''Turkish Left'' (in

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

: ''Türk Solu'') was a weekly

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

and

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

magazine and the official organ of the Turkish Left (in Turkish: ''Türk Solu'') group in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. ''Türk Solu'' was formed following a split in the

Workers' Party Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...

(İP). The magazine was led by

Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu (born 8 March 1974) is the chairman of National Party and journalist. He is the Head-Columnist of '' Turkish Left''. He was arrested and sent to prison with the accusation of " Insulting the President" on 31 May 2015, b ...

and was based in Istanbul. They consider themselves as

and

Kemalist Kemalism (, also archaically ''Kamâlizm'') or Atatürkism () is a political ideology based on the ideas of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first president of the Turkey, Republic of Turkey.Eric J. Zurcher, Turkey: A Modern History. Ne ...

. They often promote Nationalism, Socialism and Secularism. However, unlike many socialists, they criticise Marx often and they consider

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...

and Sultan Galiev as ideologues of Turkic Socialism. They are influenced by

Attila İlhan Attila ( or ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in early 453. He was also the leader of an empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Gepids, among others, in Central and East ...

Doğan Avcıoğlu Doğan Avcıoğlu (1926 – 4 November 1983) was a Turkish writer, journalist and politician. Biography Doğan Avcıoğlu was born in Mustafakemalpaşa district of Bursa Province in 1926. After completing high school, he traveled to France for s ...

and

Şevket Süreyya Aydemir Şevket Süreyya Aydemir (1897–25 March 1976) was a Turkish writer, intellectual, economist, historian, and one of the founders, publisher and a key theorist of '' Kadro'' ("Cadre"), an influential left-wing political journal published in Turke ...

also. They have been in favour of

Yasser Arafat Yasser Arafat (4 or 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, Presid ...

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

Kim Jong Il Kim Jong Il (born Yuri Kim; 16 February 1941 or 1942 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader of North Korea from Death and state funeral of Kim Il Sung, the de ...

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...

and

Hugo Chavez Hugo or HUGO may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Hugo (film), ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese * Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback * Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise ...

because of their Socialism and Third Worldism,

Rauf Denktaş Rauf Raif Denktaş (27 January 1924 – 13 January 2012) was a Turkish Cypriot politician, barrister and jurist who served as the founding president of Northern Cyprus. He occupied this position as the president of the Turkish Republic of Nort ...

and

Rebiya Kadeer Rebiya Kadeer (; born 15 November 1946) is an ethnic Uyghur Chinese businesswoman and political activist. Born in Altay City, Xinjiang, China Kadeer became a millionaire in the 1980s through her real estate holdings and ownership of a multina ...

because of their Pan-Turkism. They supported good relations with Turkic and Islamic countries and they view

the USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, EU,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

as enemies of Turkey. They were often criticised for their views on Kurds. Especially their "Kurdish Invasion in Turkish Cities" theory is famous. They defended themselves with saying that Turkey is a nation-state and even saying "I'm Kurd" is separatism. They defend it with Nation definition of Turkish constitution. According to it, "every citizen of Turkey is Turkish, regardless of ethnic group, race and religion." ''Türk Solu'' defended that Kurds should melt in Turkish pot. Unlike most of Kemalists, they also admired Ottomans and defended its legacy except 19th-century Ottomans. They considered

Osman I Osman I or Osman Ghazi (; or ''Osman Gazi''; died 1323/4) was the eponymous founder of the Ottoman Empire (first known as a bey, beylik or emirate). While initially a small Turkoman (ethnonym), Turkoman principality during Osman's lifetime, h ...

and Atatürk as similar leaders, who both created new states instead serving a defeated, perished state. Despite they also appropriate

Mehmed II Mehmed II (; , ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (; ), was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481. In Mehmed II's first reign, ...

Selim I Selim I (; ; 10 October 1470 – 22 September 1520), known as Selim the Grim or Selim the Resolute (), was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. Despite lasting only eight years, his reign is ...

and

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman sultan between 1520 a ...

, they considered

Mahmud II Mahmud II (, ; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. Often described as the "Peter the Great of Turkey", Mahmud instituted extensive administrative, military, and fiscal reforms ...

Abdulhamid II Abdulhamid II or Abdul Hamid II (; ; 21 September 184210 February 1918) was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1876 to 1909, and the last sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state. He oversaw a Decline and modernizati ...

and

Mehmed VI Mehmed VI Vahideddin ( ''Meḥmed-i sâdis'' or ''Vaḥîdü'd-Dîn''; or /; 14 January 1861 – 16 May 1926), also known as ''Şahbaba'' () among the Osmanoğlu family, was the last sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the penultimate Ottoman Cal ...

as traitors, they have a similar view of other last era Ottoman sultans. The group published ''Türk Solu'' and ''İleri'' and founded a political party called Ulusal Parti. The magazine was closed following the July 15th, 2016 coup in Turkey and the magazine founder Gökçe Fırat Çulhaoğlu was arrested.

References

External links

Türk Solu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turkish Left 2002 establishments in Turkey 2016 disestablishments in Turkey Banned magazines Defunct political magazines published in Turkey Left-wing nationalism Magazines disestablished in 2016 Magazines established in 2002 Magazines published in Istanbul Socialism in Turkey Socialist magazines Turkish nationalism Turkish-language magazines Weekly magazines published in Turkey