Deniz Adalı
29th March, 2025
Discussing the lessons on the social resistance between 19th March and 26th March is necessary, yet premature today. Fikret Soydan had written an assessment of the situation on 20th of March 2025, on the very second evening of the resistance. Since then, many more have become apparent, and it is worth discussing them now in short bullet points.
1
The sovereign cannot rule as before, with the old methods, and the masses are not willing to be ruled as before.
On the one hand, the Palace Regime made Öcalan issue a two-point statement. In this statement, Öcalan proposes/wants a decision to be made (a) to lay down arms and (b) to dissolve the PKK. It appears that the Turkish state and the USA want to involve the Kurdish movement, which is an important power in the region, alongside the Turkish state, for the attack against Iran and the design of the Middle East. On the one hand, the Palace Regime made Öcalan issue a two-point statement. In this statement, Öcalan proposes/wants a decision to be made (a) to lay down arms and (b) to dissolve the PKK. It appears that the Turkish state and the USA want to involve the Kurdish movement, which is an important power in the region, alongside the Turkish state, for the attack against Iran and the design of the Middle East. Just because they want doesn’t mean that it will be so. Since they want to do so, they are preparing a massacre against the Kurdish people, and Israel’s actions in Gaza are on the scene as an example. What Israel did in Gaza and the methods it developed against Hezbollah are all imposed on the Kurdish movement. For this reason, the policy of ‘either you will be with me or you will be destroyed’ has been put into effect.
This policy is the policy of ‘war inside and outside’.
Of course, the condition imposed on the Kurdish movement is related to the region.
But it is the Turkish state that imposes, which has serious difficulties in governing. On the one hand, they are rejoicing over the victory in Syria, but on the other hand, they are in deep fear. The alarmed statements of Atasagun on behalf of Bahçeli, whose whereabouts are unknown, are proof of this.
Apart from the Kurdish movement, the sovereign is also afraid of the resistance movement that started with the Gezi Resistance and continues until today, with fragmentary and local actions. In particular, the possibility of these two resistances coming together, not gathering under one roof, but waging a parallel struggle, is the greatest fear of them, of the sovereigns, of the Palace Regime.
We call this the difficulty of governing. They cannot govern as they used to, with known and customary methods, but this does not mean that they cannot govern at all.
The reaction to first the annulment of Imamoğlu’s diploma and then his detention on 19 March is in fact the last straw.
The masses declare that they do not want to be governed by these methods, by the Palace Regime, by the known bourgeois law, by the practices of civil war law, and that they do not consent to this.
2
For this reason, although it brings to mind the Gezi Resistance as it is a mass action that emerged after Gezi, this is not the case.
The resistance that began on 19 March is not a new version of the Gezi Resistance. ‘Gezi 2.0 Loading’ may work as an analogy to keep the Gezi Resistance in mind. But this resistance is not the Gezi Resistance.
It is more advanced.
In many respects, it also contains more backward features. But in essence it is more advanced.
This resistance was particularly marked by the students breaking down the barricades at Istanbul University. The attitude taken and the path paved by Student Solidarity at Istanbul University actually demonstrates how barricades can be smashed when the conditions are appropriate.
The emphasis of the METU students on “Evacuate the Palace, here we come” is very important. That banner actually reveals that the real target is the Palace.
The youth, the student youth, know and reveal that the real addressee is the Palace. Years ago, when lawyers marched to the parliament against the multiple bar association system, there, too, a very clear attitude emerged that the real target was the Palace. It was not seen, it could not be effective (Today, the Istanbul Bar Association is resisting. The hearing of the Bar Association has coincided with 21 March 2024 and no one has been able to pay attention to it. But in reality, it is extremely important, and the social resistance must support and embrace the resistance of the bar association with a spirit of solidarity). Today, it is not effective for METU students to show the way to the Palace. But their demonstration is very valuable and correct.
The 19 March resistance was led by the university youth, their actions started the process.
3
Everyone has a lot to learn from the resistance.
Unlike yesterday, Özel has started to find a personality. Özel, who called bribery a “gesture” in the US, is nowhere to be seen. Özel, who fled out of Saraçhane with a great rush on May 1, 2024 and hurried to meet Erdogan, is almost nowhere to be seen. Moreover, on the first day of the resistance, Özel, who was surprised by how things were going, was acting in a shy manner, afraid of being held accountable before the state, saying on the rostrum, “We are here, let those who say where should we go, come here.” But as the days passed, he too gave himself over to the resistance and started to talk about the struggle against fascism, to talk about organizing actions, not rallies.
Thus, CHP (Republican People’s Party) has come a long way in gathering the resistance of the masses under its banner. Those who learn flourish. Resistance makes everyone flourish.
Özel, for example, maintains his old stance on the issue of standing up for the detained youth. He did not bring the release of the youth from detention to the bargaining table.
There is a bargaining table. We know that.
At the table, Özel was asked to extinguish the protests in exchange for not appointing a trustee to Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB). Özel has already stated that they are not keeping their promises. He has to be more courageous. If you want to take the wind of that mass behind you, then you have to speak openly to that mass. Against the appointment of trustees to IBB, you have to bring to the table the attitude of “we will occupy the places where trustees are appointed”. If a trustee is appointed to an elected municipality, of course occupation is the most natural right of the masses.
CHP, Özel is hesitant to declare that the masses beaten, gassed, batoned, and shot with rubber bullets in the fields and streets are right.
CHP has only changed this on the evening of March 23rd. On the evening of March 23rd, it was appropriate for Özel to wait for the crowd to disperse at the rostrum and to take a stance against the gas.
Until that moment, “expert CHP members” and various “political scientists” were constantly talking about groups trying to provoke the events. Özgür Özel was explicitly told about “marginal groups” and was given names one by one. Özel did not take a stance on this issue.
How strange!
Look at the attack against IBB or the attack against the municipalities where trustees have been appointed. You call it unlawful and it is incomplete. We call this the law of civil war. If yes, it is unlawful, did we or did you create a provocation for the appointment of trustees? No. Does the Palace Regime need an excuse, a provocation to attack, to fire bullets at the people, to drag women through the streets, to violate the constitution, to turn all workers’ resistances into targets of attack?
Özgür Özel called on the protesters to calm down, saying “let’s not be in the wrong even though we are right”. But is there a need to do anything for the police to attack, for the state to attack, for people to be arrested? So, as long as you act reasonably and rationally, will it show you goodwill? If so, was the Mayor of IBB guilty that they annulled his diploma?
Whether CHP accepts it or not, there is no way the Palace Regime can be convinced by acting reasonably. And don’t tell us the fairy tale that “some are making provocations”. On the contrary, the Turkish state, the Palace Regime, does not need a reason to attack. Their reasons for their attacks are already clear: they want to maintain the Palace Regime, they want to maintain their sovereignty. To talk about provocation is to not understand the Palace Regime and to deceive the masses.
In the end, the CHP Provincial Chairman, when describing what happened on the evening of March 22nd, could not help but say, “they attacked and tear gassed us when there was nothing, enough is enough.” This is the situation. When a mass of students take up resistance and raise their voices at, say, IU or Boğaziçi, which are run by the police, are they being provocative? Of course not.
Özel should start “outdare” the state officials he meets with at the table, he should tell them “there is no provocation”. If there are no police, there is never, ever a problem.
We have May 1st ahead of us. If the police step aside, it will be seen that there will be no problem.
Is it not the state that carried out the 16 March massacre at the Istanbul University?
Is it not the state that covered the 1st of May 1977 in blood?
Is it not the state that massacred young people in Suruç?
Is it not the state that organised the Gar massacre?
Who is making provocations?
There is no provocation, there is only and solely the attack of the state.
It is the state that arrested thousands of young people.
On the evening of the 23rd of March, when Özel started to ‘outdare’, while listing those who fabricated false evidence, he should add the unjustified arrest of young people to this list. And he should explicitly bring the “release of these young people” demand to the table. While the youth are being arrested, the Palace Regime is trying to suppress the protests. CHP cannot carry this resistance forward by adopting the habit of sacrificing leftist and revolutionary groups at the negotiation table with the state.
4
The Palace Regime will not fall with elections. This resistance shows the way of resistance and struggle against the Palace. Therefore, it is an urgent task for all revolutionary groups to organise a united labour front. The United Labour Front is the way to further develop and coordinate the ongoing resistances in all fields of the country. The resistances of the working class must not remain in the background in this respect.
CHP does not even talk about workers’ resistances.
This point is the crossroads between revolutionaries, revolutionary youth, revolutionary workers, revolutionary women and the CHP leadership.
5
The Palace Regime does not fall with elections.
In this respect, the CHP’s move to declare Ekrem İmamoğlu as a candidate on 23 March with the pre-announced ‘primary election’ is important. This move does not indicate the importance of the election. But every election in the country is rigged. And this move of CHP was going to make Imamoglu a strong candidate. For this reason, the Palace attacked urgently before March 23rd.
The Palace Regime, which has the USA and the EU on its back due to the Syrian war, did not hesitate to attack Imamoğlu. The source of its courage is the international and regional situation. Therefore, CHP should openly expose the USA and EU leaders. CHP leadership is studiously avoiding this. Instead of relying on resistance, it covets the approval of the imperialist masters. If they say yes, if it gets their support, it thinks that it can come to power. This is already one of the crossroads.
The March 23 preliminary elections are not elections directly organised by the YSK, by the Palace, by the state.
CHP has seen the resistance and its mind has been enlightened , it has learnt. In a clever move, it put ‘solidarity ballot boxes’ next to the ballot boxes. And 15.5 million votes were counted. This is capable of disrupting the rigged election plans of the Palace Regime. Now, if Erdoğan announces the election results, be sure that he will announce it as 16 million. The Supreme Election Council and the Directorate of Communications have already started working on this issue.
That is to say, it is not possible for CHP to secure the elections by killing the resistance, by diminishing it, by retreating back from it, by saying that they do not want to cause ‘provocations’, by abandoning the streets, by fleeing from the side on the 1st of May. On the contrary, it must further develop the resistance itself.
CHP had to defend the resistance in order to retain its own masses. Had it been İnce or Kılıçdaroğlu instead of İmamoğlu, they would have immediately put in action ways to withdraw their own youth, their own masses. They have tried this. But Imamoğlu’s statement of “I entrust myself to the people” has been an important move. Let us not be misunderstood, we do not consider Imamoğlu as a leftist etc. But if even a bourgeois party tries not to come to power, which CHP has done many times, it is not possible to explain this even within bourgeois politics.
6
Apparently, the Palace Regime will further attack.
If they do not release the young people locked up immediately due to pressure, it is certain that they will increase these attacks even more. Without ensuring the release of the young people in prison and the end of their detention and arrest, the attacks of the Palace will not stop, on the contrary, it will increase.
Now the state, with all its forces, will try to bring the CHP into line. CHP cannot prevent this process, these attacks, only by protecting journalists, only by boycott policies.
The power of the workers and labourers, of those who resist, comes from production, from producing life and living. Our strength does not come from consumption, as it is assumed and as Özgür Özel declared. Of course, boycotts are also a move. At the very least, it exposes these companies.
CHP should immediately publish the diplomas that Erdoğan gave to the Beyoğlu Municipality (he is the former mayor of Beyoğlu) and IBB (he is the former mayor of IBB). There is every reason to suppose that there is a secret agreement. Özel states, ‘You don’t keep your promises,’ whereas he himself keeps his promises.
The CHP should immediately produce the diplomas that Erdoğan gave to the Beyoğlu Municipality (he is the former mayor of Beyoğlu) and the IBB (he is the former mayor of IBB).
There is every reason to think that there is a secret agreement. Özel says that you do not keep your promises. However, he himself keeps his promises. Between CHP and the Palace, there is an agreement (a) not to raise the issue of the assets and theft of the Erdoğan family and (b) to let the issue of Erdoğan’s diploma be forgotten. There is no longer any reason for CHP to abide by this agreement.
The rulers, the sovereigns, are the bourgeois class, the monopolies, the international and domestic monopolies. Their power comes from their control of the state. They hold the press, the judiciary, etc. in their hands. That is why they attack in every way.
The power of the working class against the ruling class comes from production.
The trade unions, first and foremost DİSK, do not call for a general strike. No such call is made by CHP either. Whereas Eğitim-Sen, for calling for a strike, was immediately subjected to an investigation. CHP must also raise this issue and demand a halt to the investigation. If CHP is truly against the Palace Regime, it must immediately demand a halt to the lawsuit against the Istanbul Bar Association.
The lawsuits have to be stopped.
The young people must be released and the files against them must be erased.
All strikes and resistances must be united.
The voice of family physicians must be reflected from the pulpits.
The trustees in all municipalities must be withdrawn and the municipalities must be handed over to elected representatives. In Kurdish municipalities, instead of trustees, the administration should be handed over to elected people from the municipal council.
CHP will not do these things.
That is why they will put into effect the policy of extinguishing the resistance.
This is the point of distinction of the revolutionary labour movement.
Extinguishing the resistance will give birth to a new day for a greater attack on the masses.
Whereas the revolutionary workers’ movement, the revolutionary student movement, women, in short, those who resist, have to organise and develop their own resistance. Until the Palace Regime falls.
For this reason, the revolutionary movement must put forward its own policy, its own resistance, its own line and claim it. The entire mass of the CHP, especially its youth, must be invited to join the resistance.
In Ankara, Eskişehir, Izmir and many other parts of the country, CHP has watched the resistance with a sidelong glance.
Yes, this is not the new Gezi Resistance.
Social incidents do not repeat themselves. However, one overlaps the other. It can fall back in many respects; it can develop more advanced forms in many respects.
The March 19th resistance has already surpassed CHP.
This resistance emerged 12 years after the Gezi Resistance. And for 12 years, the resistance has never been stopped. Despite all the attacks of the Palace Regime, the resistance has continued and will continue. And this time, the possibilities to enlarge the resistance even more are emerging, it has emerged.
