A man lies in front of a tank near Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport early Saturday, July 16. Ismail Coskun / AP
The coup in Turkey is a reminder of the dangers of impatiences with flawed democracy. Democracy, like peace, is a process, not an event. In the long run, the worst democracy is better than the best dictatorship. Agree with the Awami Workers Party, Pakistan – “The solution to imperfect democracy is not to abolish it, but to deepen it”. Sharing their statement below:
AWP rejects the attempted coup by military adventurists in Turkey! All power to the democratic resistance of the Turkish people!
The Awami Workers Party condemns the ongoing coup attempt in Turkey by a section of the Turkish military and calls on all progressive forces across the democratic world to oppose this unequivocally.
Despite our immense political differences with the Turkish government, military adventurism against elected governments, however conservative, can never be justified. All governments, however unpopular, must be removed through democratic means.
AWP calls on the Pakistani government to come out against the attempt to impose martial law and announce full support to the mass movement that has emerged in the streets to resist the coup.
The Awami Workers Party is deeply ideologically opposed to Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian and right-wing politics but, like his democratic opponents in Turkey, accepts the legitimacy of his elected government.
It is important to note that the left-wing Kurdish opposition party HDP, led by Selahettin Demirtas, has also opposed the coup and asked its supporters to resist it. The mass uprising in Turkey that has emerged against the coup plotters is a shining example of democratic resistance that AWP will support whole heartedly in such circumstances.
In light of recent public calls for military intervention in Pakistan by unscrupulous elements, AWP also calls upon all democratic and progressive forces in the country to unite against the possibility of any military intervention in Pakistan.
Pakistan has made painstaking democratic gains in the past decade and they cannot be thrown away by another dictatorial intervention that will again rent asunder this country’s already fragile social and ethnic cohesion and institutions.
All political parties, including those in government and opposition, must openly and publicly voice their opposition to any such attempted misadventure in Pakistan and reassert their commitment to the democratic process. The solution to imperfect democracy is not to abolish it, but to deepen it.
Farooq Tariq
General secretary
Awami Workers Party
Filed under: Progressive politics | Tagged: coup, democracy, Erdogan, military coup, Pakistan, Turkey |
Journeys to democracy 
Leave a Reply