Intervention by Communist Party of Turkey http://www.tkp.org.tr/int, mailto:int@tkp.org.tr Written Contribution of the Communist Party of Turkey to the Deliberations of the 4th European Meeting on Education Dear friends, comrades We have a great heritage. We possess a broad background which nobody owns, and a heritage which illuminates our way. We adopt with great honour the heritage of the brave revolutionaries who, in order to eliminate the system of exploitation, have always fought against imperialism, fascism and reactionism. At this meeting, we not only share our experiences on the attacks against our honourable heritage, but also agree on our particular ideas. We are now thinking aloud about the distortion of the 20th century's long history, which is full of crises and when socialism was a power that presents a concrete path to go for the toiling masses of the world. Communists always do courageously what they consider right, without hesitation. That is exactly what we do. We always face the attackers courageously and protect our heritage. Comrades, It has been twenty years since the demise of the Soviet Union, but the lies of imperialists on the Cold War still continue... Yes, capitalism carries on its revolting attack, the campaign of defamation and falsification. For sure, you have come across the examples of what I said on the media of the bourgeoisie or in the curriculum of schools. We are subject to a defamation campaign against socialism, although the Cold War is over for two decades now. In this regard, we may point to several reasons of such campaign, which would be worth to do so. For a large part of the 20th century, socialism was the alternative of a humane, free and egalitarian life for the peoples of the world. Today, as we see the outcomes of a world after the demise of real socialism, the undeniable legitimacy of socialism continues to be a matter which capitalism cannot tolerate. As a result, it is a sine qua non for the imperialists to attack that history. Another important point is related with the deadly fear of imperialism from socialism. The fear from and the experiences of socialism made bourgeoisie almost paranoiac. Throughout the 20th century, when socialist power and people’s democracies spread around Europe, imperialism started to be scared to death. This fear then turned into a paranoia with the collapse of USSR. Despite all anti-communist efforts, what they cannot achieve is that the whole world witnessed or experienced socialism. Hence, they cannot pretend as if socialism never existed. They cannot manage to erase it from the hearts and minds of the people despite the campaigns of falsification and defamation. Comrades, Let me continue with some examples from Turkey. In 1951, with the membership to NATO, Turkey became one of the figurants of the Cold War, a client state of imperialism in which heavy anti-communist propaganda culminates. The installation of political Islam throughout Middle East by the US overlaps with Turkey’s membership to NATO. In the course of time, through the institutionalization of government policies to recruit Islamist cadres and organize religious sects, political Islam has gained pace and broader social bases. A prominent example of the process of institutionalization of Islamism in Turkey is the establishment of Islamic Divinity Students High Schools. While the number of these schools that were opened to train religious officials was 19 between 1951 and 1959, now in 2010 it is almost 600. Their effect on the political and social life is now at an indisputable level. The top men of the present government are the graduates of those schools; many ministers, like the Prime Minister himself, has the title “imam”. During the period when Islamic Divinity High Schools were mushrooming, associations officially named as “Associations for the Fight against Communism” were also established. These associations, which were financed directly by the US, had become the gathering place of many graduates of Islamic Divinity Schools along with fascist paramilitary forces. These associations fulfilled an important role in the “fight against communism” during sixties and seventies, and entrenched many Islamic communities back then. After the coup d’état in 1980, the power and influence of these religious communities have increased drastically, and they eventually come to control hundreds of private dormitories and cultural centres all around the country. Fethullah Gülen, who now lives in USA, is the leader of “Nur” community, which has millions of followers now. Gülen was one of the founders of the Associations for Fight against Communism. He has founded many universities, high schools and health centres all around the world, especially in the Middle East and the ex-Soviet republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. With a fortune reaching to billions of dollars, the relations of Fethullah Gülen with the US has developed with leaps and bounds. Such religious communities have been carrying out a campaign to attack the theory of evolution and hand out statements and pamphlets supporting “the faith of creation”. These reactionary movements have organic links with the government and, thanks to this, they put pressure for the elimination of the theory of evolution from the educational curriculum of the biology classes in the primary schools. The anti-communists cannot tolerate the teaching of the theory of evolution in high schools and universities in Turkey. An inseparable part of their propaganda in their attacks against the theory of evolution and materialist world view is that, communism is a system that will spoil the morals of the society. Likewise, the reactionaries defend idealism in education, especially in the curriculum of high schools. For years in Turkey, an outpost of the US against USSR, religious references have gained importance and now there is a greater section of the society which is prone to that propaganda. In the field of education, an effective operation to install “the moderate Islam” design of the US in Turkey has been taking place. Especially in the universities, progressive values are being eliminated and instead of scientific thought, dogmatic concepts are being installed. For the subject we discussed, a university textbook called “The Late History of Turkey” is exemplary. While there is just a single paragraph about the devastation created by Nazi fascism, there are many falsified parts and texts about Normandy Landings of the US and Pearl Harbour. The book pretends as if the US saved the world from the Nazis. It does not even say a word on millions of patriotic Soviet people who fought against fascism. It mentions the role of the Soviet Union during Second World War as the following: “The Red Army conquered a wide area up to Berlin by using the opportunity of Nazi expansionism and, therefore, fights for hegemony have become more and more fierce in the bipolar world.” Think that university youth in Turkey learn the history of the world through those books, and add the liberal, Islamist, anti-communist propaganda on top of that; you will have an idea about how serious the situation is. Similarly, the reactionaries are trying to change the curriculum in high schools. The curriculum prepared for the 2005-2006 academic year provides us with several striking examples for the subject of this meeting. Education labourers from TKP ran an extensive campaign against the reactionary curriculum and then, the curriculum was drawn back by the government. Comrades, Allow me to share some important points of this curriculum with you. 1. “They present defending our values that belongs to our nation, history and culture as backwardness” (p.205). Progressive claims against conservatism and religious reactionism are categorized as terrorism. By appealing to the nationalist ideology, the curriculum claims that communists do not defend their “national interests”. 2. The fascist coup d'état on September 12th, 1980 is defended in textbooks as “It was the only way to control rising anarchy.” Although the fact that it was supported by CIA is well-known, it is as if written by CIA. 3. In the textbooks, struggling against imperialism and capitalist exploitation is presented as one of the ways terrorist organizations express themselves. Anti-imperialism and being a member of a terrorist organization are considered equal. 4. In the book, those who fight against imperialism are blamed as such: “Anti-imperialist fighters claim that ‘labour is not cared’. (...) They claim that our state is a colonial one and labour is not given importance. And they are against imperialism.” These statements reflect the venomous discourse of anti-communism. The honour of defending anti-imperialism and being against exploitation is trampled down. 5. A cartoon in one of the textbooks reveals the ideological violence practiced. In the cartoon, we see the sculpture of Saddam pulled down by George Bush. Below the picture they ask: “Who are the ones you see above? What does the picture intend to explain?” In the cartoon it says, “the end of those who are against USA.” The same book does not even say a word about millions of Iraqi people killed by the US. Dear comrades, What I have just mentioned are the results of a great fear. The bourgeoisie still has a nightmare. They carry out an all-out falsification and defamation campaign in order to get rid of that nightmare. Socialism experiences of the 20th century provided such a real alternative that it was enough to make capitalism paranoiac. Now they are afraid of the revival of socialism. We should confront them with their fears. It is time to debunk the anti-communist propaganda everywhere. Now we should show everywhere that socialism and communism is the only way for emancipation of the peoples. Time passes by quickly. If we are to defend our heritage, we should not lose even a second. Communists like challenges. Now is the time to challenge and wipe them off the stage of history! Mert Uzun |