Coup is the State, Revolution is Liberty!
The coup, which has been an inevitable reality of the state presence in this geography since the military coup of 1980, arose after 36 years, on the night of July 15. Many state buildings were blocked for a few hours during the military mobilisation based in Istanbul and Ankara. The coup started with flypast of fighter jets in Ankara and blocking of bridges in Istanbul by soldiers, and continued with taking hostage of chief of general staff and tank noise and gun shots in the streets. Many state buildings were shot by F16s and helicopters including the parliament building and the headquarters of National Intelligence Organisation; There were clash of arms in many places between soldiers and police. Following the events, national state television broadcast was cut and the coup declaration signed ‘Peace at Home Council” was read. When the ”5 Hour Coup” ended, more than one hundred soldiers, more than eighty police officers and more than eighty anti-coup protesters died. 2839 soldiers, among them many high ranked ones, were taken into custody.
During this 36 years period, the coup as a tool of political oppression, violence and suppression, has been used as a threat by the army over and over again. No doubt, for us, the oppressed, the coup means torture, suppression and massacre of the peoples in this geography in these periods. It’s evident that a structure which takes its power from the massacres it makes, would continue making massacres in the name of “protect the indivisible unity of the country”. The recent coup is a result of power groups fighting for power inside the state. Perhaps, the hidden existence of power groups outside the state pushes its definition to a wider scale. However, there is no doubt that the ones who reinforced their power as a result of this 5 hour coup are the current government and the head of state.
The night that started as a military coup was made into a “democracy holiday” while the state power gained control. Ruling party, AKP, gained the title of “repelled a coup” with its victory against the coup, on top its legitimacy over its “being elected”. Throughout the night, all TV channels made broadcasts that served this victory and made the propaganda of the illusion of democracy personified on Tayyip Erdoğan. This propaganda was also made continuously by the media that was known to be opposing. It this fight for state power, media not only took side with Tayyip Erdoğan, but also played the role of channelling people to the streets.
As well as the media, the opposing parties in the parliament which did not “spare” their support for AKP since the start of this process; fell into the “prevent others from making politics” trap of state power. Their stance “taking sides with democracy against the coup” as a mask of their political unawareness. This indicates clearly that in the short term, they will not mobilize other than reinforced state power politics. Defining the ones who “will die when Tayyip Erdoğan says die, will shoot when he says shoot”, filling the squares with “we want death penalty” slogans, focused on lynching anyone who comes across, as “democracy supporters”; isn’t this a sign of political stagnation of the same opposing parties?
With this coup and the victory against the coup, AKP now has the environment that it needs to create the ideological transformation on society. The “50% that hardly contained themselves at home” which was shown as threat by Tayyip Erdoğan during the Gezi Protests, were on the streets. The fascist culture which is an important part of the ideological transformation taking place from the law system to social life, was awakened with the ones mobilized by the state onto the streets. Not only that, they were guised as people trying to hold their power of democracy… It’s not hard to guess how these “democratic mobilizations” will face the oppressed in different ways in different places. We have already heard news of lynch activity towards the ones not taking sides with reinforced power of the state.
This fight of power groups trying to acquire the state power which operates on top of rising economic and political injustice; is nothing but the perpetuating of authority of oppressors on the oppressed, in order to destroy the freedom of the oppressed. There is no doubt that neither the visible or invisible dictatorship, nor the military of civil structures, nor the coup, nor the elections of political powers that are the enemy of the people, has anything to do with the will of the people. We, who believe that free life cannot be created by a coup or by elections, recognize the existence of the state as a coup to freedom and our revolt will continue until it creates a free world. The state is the coup, revolution is freedom. What we all need, is not get hopes up on the fights between authorities, but to known that hope is revolution for freedom.
Devrimci Anarşist Faaliyet (DAF)
