Step-by-step united opposition
Politics Service
The progressives, revolutionaries and democrats of this country will gather today in Ankara under the slogan ‘We are standing side by side on the path to a united opposition’. At the forum, which will begin at 2.00 pm at the MMO Education and Culture Centre, the needs and possibilities of a united opposition against the Palace regime will be discussed. Organised with the aim of building a joint line against the one-man regime that has driven the country to the brink of disaster in every sphere, the forum will explore ways for the social opposition to act in unison against a regime that has lost its capacity to govern but is attempting to stay afloat through legitimacy imported from abroad. On the final day of our series of articles, which has been running for several days, SOL Party Spokesperson Önder İşleyen, Ertan Aksoy from Aksoy Research, and academic Dr Mine Yıldırım have contributed to the discussions with their articles. Today’s articles emphasise the imperative for all social movements resisting a regime that has long since lost its legitimacy to form a united opposition front. The assessments note that a fragmented opposition plays into the hands of the one-man regime, and stress that organising around a shared vision and unity of purpose is an absolute necessity, noting that there is no time to lose.
A BROAD OPPOSITION FRONT MUST BE FORGED
“The formation of an independent, united opposition force is of vital importance in terms of shifting the balance of power between the government and the opposition.”
Önder İşleyen, Spokesperson for the SOL Party
All the accumulated problems of the people and the country are knotted up in the current regime. For the broad opposition movement to stand side by side on this joint struggle is an absolute prerequisite for victory.
In an environment where a ruling power that has run out of steam is attempting to stay afloat by dividing the opposition, a joint struggle becomes all the more important.
This means more than simply the broad opposition front gathering at a single point; it implies acting in a spirit of unity of mind and emotion against the regime. Clearly, for the majority of society opposed to this regime to engage in active struggle centred on the belief in victory, this will only be possible through the hope and confidence that arise from precisely such solidarity and unity. The aim of the government’s ongoing operations—which extend from opposition parties to social movements and individuals—is to shatter this hope and confidence.
A fragmented, inward-looking and disjointed opposition is the regime’s sole key to survival. Conversely, the opposition’s ability to stand united is the key to our success.
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Another crucial point is the development of joint struggles and organisational structures within Turkey’s fragmented social opposition.
The dominant political arena centred on Parliament has completely been taken down. Through a political landscape centred on the judiciary, the regime is seeking to consolidate its own front whilst dismantling the opposing one.
This, in a sense, is spontaneously giving rise to a new political terrain where the heart of the struggle beats within the sphere of social opposition. The struggles waged in the streets by people from all walks of life—from workers to teachers, and from young people to pensioners—across every corner of Turkey are a testament to this. The tens of thousands who continue to fill the squares and, when the squares are closed, find new routes to march along, also demonstrate this.
At the same time, these diverse dynamics of resistance remain disconnected from one another, and are consequently fragmented and scattered. The progressive opposition groups emerging from young people to women are, for the most part, isolated from one another and left to their own devices. Taking this into account, we need to establish a joint ground for struggle.
It is also clear that there is no set formula or ready-made answer for this. The real answers will, without a doubt, be found within life and the struggle itself. Today, we see that the need for such unity has emerged as a shared demand. We can now transform this quest into a genuine space for solidarity and joint struggle through political platforms established on campuses, in neighbourhoods, at workplaces and in village squares.
The most important point to emphasise is that such social solidarity and the power of resistance will open the door to victory. Up to now, the opposition’s approach, based on opinion polls and numerical calculations, has led to major miscalculations.
Yet victory is impossible without the active support of the oppressed sections of society—young and old, women and men, workers and peasants, Alevis and Sunnis, Kurds and Turks. The formation of an independent, united popular opposition force is of vital importance in terms of shifting the balance of power between the regime and the opposition.
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Furthermore, in this era where imperialism has adopted a new concept of lawless warfare, the people need new arenas of struggle to defend their own rights and future.
It is clear, as seen at the recent NATO summit, that Turkey is being drawn into the US’s new axis of war. Trump’s declaration of a new war against Iran from Ankara points to the possibility of a war centred on the Strait of Hormuz in the coming days, in which Turkey will also be involved through NATO. This is precisely a springboard for the neo-fascist wave that integrates war with the subjugation of the socio-political sphere.
Alongside developments in the Middle East shaped through monarchies, the regime also views this as an opportunity to complete the US-led counter-revolution.
In the midst of such catastrophes, the struggle against the determination of the country’s fate clearly carries a significance that goes beyond mere changes in the regime for both parties and individuals. This is sufficient to outline the primary joint line of this struggle. Such a struggle must necessarily be waged in conjunction with the quest for change that is taking root within society through struggles for rights.
In the face of the deep crisis currently facing the regime, every development—from the post-Erdoğan search within the AKP to the new right-wing front being sought around the Güls—is an indication of the efforts by various forces to exert influence over Turkey’s future.
This highlights just how essential it is for all the diverse social initiatives and forces of resistance fighting against this regime to organise themselves into a united front that carries their own demands—and how vital this is for a genuine struggle for change.
THE MOST VULNERABLE MUST BE DEFENDED
“The joint line must adopt the principle of defending the most vulnerable. Otherwise, what we call ‘rebuilding’ will amount to nothing more than restoration.”
Mine Yıldırım, Academic
Rights form a whole; just as life does, fundamental rights cannot be broken down into parts. In my view, a good life and a good future are measured by the ability of those who are different to exist within a just and equal system. The strength of an opposition is also determined by its capacity to defend those most in need of protection. Because a regime first targets the most vulnerable and defenceless; the violence that begins there encounters the least resistance. Today, street animals stand at the most visible end of that target. At the root of poverty, insecurity and the exposure of human beings to violence lies the same discrimination directed towards animals: whose life is worth protecting, and whose can be discarded. The same mindset deems some unworthy of a living wage, leaves others alone amidst the rubble of an earthquake, and regards still others as expendable on the streets. This is why I believe justice for animals is not merely a side issue, but a fundamental one, precisely because it touches upon the most naked and defenceless link in that chain of discrimination. Where you create the ‘exterminable’, you also create the ‘deprived and defenceless’; both are products of the same discrimination.
The regime of violence against street dogs, institutionalised in 2024 by Law No. 7527, demonstrates precisely this. The law granted municipalities the power to round up animals, confine them in so-called ‘shelters’ and cull those deemed ‘incurable’. It was dubbed the ‘massacre law’ by the public, because everyone could see: this was not a matter of a care policy, but the transformation of the authority to kill into an administrative routine. The real issue is this: the regime decides whose life is worth protecting, and whose is deemed an administrative ‘problem’ and can therefore be eliminated. It is no stretch to mention in the same breath the animal collected and taken away by the municipality’s teams today, the student loaded into a police van, and the municipality taken over by a trustee; they are all different facets of the same technique: making dissent manageable and removing those deemed surplus from the stage.
The most insidious aspect of the law is that, one way or another, it disperses violence. The state takes on the act of killing, but spreads its legitimacy throughout society. Once the rhetoric of ‘rabid’, ‘aggressive’ and ‘dangerous’ is established, poisoning, beating and shooting become commonplace in certain neighbourhoods. Institutional violence and individual violence feed off one another: the crowd carries out the execution of those the state has declared ‘killable’ with their own hands. In a system that fails to protect the most vulnerable, there is no guarantee as to where violence will stop, and I believe this lack of security affects us all. The concerns of people who have issues with the streets or who worry about their children’s safety cannot be dismissed. But the solution to that anxiety is not killing. The ‘neuter, vaccinate, return’ method, which has been in place for years, both reduced the population and protected the neighbourhood’s familiar, healthy animals. The new regime has disrupted this balance, choosing to manage fear rather than resolve it. Because killing always appears cheaper to those in power.
Yet caring for street animals has long been a widespread, organised, everyday labour. Neighbours collect money for food, shopkeepers place water outside their doors, women build shelters in winter, and students take injured dogs to the vet. Here, care is not merely a sentiment, but a practice; a safety net established by the community itself in the face of the state’s authority to kill. When the law seeks to prevent feeding and harass the minister, it reveals its true intent: what it seeks to eliminate is not merely the animal, but the solidarity that sustains that animal. This is precisely what the demand for justice for animals adds to our common cause, one way or another: pitting care against slaughter, and the practice of living together against the authority to kill. I believe that an opposition which does not dare to protect the most vulnerable cannot protect its own base either. The new way of life to be built from today cannot be established without abandoning the notion that anything other than humans is a dispensable surplus. The common cause must adopt the defence of the most vulnerable as a principle. Otherwise, what we call ‘rebuilding’ will amount to nothing more than a restoration in which the authority to kill simply changes hands.
A COMMON STRUGGLE IS A MATTER OF SURVIVAL
Ertan Aksoy, Researcher
The most striking feature of the period we are living through is that the government has now largely lost its capacity to produce politics. A power that cannot fix the economy, cannot offer hope to young people, and cannot restore confidence in the rule of law increasingly relies on non-political means to prolong its political life. The politicisation of the judiciary, attempts to fragment the opposition, the crackdown on social protest, and the constant narrowing of the democratic space are therefore no coincidence. All of these are not signs of political power, but of political exhaustion.
Political Islam today is not merely in the midst of a crisis of power, but also of a historical defeat. For Political Islam is a political movement that has been defeated by the times. This ideology, which seeks to turn our past into our future, has run out of new ideas.
Consequently, the government is currently, paradoxically, experiencing both its strongest and its weakest period. It is at its strongest because it has largely established dominance within the judiciary, the bureaucracy and the security forces. It is at its weakest because its social support is at an all-time low. Having lost so much power that it now pins its hopes on non-political interventions, it is unable to compete with young politicians, new social demands and a changing voter profile.
History provides examples of similar periods. Authoritarian regimes have lost their social legitimacy and increased repression in proportion to the extent to which they have increased their power. However, history also reveals another truth to us. The first and most important condition for emerging from such periods is solidarity.
Today, the vast majority of Turkish society has grasped this. Millions of people with different worldviews, identities and lifestyles recognise the vital importance of uniting around basic democratic values. Consequently, with every new instance of injustice, a broader social solidarity emerges; a powerful social will, standing steadfastly united, is taking shape.
Politics, too, must demonstrate the same maturity shown by society. For individual struggles to coalesce into a common front, this can only be achieved through collective reason and a shared sense of purpose. No political actor has the luxury of prioritising its own legitimacy over the common struggle. The entire opposition, particularly the left and social democrats, must strengthen its capacity to unite. We are experiencing one of the most severe setbacks in the history of the Republic in terms of democratic gains, the rule of law, and fundamental rights and freedoms. In such a period, a common struggle is a vital necessity. Being able to come together around common democratic goals whilst preserving our differences is today’s greatest political responsibility. For the strongest response to the rise of authoritarianism lies not in those who are alike standing shoulder to shoulder, but in those who believe in democracy standing shoulder to shoulder.
The darkness in this country may be great today. But hope is greater still. Together, we must build a fairer and freer Turkey. We must overcome this darkness by holding on to one another, by strengthening our solidarity and by multiplying our collective struggle. For we know that oppression is fleeting, whilst solidarity possesses a power great enough to change the course of history.
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Adım adım birleşik muhalefet, published in BirGün newspaper on July 19, 2026.
To read the full story from the source: BirGün
