Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Turkish Left

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit

Turkish Left (in Turkish: Türksolu) is a weekly nationalist and socialist magazine as the official organ of the Turkish Left (in Turkish: Türk Solu) is a nationalist group in Turkey. It is the continuation of Yön, an influential political magazine in Turkey in the 1960s. Türk Solu was formed following a split in the Workers' Party (İP). The magazine is led by Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu and is based in Istanbul.

They consider themselves as nationalist, socialist and Kemalist. They often promote Nationalism, Socialism and Secularism. However, unlike other Socialists, they criticise Marx often and they consider Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Sultan Galiev as ideologues of Turkic Socialism. They are influenced by Attila İlhan, Doğan Avcıoğlu and Şevket Süreyya Aydemir also. They have been in favour of Yasser Arafat, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Il, Muammar Gaddafi and Hugo Chavez because of their Socialism and Third Worldism, Rauf Denktaş and Rebiya Kadeer because of their Pan-Turkism.

They support good relations with Turkic and Islamic countries and they view the USA, Israel, EU, Russia and China as enemies of Turkey.

They are often criticised for their views on Kurds. Especially their "Kurdish Invasion in Turkish Cities" theory is famous. They defend themselves with saying that Turkey is a nation-state and even saying "I'm Kurd" is separatism. They defend it with Nation definition of Turkish constitution. According to it, "every citizen of Turkey is Turkish, regardless of ethnic group, race and religion." Türksolu defends that Kurds should melt in Turkish pot.

Unlike most of Kemalists, they also admire Ottomans and defend its legacy except 19th-century Ottomans. They see Osman I and Atatürk as similar leaders, who both created new states instead serving a defeated, perished state. Despite they also appropriate Mehmed II, Selim I and Suleiman the Magnificent, they see Mahmud II, Abdulhamid II and Mehmed VI as traitors, they have a similar view of other last era Ottoman sultans.

The group publishes Türksolu and İleri and founded a political party called Ulusal Parti.

References

Turkish Left Wikipedia