The New Cyprus Party (YKP) Decides to Boycott Agents’ Elections

The New Cyprus Party held its extraordinary congress on Saturday, 7 February, 2009 at 14:00, at the Turkish Cypriot Teachers Union (KTOS) premises with a one-item agenda, “the struggle against the occupation, for democracy and freedom, and the stand of the New Cyprus Party at the early elections to take place during 2009, in the northern part of Cyprus”.

The congress opened with the musical theme of the Internationale. After the opening speech of the Organisation Secretary, Salih Uyguroglu, one-minute silence was observed in memory of those Cypriot revolutionaries who were victims of political murders; of those Turkish Cypriot revolutionary youngsters of the ’68 and ’78 generation who, while studying in Turkey, were targeted by fascist bullets; and primarily those who were lost as a result of fascist attacks and so far unsolved murders while struggling for the unity of Cyprus and Cypriots; and those lost in the struggle for peace and socialism throughout the world.

Then the Chairpersons’ council was elected. The Chairpersons’ council comprised the following persons after accepting nominations from the floor to serve on the council: Chairperson Halil Pasa, Chairperson’s Assistant Cagla Konuloglu, and Secretary Mehmet Gonce Parlan. After the election of the Chairpersons’ council, Murat Kanatli, the General Secretary of the Executive Committee, spoke on behalf of the Executive Committee.

Following the formation of the Chairpersons’ council and the opening speeches, it was decided to continue the congress as a closed session. There was a break to give the opportunity for guests and the media time to leave so that Party members, sympathizers, and friends of the Party could discuss and pass the congress draft resolution.

After the departure of guests and representatives of the media, Members of the Party taking part in the congress discussed the “Extraordinary Congress Draft Resolution no1 BOYCOTT THE AGENTS’ ELECTIONS” which had been approved unanimously by the Party Assembly earlier and distributed to members of the Party in advance.  Following the speeches of Murat Kanatli, Rasih Keskiner, Dr Mustafa Hami, Alpay Durduran and Kemal Aktunc in favour of the draft resolution and expressing their thoughts for the future, the Chairpersons’ council submitted the draft resolution for approval. The draft resolution was approved unanimously by the members with long applause and a standing ovation.

Uyguroglu: “the decision that will come out of this congress will illuminate our revolutionary struggle we have been waging for the last 20 years”

Salih Uyguroglu, Organisation Secretary, in his opening speech, stated that as the New Cyprus Party is approaching its 20th anniversary, the first extraordinary congress of the Party is taking place to define the stand of the Party on the struggle against the occupation, for democracy, for freedom, and against the early elections in the northern part of Cyprus.

Salih Uyguroglu said that the Party Assembly, at its meeting on 6 January, 2009, had evaluated the so-called elections to be held on 19 April and in order to define its method of struggle, decided to call an extraordinary meeting of the Party congress on 7 February, 2009. He added that “The Executive Committee acting in accordance with the decision of the Party Assembly, through meetings of Party committees, friends and sympathizers of the Party at district levels and through public meetings, discussed the Party’s stand towards the so-called elections in the light of principles stated in the Party program and congress resolutions.”

Uyguroglu, besides expressing the wish that the congress, which is the highest organ of the Party, through its decision in its extraordinary meeting, will illuminate the Party’s revolutionary struggle it has been waging for the last 20 years, also thanked  all members, friends, and sympathizers of the Party for their contributions to the struggle for uniting Cyprus and the Cypriots.

Kanatli: “This hall gives the whole message to friend and foe”

Murat Kanatli, General Secretary of the Executive Committee, speaking on behalf of the Executive Committee, stated that those who had signed agreements with the New Cyprus Party, those who were eager to form the ‘This Country is Ours Platform’, now that elections are taking place, are attacking the New Cyprus Party by describing it as a “signpost party’. He condemned this situation.

Kanatli, after emphasizing that YKP was ready to either use the elections for propaganda by taking part in them with a full list of candidates or by calling for a boycott and organizing campaigns, added:  “However, the final word belongs to the members attending the congress”.

Following is the full speech of Kanatli:

Dear friends and comrades,

For days now, a discussion has been taking place; the stand of the New Cyprus Party is being discussed.

The leftist liberal and rightwing columnists plus their party representatives agree on this point, attacking and calling the New Cyprus Party a signpost party… Some say we don’t have the strength; others accuse us of treachery, and others advise us what to do about the elections…

Those of you, New Cyprus Party members, who gave friend and foe the necessary answer by being here, welcome…

Although they may think themselves happy with the distribution of Turkish citizenships, Nazim Hikmet is still our comrade; as we can see by making a slight change to Comrade Nazim Hikmet’s verses:

The day is not that day, yet; do not tidy up and fold the flags. / What you hear is the howling of jackals. / Strengthen the ranks, / this struggle is against fascism, this struggle is against the status quo and against occupation, / This struggle is for freedom; this is the struggle of Cyprus and Cypriots for a common homeland and a common future without borders, without weapons and soldiers, and with no guarantors.

Friends, who put their hearts and dedicated their lives for this struggle, welcome…

We can say it again with Nazim’s verses:

To walk;

those not walking

left behind like empty streets,

by splitting the air from end to end into two

as if through the barrel of a gun

looking into the eye of darkness

…………………to walk!..

To walk;

by feeling a friend’s shoulders

near your shoulder

by placing your head in the middle

and your heart into your fists

…………………to walk!..

To walk;

someone putting an ambush in your way

someone tripping you from behind

…………………knowing

…………………to walk…

To walk;

from the heart

smiling

…………………to walk…

Dear friends; the twenty-year-old walk of the New Cyprus Party continues: Neither their show of tanks and cannons or their paramilitary organizations, nor the way the media has encircled us has managed to block our way; despite the 20 years this struggle has not finished, no matter what, this struggle will continue until the face of the earth becomes the place of love…

Dear friends,

Everybody has began talking about the elections again; those who were once eager to form the ‘This Country is Ours Platform’ with us, now dare to attack us in the words of Kutlay Erk as “signpost party.” They attack not only us, but anyone who is not on their side; it is not easy to preserve their place as an agent; in order to please some authority and in order to renew their licence, they especially attack leftists and progressives, but they should remember that there is also the aftermath of 19 April. We will not forget and we will not allow to be forgotten what CTP (Republican Turkish Party) has done to labour, to democracy, to Cyprus and Cypriots, and to the struggle for the unification of Cyprus…

We will forget neither the Social Security Law nor their minimum wage policies or their ill-intentioned efforts against trade unions… We will also not forget how they speeded up the looting of lands so that Cypriots won’t be able to return to their properties and their adventure at the Colony Hotel…  We will not forget the pillage of the mountain, the rock, the sand, and Karpasia.  We also won’t forget those who paved the way for pillaging the forests by describing them as low level forest areas; not only we, but also future generations will remember regretfully the damage done to the ecology of Cyprus…

Friends, we will continue the tradition; we will separate ourselves from those who forget labour and labourers after elections, those who forget the demand to announce a new minimum wage in the new year, those who are busy arranging a seat in the parliament for themselves, those organizations whose trade union bosses have turned into satellites of the administration, and be in the street again this year with our own marches and slogans, not with the trade union bosses of Dev-is who remember that they are a trade union only on May Day and who say “capital is the main value”, and we will remind labour and workers how they betrayed our future…

These days, some people have been carried away with the excitement of the elections and they consider it treachery to boycott them… But they are forgetting that in the northern part of Cyprus there is a problem of representation of Cypriots in their own country and the YKP (New Cyprus Party) is waging a struggle for these rights. The will of Turkey and not the will of Cypriots will be registered at the ballot box; this struggle is to take this will back, but one must not be surprised by the fact that those who are desperate for a seat in parliament would call this treachery. The only thing for us is that the spectrum of those who call this treachery has become wider; this can only honour us, but it will not prevent us from our struggle… Once again we call on everyone for a civilized discussion; if it was a slip of the tongue, we hope it will not happen again… But if they are insistent, then we know how to separate friend from foe and act accordingly taking the necessary measures… Let us note this…

Some say we should participate in elections by “opening an umbrella”, some other say we should take part through establishing fronts…

We are ready for everything by doing what the YKP program says. Our program tells us that so long as this occupation continues nothing will come out of these elections.

Our program mentions using the election platform for propaganda. We are ready to use the election platform for propaganda by participating in the elections with a full list of candidates or we are ready with all our members to call a boycott and organize campaigns, our members will decide on this…

But count us out of alliances formed hurriedly on the eve of elections so that some can jump into the parliament and serve as a shop window, cooperate with the likes of Ahmet Kasif, and approve the undercover decisions from Turkey!

If you do not have candidates and if you are not ready you should honestly let it be known; All the organs of the New Cyprus Party, are ready to implement, in the best possible way, any decision to be taken by the congress; this hall gives this message to friend and foe; for this reason we thank everyone for participating.

Dear friends,

Those who were thrown on the garbage heap of history continue to appear before us. Those who are trying to find the end of the rope at Ergenekon, should look at those who every now-and-then support the Ergenekon gang; Let them look at the president of the Talat Pasa Committee, and the committee most of whose members are under arrest for belonging to a gang; and it should not be forgotten that the president of this committee is also an honorary president of a political party; now it is time to push those who are fraternizing with the members of the Ergenekon out of the stage. It is time to cleanse Cyprus politics from gangs and mafia type organizations.

It is time to free ourselves from parties run by dynasties where one person fraternizes with gangs, he is the honorary president, his son is the president of the party, his grandson is the president of the youth branch, and his daughter-in-law the president of the women’s branch; it is time to be free right now from those who are at the forefront in polluting politics and the time to cleanse politics…

Those politically shameless, who through their lifetime keep the title of presidency and when they get a slap in the face they know how to withdraw, but then return to politics, cannot be our fate… Those who succeeded in resurrecting a party which is the architect of distributing the loot, the master of corruption, the fortress of militarism, chauvinism, and nationalism, and the new haven for the defeated grey wolves, should be ashamed of this success…

Those who are licensed and propped up by the AKP (Justice and Development Party) and those who invented the rotation of ministerial seats so as to share the spoils of corruption and bribes should also get an answer at these elections…

And the answer should not be choosing from the available choices, but to provide a clear stand, to provide a clear cut answer so that anyone looking at the results can get the necessary lesson from them…

Dear friends,

CTP will again tell us fairy tales during the elections… According to our information, they have adopted the slogan Green Storm which reminds us of a nationalist novel “The Metal Storm”; what can we say, it becomes them, may it serve them well…

But we have questions for CTP who after what it has done for five years is still out for votes with bogeyman politics;

Until 2003 you were saying in political rallies that there are tens of thousands of illegal citizenships and after each Ergenekon operation, like an opposition party, you found it convenient to reveal their documents, but you were not able to cancel even a single one of them. And the ones cancelled were those citizenships you challenged in the courts before you were in the government and those that were given on the eve of elections. If you are brave enough, tell the public who is preventing you, so that everybody will know why you cannot touch any of those tens of thousands of illegal citizenships which you also spoke of many times…

You also talked in open-air meetings about the corruptions of Denktas and UBP hundreds of times. At the beginning you made some documents about Denktas public, but then whatever intervened, you stopped. Although you have all the documents at your disposal and you have a majority in the parliament, you have sent to court not even a single official of UBP who are submerged in bribery and corruption; what or who was preventing you? Or have you established a corrupt brotherhood with someone? The public is entitled to know; come out with it!

There are still so many things that need to be clarified; the call for tenders for the Famagusta hospital, the gold of Altınbaş, issuing of brochures and signposts without calling for tenders, many overseas trips, shows of inaugurations of nonexistent representative offices, permissions for gambling centres, looting of seaside areas and public lands, and giving out loans with no regard to regulations, are only a few of the irregularities one can mention without difficulty…

And now they can lie to us that if UBP comes to power it will be worse. The truth is that whether UBP or CTP comes to power they can do nothing but serve as an agent, and during the remainder of the time of being an agent, they will use it for looting, corruption and nurturing their supporters. Those who will make a choice among this lot, in three or four months they will begin crying and complaining… YKP is calling once again not to be fooled.

You should know that there is no difference between them. Do not pay any attention to the fact that one is green and the other orange; their insides are the same; a tasteless colour; for this reason a late remorse would serve no purpose. Show your reaction, respond to the calls of YKP, respond so that we can open the way for a new Cyprus. This is our call to all Cypriots…

Dear friends,

The New Cyprus Party is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year… For 20 years we were in the political struggle, we are, and we will be…

In our ordinary congress this autumn, we will discuss other issues in detail, renew our leadership, and continue on our path.

As we said, we are continuing our struggle with determination for the reunification of our country, against the regime and for the removal of the occupation…

Under these conditions we once again call upon all those who

-       accept the struggle to unite Cyprus and the Cypriots;

-       say that a Cyprus with no borders, no weapons, and with no guarantors is possible

-       demand right now a socialism which is egalitarian and libertarian;

-       seek a socialist alternative against agents;

-       oppose the hegemony of Turkey’s civil and military bureaucrats by saying “Cyprus belongs to Cypriots” “this country is ours, we shall rule it ourselves”, refuse all false positions and any dealing with loot;

-       oppose the policy of transferring population to the northern part of Cyprus in order to turn it into a province of Turkey and to assimilate the Turkish Cypriots with the mentality of a conqueror;

-       say that another world is possible; determined to raise the struggle against the attacks of neo-liberalism throughout the world and in Cyprus, together with global resistance by saying that the centre of the world is not Nicosia;

-       Defend a labour Europe and not a capitalist one;

-       Say all people are brothers;

We call on them to join the New Cyprus Party…

Once again we say let us unite in the New Cyprus Party to form a new Cyprus…

Dear friends,

As we said many times before, we gave our word to the coming generations; we will leave them a united socialist Cyprus with no borders, with no weapons and soldiers; for this reason the struggle is continuing unabated, we thank again all those who contribute, give their heart, and life…

Yes, we shall win!

Yes, another Europe is possible!

Yes, we are not condemned to be under the status quo, another Cyprus is possible!

And we insist, we want this tomorrow from now, and we will seize it, because the alternatives are either barbarism or peace and socialism. We made our choice on the side of peace and socialism, we made an agreement with the future, and we are determined to organize the uprising against annihilation and to win our future…

With wishes of success for our congress I thank everyone for participating…

In its 20th anniversary year;

Long live our struggle!

Long live the New Cyprus Party!

The process leading to the Congress

As it can be recalled, right after the announcement for elections was made, the issue was evaluated at the party assembly on 6 January and it was decided to hold the extraordinary congress on 7 February and to discuss the issue before and at the congress so as to define the position of the Party on the matter…

Within this framework, meetings of Party members, sympathizers, and friends were held on 12 January in Nicosia, on 15 January in Famagusta, and on 19 January in Kyrenia. Conditions were created for everyone to express their opinion, and the results were evaluated at the Executive Committee meeting. Finally, on 22 January at a wider meeting of individuals from various sections of society where the YKP Executive Committee sounded out their views, the final preparations for the congress were made and the draft resolution was completed and a meeting of the Party Assembly was called for 26 January to evaluate the topic and take the necessary decisions. The Party Assembly met on 26 January approved the draft resolution and authorized the Party Executive Committee to do the necessary work to bring it to the attention of the membership and have it discussed and approved at the extraordinary congress.