Turkish communists manage to split into three in one year


Following last year's split of Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), yet another group was formed in early August from the successors of the party.According to an article published in the Turkish daily Milliyet, a group of 148 split from the People's Communist Party of Turkey (HTKP) after problems occurred at the party's extraordinary congress, founding the new party, the Communist Movement of Turkey (TKH). The remaining faction of former TKP continues political activity as the Communist Party (KP), and is the only faction that is a recognized organization and is permitted to participate in a general election.All three groups claim to pursue the traditional line of the TKP, while explaining the reasons behind the splits as ideological.Meanwhile many people from the old and underground TKP, which conducted its political activities illegally starting from the 1920's until the mid-1980's, accused legal TKP, founded in 2001, and its cadres with opportunism, seizing the chance of receiving the TKP name in the relaxed political environment of post-Cold War Turkey.In the 2002, 2007 and 2011 general elections, the former TKP respectively received 0.19, 0.23 and 0.15 percent of the votes. In the last election, KP received 0.03 percent of the votes.