“We want democracy not the state of emergency”

The CHP will stage actions in 81 provinces against the state of emergency on the anniversary of the 16 April referendum. It is also calling on all political parties to participate in the actions to be held under the slogan, “We want democracy not the state of emergency.” CHP Deputy General Chair Veli Ağbaba, who describes the state of emergency as “the name of an order that indiscriminately hits people of all persuasions,” said in response to talk of the ordinary citizen not feeling the state of emergency and the state of emergency not afflicting anyone, “We will tell everyone on 16 April to put up their hands in opposition to the state of emergency, because there remains nobody the state of emergency has not afflicted.”

The CHP will stage a one-hour sit-down action at noon in 81 provinces on the anniversary of the 16 April referendum. Deputy General Chair Veli Ağbaba, assigned by CHP management to organise the events, answered Cumhuriyet's questions in relation to this.

We say “let us not bow our heads”

- Why and how was the decision taken to stage such an action and what is the aim?

Our aim is, in a period in Turkey in which the law has been suspended and democracy disregarded, in a period in which the chastening of everyone is sought with decrees with the force of law, to bring all of this to public attention. The state of emergency has created an environment in which security of life and property has disappeared and the principle of the separation of powers has been destroyed so as to be combined into a single office. We say “let us not bow our heads” to this order and call on the whole of society not to remain silent in the face of this oppressive regime. We do not regard any action taken by the government under the state of emergency as being legitimate. The state of emergency is also a situation that harms Turkey’s prestige in the world. For as long as the state of emergency endures, nobody will believe that Turkey is governed under democracy, the supremacy of the law applies and the judiciary is independent.

“Resistance to the state of emergency is an issue for Turkey”

- What kind of banners will you prepare and what slogans will you chant? For example, CHP pennants and logos were absent from the sugar rally. What form will the 16 April action take?

We will be in all town squares throughout Turkey in opposition to the state of emergency now in its 21st month on the anniversary of the stampless election and we will hold a one- hour sit-down action. We will also read a joint declaration simultaneously in 81 provinces. Our members of parliament and Party Assembly members will disperse around Turkey and be in the squares. We have come up with the slogan, “We want democracy not the state of emergency.” We are not staging this action just as the CHP. The sugar actions were also attended by people from all parties and of all political persuasions. The Felicity Party, Good Party, Democrat Party, DSP, ÖDP, HDP, and even the MHP were at our side. Civil society organisations and professional chambers and alliances took part. We saw the sugar action as being a fight for the country and said that standing in opposition to the sale of the factories was not a party issue. Resistance to state of emergency fascism is an issue for Turkey over and above being a party issue. We are in the vanguard because being in the vanguard of resistance to oppression is a dictate of the CHP’s historical mission. But, we are conducting a joint struggle with all circles, because the state of emergency has turned into a crime being committed against the whole of society. We have issued a call to all political parties over 16 April. And they have conveyed their positive feelings about this.

“An election under state of emergency conditions will once more be illegitimate”

- What is your demand? What will there be apart from your main theme of “Let the state of emergency be lifted?”

The action we will stage on Monday will not be an action that will be confined to 16 April. Such actions of ours will continue over the ongoing process. As 2019 approaches, the CHP’s most important goal is the lifting of the state of emergency. The referendum was embarked on under the state of emergency. We witnessed together a period in which arguing for “No” was forbidden, those conducting the “No” campaign were arrested, people handing out “No” flyers in the streets were truncheoned and representatives of civil society organisations were met with gas and truncheons, not least the bar associations that wished to march on parliament while the Constitution was being debated. We as the CHP say that with the holding of the 2019 elections under these conditions, just as the referendum was not legitimate, these pending elections will also be illegitimate under state of emergency conditions.

“The state of emergency is wheeled out against those in opposition”

- As the CHP, you are forever out and about and speaking to people. There is talk of the ordinary citizen not feeling the state of emergency and the state of emergency not afflicting anyone. From your observations, how has the state of emergency affected ordinary citizens and what aspect of the state of emergency do they criticise the most? How many lives has the state of emergency touched on?

The strongest reaction as a body when it was proclaimed came from the CHP. Probably most citizens were not aware of what the state of emergency meant. But, with each passing day everyone has seen how the state of emergency touches on the citizen’s life. Whenever anyone comes out in opposition, the state of emergency is wheeled out against them. The state of emergency sometimes afflicts people in the AKP, sometimes on those in the MHP, sometimes on those in the HDP and sometimes on those in the CHP. We held a tobacco action in Adıyaman and at that time I asked what the state of emergency was and nobody had any way of knowing in full. But, the people of Adıyaman and Malatya saw what the state of emergency was when at the receiving end of tear gas and truncheons while staging an action against the prohibition of tobacco.

“The state of emergency indiscriminately hits people of all persuasions”

- So, what is the state of emergency?

The state of emergency is the arresting of the human rights monument. The state of emergency is Veli Saçılık’s 80-year-old mother getting roughed up. The state of emergency is the appointing of curators to municipalities that were elected under the national will, the ousting of mayors and incarcerating of elected members of parliament. The state of emergency is duress on university students. The state of emergency is fearing to press the like button on Facebook or to press the retweet button on Twitter. The state of emergency is the name of an order that indiscriminately hits people of all persuasions. Sometimes it is the forced resignation of the Turkish Public Workers' Trade Union General Chair, sometimes it is the arresting of Education and Science Workers' Union members. The Turkish Medical Association made its views known on Afrin and they tried to strip the word “Turkish” from its title because they were calling for peace, but they did the same thing to the Turkish Union of Bar Associations, which supported the Afrin operation as much as the government. So, people of all persuasions taste the state of emergency cudgel and there must be a joint struggle against it.

“The state of emergency has afflicted everyone”

The state of emergency has afflicted everyone, right down to farmers and subcontracted workers. Were subcontracted workers perhaps to be asked six months ago what the state of emergency was, there would have been no reply, but we have seen that the state of emergency means highway workers, Sugar Factory workers and subcontracted workers employed in public economic enterprises remaining off the public payroll. We say everyone should put their hands up in opposition to the state of emergency on 16 April, because there nobody remains unafflicted by the state of emergency. Singing folk songs is forbidden, the theatre is forbidden and rallies are forbidden. A halt must finally be called to this order that interferes with our lives.

- How has the state of emergency stacked up?

125,000 people have been expelled. More than 70,000 people have been arrested. The number of people against whom proceedings have been taken is approaching 170,000. Fifty newspapers, eighteen TV stations, twenty magazines and twenty-two radio stations have been closed. When we speak of this, they say, “You are defending FETO.” This rhetoric is a tactic to deceive the people. It is a lie told to divert public attention from the way they are tarring people and bodies that have spent their lives fighting FETO with the FETO brush and giving them the same treatment. People like İbrahim Kaboğlu and Murat Sevinç have been expelled. Education and Science Workers' Union teachers, Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions workers and Confederation of United Public Servants civil servants have been arrested. Özgür radio station, İMC TV and Evrensel Kültür have been closed. Associations such as Agenda Children and the Contemporary Jurists Association have been closed. They have been singled out because they are in the opposition. These figures and bodies were targeted by the FETO-AKP partnership in the past when they went arm in arm, and today by the AKP that has moved apart. Consequently, the lie that they proclaimed the state of emergency to fight FETO has long since been laid bare. The AKP proclaimed the state of emergency to fight everyone who was not with them.

- Your first action is on 16 April on the anniversary of the referendum. However, it is clearly apparent that the extending of the state of emergency is planned. What will your subsequent actions be? For example, is the CHP group in parliament contemplating an action in relation to the state of emergency?

This is not our first action in opposition to the state of emergency. We have been on the streets in opposition to the state of emergency on every anniversary. We read a joint statement throughout Turkey to mark the previous extension of the state of emergency. Faced with the normalising of the state of emergency, the CHP’s duty is to let everyone know what the state of emergency is and to fight this fascistic order. But, this is not a fight that only the CHP and CHP people will wage. We want everyone whose chastening with the state of emergency cudgel is sought, whose jobs have been taken from them and who have suffered injustice to raise their voices and proclaim, “I want democracy not the state of emergency” and be partners in the struggle.

“Struggle in both parliament and on the street”

We as the CHP will struggle in all ways sometimes in parliament and sometimes on the street for the lifting of the state of emergency. But, we know that the holders of power along with their minor partner have emasculated parliament. In fact, one of the main effects of the state of emergency has been to strip parliament of its powers. The ruling party has done through the state of emergency and decrees with the force of law what the coupists were unable to do to parliament with arms. Had the FETOists pulled off the coup, the first thing they would have done would have been to strip parliament of its powers. On 20 July two parties did by raising their arms what the coupists could not accomplish with bombs. There is a wish under the state of emergency to impose uniformity on Turkey and not just on prisons. An unprecedented event took place and a member of parliament was stripped of his parliamentary membership for criticising the AKP General Chair. There can be no one who does not see this order for what it is, but the turn will come tomorrow of those who do not wish to see.

In Taksim in Istanbul and in Güvenpark in Ankara

Here are the places where the action will be staged in certain provinces: Adana Atatürk Park, Ankara Güvenpark, İstanbul Taksim Square, Çanakkale Cumhuriyet Square, Diyarbakır Dağkapı Square, Erzurum Yakutiye Kent Square, Gaziantep Yeşilsu Square, Hakkari Cumhuriyet Square, İzmir Konak Square, Malatya Soykan Park, Samsun Cumhuriyet Square, Trabzon Atatürk Square and Zonguldak Miners Monument.

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