The contemporary political history of the
Republic of Turkey

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The history in general of the Republic of Turkey

The history of the PKK
The history of the DHKP
Political prisoners in Turkey

The contemporary political history after the coup of 18 June 1997

Political history up to the military Coup of 18 June 1997

The Susurluk Accident, November 1996
The Coup of 18 June 1997

Turkish Fascists: The MHP
From Arm the Spirit, 3 January 1995. The recent history of the National Movement Party (Milliyetci Hareket Partisi, MHP), founded by Alparslan Turks in the 1960s. Its hostility to Kurds and dream of Turan—the Great Turkish pan-Turkmen Empire.
On Side Of Turkish Workers
The Militant, 22 January 1996. Following Turkey’s December 24 elections, a flurry of worried editorials appeared in the big-business press decrying the first-place showing by the Welfare Party, described by the bourgeois media as the party of Islamic fundamentalism.
Left on the rise in Turkey
Green Left Weekly, 19 June 1996. The founding of the new Freedom and Solidarity Party (ODP) in Turkey on January 22. Interview with a founding member. The basic line which divides the left and right in Turkey is the attitude towards the Kurdish war.
People’s Council founded in Gazi and Zubeyde-Hanim
DHKC release, 5 November 1996. On March 12, 1995, Gazi, a neighbourhood in Istanbul, made the headlines because of a massacre by the contra-guerrilla and the ensuing uprising of the people. Now Gazi has the honour of being the first neighbourhood of taking the initiative to establish a People’s Council, introducing grassroots democracy.
Thousands march to protest corruption in Turkey
Associated Press, 5 January 1997. Labor and left groups protest corruption in government, inflation, and government attempts to undermine secularism.
Problems in the struggle against terrorism and proposals for solutions
From the National Security Council from Turkey, 19 February 1997. An internal strategy paper. Long and broad struggle against terrorism has faced shortcomings, and there is need for a new multifacted organization to pursue it. Prioritizing the military.
Turkish women blast sexist laws
From the Militant, 10 March 1997. Brief report of a protest against sharia, the Islamic legal code. Concern that Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan’s Welfare Party is reducing official state secularism.
New faces of Islam
By Wendy Kristianasen, Le Monde diplomatique, July 1997. A brand of purely Turkish Islamism has evolved, which poses a serious political threat to the secular establishment. Through their energetic grassroots activities they have won over both the poor and the middle classes. In response, the secular middle classes have started rebuilding their own civil society.