After the elections in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan, the Green Left Party announced an intensive period of analysis, debate, criticism and self-criticism. Hacı Erdemir, a member of the party council, spoke to ANF about this process.

It has been announced that HDP and the Green Left Party will carry out various grassroots activities in the coming period. Has this process already started? What are the plans?

The evaluation process continues according to the agenda issued by our party bodies. We have started this process with the participation of our party organisation, civil society, democratic institutions and the people. In this regard, a concrete work plan already exists. Renewal based on criticism and self-criticism is part of our political tradition. It is vital for us that this is practised continuously according to the need. Depending on the results of the assemblies, new requirements arise to make the process as efficient and fruitful as possible. We are in the process of developing new mechanisms according to the requirements and preparing additional assemblies and activities. The assemblies with our democratic institutions at the district and provincial levels before the Feast of Sacrifice represented a very productive start, both in terms of participation and criticism, self-criticism, comments and evaluations. Extensive discussions took place on the process gone through, as well as on problems, shortcomings and inadequacies. The debate was not limited to the electoral process; the political, sociological and historical background was also included. Very important insights have been gained from the evaluations and, most importantly, a solution perspective has emerged.

Based on the insights and needs that have become clear in the first phase of the meetings, we will now start with public assemblies in a second step. From 10 to 25 July, extensive meetings with broad participation will take place in all provinces and districts where we are organised. We will listen to the people in every village, neighbourhood and street we can reach and take their criticism, opinions and suggestions. In the meetings we have held so far, we have realised that there are many areas that we have neglected because of the intense struggle against fascism, that we have not paid enough attention to and where we have not met the demands. There are also shortcomings in communicating our ideas and explaining our strategic and tactical steps. In particular, the mechanisms for involving the people were not used optimally and there were shortcomings and violations in relation to the rights of the components in the organising work.

What were the most important issues in your discussions with the provincial and district organisations after the elections?

During the discussions, there were suggestions from our organisational structures as well as from party members and the people to discuss our strategy, organisation and policies in more detail. We will now assess the developments of the last seven to eight years in Turkey and Kurdistan based on the results of the last elections. It is planned to hold one or two-day workshops and working meetings in many cities on various topics, including our ideas on the right of identities and components, the function and tasks of internal bodies, our political expansion and alliance strategy, our way of shaping politics and our organisational model. In addition to our organisations and grassroots, we plan to invite people from all sections of society, especially intellectuals, writers, academics and representatives of civil society organisations, to these workshops. The workshops will be about evaluating the past period as well as about ideas and proposals for our politics in the coming period.

There have been many valuable criticisms, suggestions and evaluations at the meetings so far. The ideas and proposals coming out of the public meetings, workshops and planned working meetings will be written down and presented at final conferences in Istanbul and Amed (tr. Diyarbakır). Through these conferences, the process at the regional level will be largely completed and our agenda for the new political phase will be largely set. However, this does not mean that the process of discussion and renewal will then be finished for us. As a political tradition, it is in our culture and heritage to continuously discuss, renew and move forward. We will continue to deepen this process of discussion, criticism and self-criticism through congresses. The congresses are a means of criticism and self-criticism, of renewal and strengthening. In this process, we will both strengthen our existing organisations and establish new bodies to prepare for the local elections next year.

How will the HDP and the Green Left Party come together at the congresses and on the basis of which party will they continue?

The HDP is among the most important parties in our political tradition. Despite all its shortcomings, it has waged an important struggle against fascism in the last seven to eight years. It has been under strong attacks and thousands of its leaders and members, especially the former co-chairs, are still in prison. Nevertheless, it has not given up the struggle. The closure case against HDP is still ongoing. It is difficult to predict how the trial will end, as even the last vestiges of democracy that existed under the AKP/MHP government have now been wiped out. The HDP's decision to fight against the attacks of fascism and the closure case is right and appropriate. As the Green Left Party, we will also continue to fight against the closure of HDP as we are a part of it. The question of a party merger should be decided by the party executive, but the priority should be to strengthen the struggle to prevent the banning of the HDP. Due to the ban procedure, there were some disadvantages and difficulties because the Green Left Party had to run in the elections. The fact that we now have both the HDP and the Green Left Party has proved to be advantageous for us. We will develop the Green Left Party organisationally and at the same time fight against the closure of the HDP. Therefore, a merger that would require the dissolution of a party's legal personality is not on our agenda. After the discussion process is completed, the Green Left Party will participate in the preparation of the congress. Of course, the position of the Green Left Party as part of the HDP will change. At the Congress, it will be reorganised according to the needs of the change.  

In addition to the people's assemblies, will you be working on alliance politics and the pre-selection of candidates for the municipal elections in the near future?

We are a party based on radical democracy and have emerged from such a culture. We have a heritage of radical democracy that is exemplary not only in Turkey but also internationally. Fascism prevails in Turkey, so it is more important than ever to develop a democratic culture and promote democratic developments. In our political tradition, direct participation of the people in politics and government is one of the basic principles. For this, we have developed the model of people's assemblies, where the people govern themselves in villages, districts, provinces and wards. This is the most democratic method, because it is not just about sending representative MPs to parliament, but about people being able to represent their will in all areas.

Due to the attacks of fascism, these mechanisms that connect our politics to the people on the ground were disrupted. In the last elections, there was low participation in the pre-selection of candidates due to problems with delegates and a tight schedule. This is one of the main topics of criticism and evaluation in our meetings. We will take the criticism and suggestions into consideration. From our point of view, there is no need for a new decision on the pre-selection of candidates by the people, as this should already be done anyway. What is missing and what we need to discuss self-critically is that we have not sufficiently built up and used the mechanisms for this. Both in the ongoing discussion process and in the context of the congresses, we will fully develop the necessary mechanisms for successful primaries. Our relevant committees are working on this issue.

The aspect of your question regarding alliance politics requires a completely different discussion. The HDP and the Green Left Party are now alliance parties. In other words, they are parties consisting of different alliances. It is about opening up to the left, socialist and democratic convictions as well as to the different identities and workers in Turkey and overcoming the policy of isolation and marginalisation towards the Kurds. This is a strategy that, if implemented on the right basis as in the initial phase of the HDP, will lead to significant results. The aim is for the party to win votes in all provinces and districts of Turkey, create an organisational base and eventually take over the government in Turkey. It would not be right to evaluate it only on the basis of some incidents in the last elections. Moreover, our alliance policy is an area that we will analyse in the future. We will identify the shortcomings and inadequacies of the strategic and tactical steps and redesign them.

It is said that the HDP lost its ability to influence politics in Turkey in the last elections. What are you going to do about this perception?

The HDP and the Green Left Party are part of a tradition that goes beyond politics in Turkey. Its defining role in politics is not only won or lost through elections. This determination was achieved by participating in an epic struggle that involved great sacrifices and resulted in the creation of great values. We are the only party that has the idea, the programme and the vision to solve the problems of the peoples. We are fighting for this under fierce attacks from all parties and the state. Both the government and the opposition are drawing from the official ideology. A significant part of these attacks is undoubtedly carried out by psychological warfare centres. The claim that the HDP/Green Left Party has lost its leading position in politics is not realistic; instead, it reflects the wishes of the special war strategists. The successful election results of 7 June 2015 are a main argument for the plan to complete the genocide of the Kurdish people and to erase the democratic environment and the different identities in Turkey. The monopolised media are constantly trying to create such a perception. The claim that the HDP/Green Left Party has lost its influence does not correspond to reality.

We are the keepers of a heritage that turns every mistake into an occasion for renewal, success and victory. In the struggle against the propaganda of fascism, we will reach and organise even more people and do public relations work. Part of our process of criticism and self-criticism is to neutralise both the policy of repression, arrests and detentions and the methods of special war through grassroots organising. In this context, we will focus more on direct organising work, which we have lacked so far.