TURKEY

• Here are two webpages in Englishand Turkish on anarchism in Turkey. Another is here.
  
• The Istanbul Social Ecology Group have produced a web page on their views.
  
• Karasin is a web page on anarchism in Turkish with many good documents in English.
  
  • Struggle in the Horror Tunnel is an artcle by Sureyya Evren of the Karasin anarchist group for the Turkish Marxist newspaper,Yeni Evrensel. The article, in Turkish, covers the struggles of RAWA and all women of Afghanistan. In summary, it says that Afghanistan is a center of continuing daily nightmares, and the Sheriat violence of Taleban has brought the most terrible days of the last 20 years. Then the article gives some examples of Taleban terrorism, from the RAWA web site and some turkish newspapers, and says it is compulsory to enter this "horror tunnel" if one is living in Afghanistan. In this horror tunnel, against all the warlords, there is the struggle of Afghan women. Sureyya asks that readers visit RAWA's web page and suggests that it would be good to buy their audio cassettes and books in solidarity with them.
    
  • Anarchy in the TC is a bibliography of anarchist books available in Turkish.
    
• Libertarian Student Platform have a web page with information in Turkish. An English section seems to be in the works.

• Toprak Grubu have a brand new page from Turkey with links.
• Das A im Halbmond is a History of Turkish Anarchism from Ralf Landmesser's 1997 Kalenda . (in German)

• Do the Kurdish People Need a State? by a group of Kurdish Anarchists.
  
• Our Kurdistan by the Italian libertarian-left playwright, Dario Fo and his wife Franca Rame.
  
• Here is the webpage of the Canadian group, Arm the Spirit, which includes many links and publications on the current situation in Turkey and Kurdistan.
• Solidariteitsgroep Turkije-Kurdistan an activist group in Utrecht.
  
• in 1876, Christo Botev, "the first Bulgarian anarchist and national hero... perished for the liberation of Bulgaria from Turkish power."

• ca. 1878, after leaving Beirut, Errico Malatesta's ship docks in Smyrna (Izmir), where the local authorities demand that Malatesta be handed over to them. Fortunately, the Captain of "La Provence" refuses the order and the ship continues on to Italy, France and Switzerland.

• The earliest formations of socialist activity in Turkey come from the ethnic minorities of Bulgarians, Macedonians, Greeks and Jews. The focus of their activity is in Thessoloniki. In these early formations there is a split between the orthodox Marxists and a faction of Bulgarian and Jewish "anarcho-liberals". The two factions try to form a mutual organization with the Marxist Nicola Rusev as secretary. But a split soon occurs with the Marxists decrying the activities of Pavel Delidarev. His associates include Angel Tomov and Nikola Harlakov as well as people from Abraham Benaroya's Sephardic Circle of Socialist Studies.
• The Bulgarian Macedonian Edirne Revolutionary Committees form in Thessaloniki 1893. This group is to evolve into the major Macedonian indepence group against the Ottoman Empire, IMRO (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization).
  The spokesperson of IMRO's left wing is Goce Delcev. He favors sabotage and attentats rather than the nationalist's call for a general uprising, which, it is believed would be quickly crushed by the Ottoman authorities.
  
• Bulgarian and Macedonian students in Switzerland frequent Russian immigrant circles and discover Bakuninism. In 1898, these students form the Macedonian Secret Revolutionary Committee and publish Otmustenie (Revenge). Otmustenie declares war on the nationalisms of the individual ethnic minorities of Ottoman Turkey, but rather makes a call to unite with the Muslim people against the Sultan's government.
• 1896 Abraham Frumkin, a young man, came from Constantinople (Istanbul) to London. He became a friend of Rudolf Rocker.Born 1872 in Jerusalem. One year in Jaffa as a teacher of Arabic. 1891 he went to Constantinople to study law but he didn't manage it because of lack of money. 1893 he went to NY and came in contact with Anarchist ideas for the first time. 1894 he retuned to Constantinople with lots of Anarchist books and propaganda material. In the house of Moses Schapiro from South Russia and his wife Nastia, which was at that time a place for young ative people, he found open ears and minds. Schapiro, who had to flee from Russia cause of his revolutionary activities, quickly was inflamed by the new ideas and went together with Frumkin to Paris and London. From there he took all books he could get about anarchism (Kropotkin, Reclus, Grave, Malato etc.) back home. From London the Yiddish Anarchist paper "Arbeiterfraind" was sent to Constantinople where the Jewish community around Shapiro welcomed it happily. From now on Frumkin wrote for that paper. Then in 1896 they decided to go to London to open a print shop for Yiddish Anarchist booklets. Many years later he wrote a book about this time FROM THE SPRING PERIOD OF JEWISH SOCIALISM. Shapiro had to return to Constantinople in 1897. He left his print shop to Frumkin, who decided to publish an own little paper DER PROPAGANDIST (11 issues). It ended at 1897. After a while in Liverpool and Leeds 1998 Frumkin went to Paris to stay there a year. Then he went again to America 1899. Shapiro was later engaged in the Russian Revolution and was a co- founder 1922/23 of the IWA in Berlin. He went to the US where he died in 1946.

• The Armenian, Alexandre Atabekian attempts on several occasions to distribute anarchist pamphlets in Istanbul and Izmir.
• The italian anarchist, Amilcare Cipriani, much to the chagrin of Malatesta, volunteers to fight in Crete's 1897 revolt against Turkey. He records his impressions in the Almanach de la Questione Sociale.
• In 1903, the anarchist 'Gemidzii group makes contact with Goce Delcev. In April of 1903,the 'Gemidzii group carry out bombings on their own initiative in Thessaloniki against a French Passenger liner and Banque Ottomane Imperiale.
• In May 1912, in London, Errico Malatesta is charged with being a Turkish spy. The accusation comes from the italian patriot (and supposedly one-time anarchist) Bellelli who is offended by Malatesta's outspoken opposition to Italy's adventures in Libya.
• Albert Meltzer's pamphlet International Revolutionary Solidarity Movement includes documents by the Spanish anarchist First of May Group. This pamphlet makes numerous references to the activities of Turkish 'anarchists' in the late 1960s. (however his remarks have been questioned).
  
• The contemporary Turkish anarchist movement begins in the 1980s with some former Marxists publishing in Turkish the pamphlet Kronstadt 1920 by Ida Mett.

• In the late 1980s, two anarchist journals appear in Istanbul, Kara and Efendisiz.
  
• An appeal from Ates Hirsizi in Istanbul.
  
• Ates Hirsizi throw down the glove in the debate over the Unibomer Manifesto.
  
• Article from Peace News on conscientious objectors in Turkey.

• In 1994, there existed an all female punk group in Ankara called the Spinners. One of the members,Sencer Uneri, also produced the magazine Punx Pest. Zuhal and Sencer Uneri were also associated with Sceptic Age.

  

  If you are interested in this subject, here are some places to start:
  • MeGaLoMaNiAc's list of Turkish Metal and hardcore bands
  • The Ankara Hardcore webpage
  • The "anarchopunk" band Rashit from Istanbul.

• In the 1995 film, Conversations Across the Bosphorous, Jeanne C. Finley interviews the Istanbul woman, Goken, who describes her experiences with Muslim Orthodoxy and after years of struggle, removes her veil and establishes her own independence.

• On 1 May 1998, Istanbul anarchists walked under the name of ANARCHIST YOUTH FEDERATION (ANARSIST GENCLIK FEDERASYONU). This is quite important because this is the first time Turkish anarchists defined themselves as a FEDERATION. For now, it involves groups and individuals from Istanbul and Ankara, but soon different groups and individuals are expected to organize as AYF (AGF).
  
• Karasin's PEASANT RESISTANCE OF BERGAMA AND ANARCHISM gives their analysis of a local struggle against the Eurogold multinational.
  
• Report by the Istanbul anarchist magazine Ozgur Hayat on a 1 December 2002 antiwar demonstration against the U.S. threats towards Iraq.
  
• Heres what the Ankara anarchists have been doing.
  
• The latest report from Ozgur Hayat about actions against the U.S. occupation of Iraq, which were taken by anarchists in Istanbul.
  
• February 2006: ANTI-NUKLEER CEPHE (ANTI-NUCLEAR FRONT)actions in Istanbul.
  

Return