The search for a united opposition was discussed at the "Side by Side Meeting" held in Izmir after Istanbul and Ankara. Hundreds of people from political parties, unions, professional chambers, citizen initiatives, women's organizations and youth movements attended the forum held at the Chamber of Architects Izmir Branch with the call "We are coming together on the path of a united opposition." Democracy, economic and social crises, organization of social opposition and commonality of different areas of struggle were discussed at the forum.
BirGün Newspaper Writer Bülent Forta pointed out that party-dominated politics was blocked. Forta stated the following: "Today, party-dominated politics in Türkiye is experiencing a great collapse. The AK Party has turned into a structure that looks after the mouth of a single person, it is not possible to talk about a political party in the classical sense in the CHP, and the MHP has been acting like the National Security Council for a long time. This crisis is actually an opportunity for the fermentation of a new understanding of politics. So what is this new understanding of politics? It is a ground where ordinary people do politics for themselves. With September 12, politics retreated to the elites, stuck in the living room meetings of the parties and the system of presidents. "We were dragged into a cruising relationship just waiting for the ballot boxes to open. But this threshold has now begun to be broken."
Saying that the street produced a new politics, Forta concluded his words as follows: "The young people who broke the barricades, the mine workers marching to Ankara, the women's movements, the retirees and the producers who took to the streets did this. These small areas of struggle spread all over Türkiye call us to a new politics that is not only indexed to elections. The troubles of young people who have housing problems and retirees who have problems making ends meet originate from the same place. Our demand for peace, equality, justice and the fight against poverty actually comes to only one place: the elimination of the current regime of this country. "I have no doubt that this tradition will win if it establishes itself as a united opposition movement that learns from its mistakes, by coming together to fight for a free, democratic, secular republic."
DİSK United Metal-İş Chairman Özkan Atar drew attention to the injustice in income distribution. Atar said, "We are experiencing one of the most unfair income distributions in the history of the Republic; the country's social values are being plundered. Union organization has fallen to 5 percent, the minimum wage has eroded, retirees who earn 23 thousand liras cannot even pay their house rent. Those who seek rights are left unemployed, strikes are banned. We are heading towards a fascist dictatorship system where even the ballot box has become controversial. If we want a real democracy that will stop this nightmare regime, we have to unite around our demands. Workers who left their jobs in Aliağa, "The miners marching to Ankara do not bow down. We must hold large workers' rallies for social welfare, the right to strike and organize; we must not only make noise but also move forward on a path that will yield results," he said.
Mahir Ulutaş, Chairman of the Chamber of Electrical Engineers, stated that the social opposition should create its own program. Ulutaş said, "We have to re-establish social opposition without restricting politics solely to the ballot box. We are faced with a system in which workers are impoverished, public resources are liquidated and nature is plundered. We must develop an anti-imperialist attitude against this; we must relentlessly defend secularism and women's equality against the transformation created by political Islam. What we need is not only the coming together of different structures, but also a common struggle program that can mobilize large segments of society and grows through concrete demands." he said.
Lawyer Bilge Berk from Izmir Right to Life Defenders also said: "The concept of private property and the neoliberal order have disconnected us from nature; we have occupied the habitats of animals and subjected them to systematic violence and massacre. The struggle we are fighting today is not only to defend the right to life of animals; it is a fight of what kind of world, what kind of city and what kind of order we want to exist in. We have to increase solidarity to defend the right of all living creatures to exist together."
Aslı Tamtürk, President of the Contemporary Life Support Association Izmir Branch, reminded the importance of direct contact with the public. Tamtürk said, "Education is what shapes society as a whole from the moment we are born. This is the area that the regime targets most. We now have to overcome traditional political patterns and narrow identity politics. We cannot proceed with an approach that only visits the markets during election periods; we can solve the problems of the people who do their shopping in that market by organizing directly with the people in the field."
Eylem Ulutaş, Member of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Civil Engineers, said: "Daily life has become unbearable; injustice magnifies crime, our children cannot even access nutrition, which is their most basic right in schools. We can overcome this difficult situation only by building an organized basis. We have to stand side by side against the privatization of public assets, bridges and highways, and in the search for justice in the Ezgi Apartment case."
Teachers' Union Representative Hasan Köroğlu stated that they showed resistance against precarious working conditions. Köroğlu said, "We reached 14 thousand members by defending the rights of our colleagues who were employed without security and who were suddenly dismissed one morning. The reason for the existence of all unions is to fight without any ands. We are side by side with everyone who defends scientific, secular and public education and resists for humane working conditions."
Alevi Bektashi Federation Chairman Mustafa Aslan demanded that the limits of social solidarity be expanded. Aslan said, "We cannot see the struggle against compulsory religion classes as only the problem of Alevis; we have to worry about the pain of all segments of society that are assimilated. We cannot come together by saying 'Kurds, Alevis, women, young people'. It is a historical responsibility to come together on common ground against the government's policy of polarizing society in times of crisis."
University Student Kerem Güler said, "When young people react to reactionary policies, they face dawn raids and attacks. Our movement, which spills over from campuses to the streets, is the voice of those who say democracy against autocracy. If the focus of exploitation against us is single, salvation is not about partial actions but about meeting on a united line. We call on all the youth to come together to destroy autocracy and establish real democracy."
Other speakers at the meeting also stated that it is a historical necessity to build a united opposition line instead of acting in pieces against economic collapse, insecurity, decline of public education, nature plunder and anti-democratic practices.
