Not only the so-called “Great Turkey” of the AKP but also the whole system of plunder has collapsed!

We know that the distorted bourgeois system in underdeveloped countries cannot and will not meet the basic humanitarian and democratic criteria. That's why the democratic revolution or humanitarian capitalism can only be a hoax. In these countries, the local bourgeoisie and imperialists are dragging the working people to disaster in masses while they are building safeguarded lives in extreme luxury.

Cautions such as preparedness for disasters, necessary inspections and controls, planned and long-term scientific studies are of no use to local and foreign capitalists, mushroom petty-bourgeois contractors, or bourgeois parties and politicians. Resources are spent on the rich, not on these life-saving jobs; no one can stand in the way of daily and short-term interests. Politicians intend to stay in power, and local administrators and bureaucrats get their fair share of bribery. In this way, they continuously steal from the lives of the workers.

The promptness, the organizational ability, the trained and experienced personnel, the necessary assistance… All of them have gone with the wind. There is no need to explain the miserable situation of the bourgeois state at length; it has been exposed in detail on social media and opposition TV channels. But it should be noted that the collapse of the system after the Maraş Earthquake is one of its kind that will go down in history. Turkey is not a Haiti, Indonesia or Congo, it has a relatively developed industry, a trained workforce and above all a strong construction sector. In this state, the level of incapableness that the system has fallen into in Turkey is astonishing when viewed from afar. But as examples of the law of uneven and combined development, even a crane cannot be found to intervene in the wrecks despite the state-of-the-art technological facilities, or despite hundreds of thousands of volunteers who are candidates for professionalism in search and rescue, thousands of people die under the rubble, screaming for help. In short, there are huge gaps between the potential of the society and the capitalist reality. Capitalist private property pulls society down like an iron ingot tied to a foot.

It is obvious that nothing much has changed after the earthquake of 1999, which caused great destruction in Kocaeli, Sakarya, Istanbul-Avcılar and Düzce. It is even possible to say that the functionality of the bourgeois state apparatus has regressed even more after 20 years with the AKP. During these 20 years, the fastest way to enlarge the economy and deceive the electorate, and especially to boost the gang-up client capital, was to inflate the construction bubble. State resources were plundered without hesitation, the state apparatus was filled with unqualified partisans.

Now, it is mentioned that at least 10% of the houses will be destroyed and tens of thousands of people will die in an earthquake with a magnitude of 7 and above in Istanbul, whose population is almost 20 million. Despite this nightmare scenario that has been on the agenda for years, the AKP government, which did not make any preparations and took no measures, has been occupied with deepening the plunder with crazy projects such as Canal Istanbul, let alone earthquake measures.

Silver Lining

From the very first hours of the earthquake, millions of workers, non-governmental organizations, labor organizations, trade unions, socialist organizations and artists from all over Turkey mobilized to deliver aid to the earthquake victims, and thousands of people rushed to the region to save and support those who were under the rubble. Although the AKP-MHP government has been making great efforts for many years to create damages in the social fabric by fueling the divisions in order to maintain their own order; social solidarity showed itself at the highest level in this process. In an environment where the bourgeois state apparatus was out of order, the rapid organization of the society revealed the weakness of the ruling class. The emergence of such a strong spirit of solidarity gave us hope. Particularly, the socialist parties and organizations being at the forefront of the solidarity movement found a response in the society. Thus, we can say that the prestige of socialists, who are constantly marginalized by the government, has increased significantly. Apart from that, the energy revealed by the society which is constantly under pressure with the state stick brought about an optimistic atmosphere in the social opposition. Of course, all this made the AKP-MHP coalition furious. The fact that Haluk Levent[1] was placed on the target board of the government was a reflection of the desperation and loss of support in the AKP.

At this point, the repulsing of the reheated ‘national unity’ discourse was of great importance. As a matter of fact, the opposition to the AKP in the society was so high that the CHP had to step forward on this issue and this ‘unification’ move of the AKP was largely in vain. On the other hand, it is of great importance that the issue is not limited to opposing solely to the AKP. What we need as a society is class consciousness. The silence of the unorganized workers and laborers against the raid and plundering policies, corruption, and the surrender of the taxes to the capital is directly related to the class consciousness. Therefore, it is necessary to break the disorganization of the society. The great self-sacrifice of the socialists after the earthquake once again revealed the importance of being organized. The work that a revolutionary party with large qualified cadres can do will be enormous. The situation is no different on the labor front. The voices of millions of workers, whom the system has condemned to disorganization or mafia unions, have been silenced. The opening of these channels is at the forefront of the most vital issues of the revolutionary class struggle. Otherwise, the working class will continue to turn into submissive unorganized masses. The dynamic young leading strata within the working classes must resort to organized struggle in order not to pay higher prices and to determine their own future.

Collapse

We've talked about it before. In Turkey, when the bourgeoisie brought the AKP to power and paved the way for Erdoğan (and even the Gülen group), it actually placed its head in a noose. In the hands of the AKP, the institutions of the bourgeois system and the entirety of qualified cadres suffered a great collapse. The huge state apparatus, which could not even intervene in forest fires, has now gone bankrupt in the earthquake. While this was the case, the Turkish bourgeoisie, all of which made great profits from the contracting business, did/could not oppose by no means because of its sluggishness and parasitic character, even though they saw this plunder of the AKP as they became a ruling gang. The “Great Turkey” of the AKP-MHP regime was utterly trashed by the February 6 earthquakes. We have to establish a new order that focuses on people, labor, nature and brotherhood. This will only be possible with the revolution and power of the workers. Our only way of salvation against this system, which promises nothing but poverty, destruction, war and barbarism, is an organized party-struggle.