital part of NATO's southern Turkey's economic development is at a level similar to or lower than that of the larger Latin American countries. At the same time it has a high degree of working class organisation with over 30 The main political parties — all now banned -were the Justice Party, the party of big capital; the Party, a reformist middle National Salvation Party, Islamicists (although a secular state, 99 per cent of National Action Party, neo-fascists; and the Turkish Workers Parly, u reforms workers party. in aaation inere were a myriad of parties on the Turkish far left.
main target.
Two thousand lead ers of DISK face prosec. tion; The entire executive committee is in custody, threatened with massive prison sentences - hunsystem has operated, interrupted iwice by periods of military rule in 1960-61 and 1971-73.
million people, are Kurds.
eastern part of the country.
The Kurds are never referred to 'mountain Turks' and have historically been subject to the most barbaric repression. This remains true today.
dreds of years in some cases.
In contrast, the leadership of MISK, the tiny trade union the fascists, have all just STRIA Since 1947 a limited parliamentary democratic to imposing the IMF's austerity programme and 'stabilising' the economy lo actray turkey s enor mous debts to imperialism.
The junta is continuing the programme as the previous regime but, they hope, more tavourable balance Torces thanks to the repression troduced. As The Times commented they 'reshape management-labou lationships on a more rational tooung The also guarantee that all opposition is muzzled Europe At this time editors of the moderate Istanbul daily newspaper Hurrivel Tenan detention under a nev law arallis. spicauln. alarm and despondenc • for printing that a 40 per cent devaluation of the Turkish currency was pending.
Despite the honeymoon period which followed the junta take-over there no reason to believe that the army offers anything but a short-term solution for the Turkish bourgeoisie West European verificills after initially declaring that Turkey would make a rapid return to democracy have maintained political, economic and military relations with the junta They have also decided assist the Turkish military in its hunting down of oppositionists by instituting visa entry systems in nearly every EEC country.
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throughout the country following a revolt and massacre in 1925, they remain concentrated in the