Opinion

Taha Akyol: Ocalan’s insistence on socialism is a fantasy

Taha Akyol analyzes Abdullah Ocalan's recent message on socialism, arguing that his vision of a "communal economy" contradicts modern economic realities.

Editor

Dec 09, 2025 - 14:19

Taha Akyol: Ocalan’s insistence on socialism is a fantasy

WISE NEWS PRESS / ISTANBUL, TURKEY — DEC. 09, 2025

In his latest column, journalist Taha Akyol critically examines Abdullah Ocalan's recent message to a DEM Party conference, where the imprisoned PKK leader stated, "Insistence on socialism is insistence on being human".

Akyol argues that Ocalan's version of socialism is far removed from European social democracy, describing it instead as a totalitarian synthesis of Kurdish nationalism and Marxism-Leninism from the 1970s. He points out that Ocalan himself has previously cited the "collapse of real socialism" in the 1990s as a reason for the PKK to lay down arms.

A Model Rejected by History

Akyol questions how Ocalan plans to present this "imaginary socialism"—which rejects private ownership of production means, freedom of enterprise, and the market economy—to the thriving Kurdish bourgeoisie in Turkey today. He notes that such a regime currently exists only in North Korea and is incompatible with any democratic constitutional order.

Drawing attention to the 2008 "KCK Contract," which reflects Ocalan's directives, Akyol highlights the group's aim to transition from a profit-based economy to a "communal economy based on use value and sharing". Akyol dismisses this as a rejection of all economic science and practice, reminding readers that similar attempts by Lenin led to mass starvation and the eventual collapse of the Soviet economy.

Integration vs. Separation

Akyol emphasizes that Turkey's historical unity and equal citizenship laws have allowed Turks and Kurds to live together, with the Kurdish bourgeoisie becoming deeply integrated into Turkey's economy. He cites the late Tarik Ziya Ekinci, a Marxist who understood class dynamics, as saying, "The Kurdish bourgeoisie does not want to separate".

Akyol concludes by challenging Ocalan to clarify his stance on democracy and economy, asserting that no society has resolved ethnic conflicts while harboring such deep divergences in political and economic systems.