PART ONE 21:19 — Host Thomas O’Rourke speaks to Mehmet Bayram, a retired IT professional and contributor to Sendika.org, a Turkish language leftist news site. Bayram has lived for many years in the US but travels frequently to Turkey for extended periods. They discuss historical and contemporary Turkish society including the implications of being a member of NATO, working class and minority struggles against reactionary and fascistic Turkish nationalism, and the 1923 founding of the Republic of Turkey by General and later President for Life, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. This followed the Armenian genocide, the Ottoman defeat in WWI, and the final disintegration of the Empire. The segment ends musically with a singing of The Internationale in Turkish.
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PART TWO 24:01 — In this segment Mehmet Bayram and Thomas O’Rourke discuss Turkish religious minorities, the ideological aspects of Turkish nationalism, the rise of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from Mayor of Istanbul to his selection and support from Western intelligence agencies and governments, and Erdogan’s fostering of gangster capitalism with a Muslim-veneer. The segment ends musically with a Turkish song whose title translates There is No Looting in Socialism.
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PART THREE 24:28 — In this segment Bayram and Thomas discuss Turkish historic and contemporary foreign policies including the establishment of numerous military installations and bases abroad, the impacts of wars in Ukraine and Iran on Turkey, and Turkish relations with Israel and western imperialism. The segment ends musically with a singing of an Anthem of Turkish Communist Party.
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PART FOUR 27:19 – In the fourth and final part, Mehmet Bayram and Thomas O’Rourke discuss the Turkish Left opposition and the possibilities for struggle and fight back, the deplorable treatment of political prisoners and inhumane prison conditions both present and past, and a call to action to protest this mistreatment to the Turkish Ministry of Justice. Links on this page give further information on some of these Turkish political and cultural figures. The segment ends musically with a singing of a Turkish Soviet folk song, Elbruz Dağlar or Elbruz Mountains.
Links for further information:
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk – Turkish field marshall, statesman, and founder of Turkish Republic
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – Turkish politician and current President of Republic of Türkiye
MÜSİAD – Turkish Muslim industrialist and businessman association
Fethullah Gülen — Turkish Muslim scholar, educator, businessman
Halikarnas Balıkçısı – Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı (“Fisherman of Halicarnassus”) (1886–1973) Turkish writer
Mustafa Bülent Ecevit – Turkish politician
Thomas Barrack – American lawyer and real estate businessman and currently US Ambassador to Turkey and US Special Envoy to Syria and to Iraq
Protest barbaric Turkish prison conditions
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