Spokesperson of the LEFT Party, Önder İşleyen: The people are on stage, Trump behind them makes no difference

Öncü Durmuş

The Palace regime is facing an unprecedented crisis within the country. Following the coup attempt on 19 March, the people’s growing rebellion has spread to every corner of the country. Meanwhile the one-man regime is seeking a new channel in foreign policy. Over the past week, as the Middle East equation reflected in the meetings between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has entered a new phase, the Palace's existential crisis has become more evident than ever. On one hand, the regime continues its moves against the Kurdish movement; on the other, it appears to be the implementer of the US's plans in the region. We spoke to the LEFT Party Spokesperson Önder İşleyen about the latest developments.

Following the 19 March coup, debates have emerged around the AKP’s search for support from the US, particularly from Trump. Could the US be a way out for the regime?

While boundless wealth has been transferred to a small exploitative minority, broad sections of the public have been plunged into deep poverty. The popular resistance that emerged after the 19 March coup is forming as a major objection to the continuation of a system built on these inequalities through various forms of oppression and deception.

The AKP and MHP’s policy of intensifying repression centred around the judiciary to neutralise and fragment the opposition has been dismantled as a result of people’s resistance. After the forward-looking offensive was repelled, the government has continued to retreat, suffering defeats at every defensive line it establishes.

In particular, young people’s revolt against the massive wave of hopelessness created for their future has become the clearest sign that this regime cannot escape defeat, no matter what it does. The student struggle, which began in universities and is now growing in high schools, is a signal flare for the future of the country. As the future begins to be built within today and with every step of this struggle, the decrepit political Islamist regime is increasingly left behind.

One key point that tends to be overlooked but must be emphasised is that the struggle of the entire people, and especially the youth, is in harmony with the historical legacy of the left. At the same time, the axes of equality, justice, freedom, direct democracy, and public ownership, which the left has accumulated over many years, are being reinterpreted and recreated within the youth’s own creative resistance and language. In a way, we are witnessing the revival and expansion of the revolutionary resistance traditions that have accumulated in these lands for over fifty years, and the struggle the left has waged against this regime for decades, now coming to life within a popular uprising and charging into the future.

Regardless of the strategies of power being pursued by those in power who have fully embraced a 12 September-style military junta mentality and are entering a process of “becoming Evren”, the first thing that must be said is this: one way or another, this regime is heading towards an inevitable and absolute defeat. That is why even having Trump and the US behind them, alongside the coercive forces of the state, will not save them from this end. A regime that has irreversibly lost the support of the people and is now reduced to a minority power backed only by the most reactionary segments and a handful of exploiters cannot be expected to remain in power for long through external backing or repression alone.

What kind of game plan is the government trying to establish with Trump’s remarks about Erdoğan and Turkey, and Fidan’s visits?

They are trying to survive by gathering support from imperialist centres. The AKP is already an American brand. It was created as part of the US’s Greater Middle East Project. Its rise to power was achieved through a series of operations and interventions. The transformation to political Islamism was implemented within this framework, aiming to align Turkey with US policies in the post-Cold War era. Turkey was deployed as a base and a destructive force in the wars generated in the Middle East. While playing a direct role in the destruction in Syria, Turkey was also turned into a refugee depot for Europe during this process.

Even the temporary tensions with the US, as well as the autonomous manoeuvring between Russia and the US, never indicated a fundamental break with America. The cries of “Hey America” were used domestically as a tool for social consolidation.

Today, they are trying to move into a new phase. At the centre of this is the new situation in Syria. Following Israel’s military operations, starting from Gaza and spreading across the region, a new stage has begun around Syria, with the jihadist group HTS at the forefront. The US and Israel are trying to build a new power base from this balance to encircle Iran. Israel’s military interventions and efforts to limit Iran’s regional military presence and alliances form the foundation of this project. In fact, despite certain ruptures, this marks a new phase of the Greater Middle East Project, with Syria as its final stop. This is not independent of the Third World War scenario, now expressed in the US’s trade war with China and extending to Ukraine. While the US tries to make the Asia-Pacific-centred encirclement the main axis of a third world war, it also aims to secure a new order in the Middle East through an alliance centred on Israel. Turkey is being positioned within this framework and, in this context, there are attempts to form the Turkish-Kurdish alliance that Bahçeli frequently refers to.

The AKP is trying to turn this into an opportunity. Trump, fully aware of how weak Erdoğan and the AKP are, is not holding back in making remarks that would flatter them, fully aware he has them in his pocket.

However, it is clear that permanent stability cannot be achieved in Syria through HTS and its rebranded, polished Al-Qaeda-affiliated leadership under US auspices. More importantly, one of the key components of the growing popular opposition is the demand to break free from the darkness of the Greater Middle East Project that is dragging Turkey into a jihadist abyss. Let us not forget that the consequences of this years-long war, the waves of migration and economic collapse, have now reached a point that the people of Turkey find unacceptable.

At a time when the struggle for independence is rising in opposition to American policies in the Middle East and the jihadist axis tied to them, it must be acknowledged that the destruction spanning decades is no longer tolerable to large segments of society.

The accumulated anger today is a rebellion of the people against the devastation, war, pillage of public assets, forced migration, economic crisis, and growing income inequality brought about by the imperialist redesign projects carried out by the AKP in the region and in our country. In this sense, the AKP's insistence on its power stemming from the US is a way of dismissing the people’s accumulated rage.

How do you evaluate the impact of these developments within the country, particularly on the opposition front, and the effects of this new process that has been initiated?

It is clear that the AKP and MHP are trying to turn the new process initiated with the Kurdish movement into an opportunity. They have already stated that they will attempt to build the legal and political ground through this process to pave the way for Erdoğan’s lifelong presidency. They are also accelerating this process to counterbalance the shockwaves caused by the resistance that emerged in response to the 19 March coup. Erdoğan’s meeting with the İmralı Delegation -unlike anything seen before is a sign of this. The messages from both sides after the meeting, and the involvement of the Ministry of Justice in the ensuing negotiations, indicate that certain steps will be taken.

Nevertheless, regardless of how these developments unfold, and no matter what tricks and deceptions the AKP resorts to, it is evident that this cannot turn into genuine popular support. No one truly expects democratisation under a one-man regime that has inflicted deep wounds on all communities, declared war on the opposition and society, and rendered parliament and legislation defunct. In this regard, no opposition actor should assume they can gain public support by aligning themselves with this course.

What matters even more than all this is to counter the government’s attempts to divide the opposition and the public as it tries to avert its inevitable defeat in the face of this united force by embracing a political approach that seeks to unify and expand the opposition. It’s all of us together, or none of us.

Note: This text has been translated from the original Turkish version titled SOL Parti Sözcüsü Önder İşleyen: Halk sahnede, Trump arkalarında olsa ne yazar!, published in BirGün newspaper on April 13, 2025.