Workers' Party of Turkey Türkiye İşçi Partisi | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | TİP |
President | Erkan Baş |
Spokesperson | Sera Kadıgil |
Vice-president | Doğan Ergün |
Founded | 7 November 2017 |
Preceded by | HTKP |
Headquarters | Çankaya, Ankara |
Membership (2024) | 43,206[1] |
Ideology | |
Political position | Left-wing[8] to far-left[9] |
National affiliation | Labour and Freedom Alliance |
Colours | Red |
Grand National Assembly | 3 / 600 |
District municipalities | 2 / 922 |
Provincial councillors | 1 / 1,282 |
Municipal Assemblies | 36 / 20,953 |
Party flag | |
Website | |
tip.org.tr | |
The Workers' Party of Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye İşçi Partisi, TİP) is a political party in Turkey. The party was founded out of a split in the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP). As a result of the internal strife between two rival factions, the group led by former chairman Erkan Baş initially established People's Communist Party of Turkey (HTKP) in 2014, and after three years, it was rebranded as the Workers' Party of Turkey in 2017.[10]
Adopting Marxism-Leninism as its guide and reconciling it with left-wing populism, the TİP is against capitalism, imperialism, and all forms of exploitation, oppression and discrimination. The party embraces progressive values such as laicism and public ownership, and struggles for the preservation and improvement of democratic and civil rights, freedom of organization, assembly, speech and press.[11] It also strongly advocates for the rights of the Kurdish people, women and LGBT groups in Turkey.
In the most recent general election held in 2023, the TİP, as a part of the Labour and Freedom Alliance, secured a vote share of 1.76%, allowing it to be represented in the Turkish parliament with four MPs including the chairman, Erkan Baş, the spokesperson, Sera Kadıgil, Istanbul MP Ahmet Şık, and Hatay MP Can Atalay.[12][13] This achievement represents the highest number of vote shares ever attained by a socialist party in Turkey since 1965, reflecting a notable milestone in the party's history.[citation needed]
The party has an unusually high proportion of women and young people running its organization compared to other parties in Turkey.[citation needed] The TİP's aim is to encourage the spread and growth of grassroots organizations in order to strengthen the socialist movement.
Since 2017, TİP has established local branches in over 40 cities and districts and is eligible to take part in Turkish elections.[14]