Turkey - May Day 1998 reports


In 1 MAY Istanbul anarchists walked under the name of ANARCHIST YOUTH FEDERATION (ANARSIST GENCLIK FEDERASYONU). This is quite important because that's the first one in Turkey which defined itself as an FEDERATION. For now it involves groups and individuals from Istanbul and Ankara, but soon different groups and individuals were expected to organize as AYF (AGF).


In 1 May lots of people walked in demos which were organized in different cities of Anatolia & Kurdistan.

In Istanbul there was struggle between Stalinist groups and the police. About 250 people were arrested during the events. Anarchists (in Istanbul) were in fact not so happy to walk with leftists in 1 MAYs and after a short time they decided to go away (before the events began); this time Istanbul anarchists were much more "organized" and there were also comrades coming from other cities for this (demo) organization. The ones who were arrested were often the members of Stalinist groups (DHKP-C, MLKP etc.) and none of our comrades were arrested.

In Ankara there was not much event; (some people said) 39 demonstrators were arrested after the demo; it may not be quite true. Anarchists were more then 50 in number but they were not "cheerful" and better then last years; the main reason was that some of our more "activist" comrades were in Istanbul.

Also in Diyarbakir, police did not let people walk, and they were forced to end the demo...

LIBERTY WILL WIN!!!

MUTLU (Ankara/TURKEY)


About Anarchism in Turkey: Turkiye'de Anarsizm

Texts in Turkish: Turkce metinler