The statement of the CC of the Tudeh Party of Iran:

On the recent developments in Turkey & in Solidarity with the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP)!

In recent weeks, Turkey has been the scene of widespread public protest demonstrations. These demonstrations began on 19 March 2025, following the action of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government to arrest Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul, and around 100 figures affiliated with the Republican People's Party (CHP), the most powerful party in opposition to the Turkish government.  Millions of Turkish citizens and a diverse range of groups opposing the AKP government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have participated in these anti-government demonstrations.  Most of the country's progressive forces and opposition parties, including the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), have actively joined these protest demonstrations.

The participation of workers, trade union activists, and students has also been significant in these demonstrations.  Lectures have been suspended in many universities, and students - especially left-wing students - have actively participated in this burgeoning protest movement.

The leadership of the TKP has assessed the arrests and roundups of 19 March as a measure by the Erdoğan government to close the political space in the country and begin a process that ensures a "desirable" result in the upcoming presidential elections, scheduled to take place in three years (May 2028).  The TKP have assessed the arrest of İmamoğlu as constituting the beginning of a "new, worrying, and completely illegal phase [in political developments in Turkey]."

The growth of public discontent and the difficult economic situation in Turkey over the past two years has undoubtedly been effective in provoking public protests in that country.  According to statistical data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), the inflation rate in Turkey, despite a decrease last fall, was still 39.1 percent in February and March 2024, and the unemployment rate also exceeded 8.8 percent.  From the perspective of the TKP, the economic, political, and social consequences of the recent widespread public protests could lay the groundwork for developments that would shake the foundations of the capitalist system in that country.  Accordingly, the TKP, in its statement, emphasised the urgent necessity of organising an independent and revolutionary struggle to prevent the country's working class and working people from being caught up and trapped in the power struggles between rival factions.

The Tudeh Party of Iran supports the persistent and courageous struggle of the working people of Turkey and the TKP to block the path to the formation of a 'Neo-Ottoman' state and to achieve the real democratisation of political life in the country.

The interventionist policies of the Islamist-capitalist AKP government in Ankara  - a longtime NATO member and ally of the European Union - in the recent developments in Syria, vis-à-vis its active support for the rise to power of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS); its overt intervention in the conflicts between the Azerbaijan Republic and Armenia; and its 50-year-long illegal occupation of northern Cyprus, have all contributed to major instability as well as the continued disruption of peace and tranquillity in the region.

The Tudeh Party of Iran strongly condemns the Erdoğan government's decision to arrest and remove Mayor İmamoğlu from office to detention; the suppression of public demonstrations and protests; and the arrest of thousands of demonstrators, including cadres of the TKP, its youth wing, and journalists.

The Central Committee of the Tudeh Party of Iran once again emphasises its active and internationalist solidarity with the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) and demands the immediate and unconditional release of all its cadres and members as well as all others detained while participating in legal demonstrations in Turkey.

The Central Committee of the Tudeh Party of Iran

Wednesday, 26 March 2025 

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For the statements of the Tudeh Party of Iran and its analysis of major developments in Iran Please visit:    www.tudehpartyiran.org