In response to a critique bu our comrade Sungur Savran of his position of defending military coups and the base deeds of the counterinsurgency organisation of the Turkish state, Stalinist writer Yalçın Küçük has sued our comrade for "defamation". We are posting below a news report about the court case published on a leftist news web site, www.bianet.org.

The Initiative for the Revolutionary Workers' Party (DIP) has taken another step towards the foundation of the party by holding its Pre-Conference. The meeting was held on 14 February 2009 in Istanbul, in the auditorium at the headquarters of the United Metal Workers' Union, one of the most militant mass trade unions in Turkey. Delegations attended from some of the major cities of the country (Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Antalya, Bolu and Mersin), as well as single delegates and militants from Kocaeli, Zonguldak, Kütahya, Uşak and Eskişehir.

Not enough to abandon the panel at Davos-what matters is to end the alliance with Zionism!

The Initiative for the Revolutionary Workers' Party considers fully warranted the response by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan to the attitude of Shimon Peres, the president of Israel, and David Ignatius, US journalist and moderator of the panel discussion. It was correct to criticise sharply Peres' manner of speaking, to respond in kind to the moderator, who kept patting the prime minister of a foreign country on the shoulder, displaying the arrogance of a person close to the establishment circles of an imperialist country, to remind him of the unfair allotment of time to the different speakers, thereby privileging Peres, and in the end to abandon the panel. Those who criticise Erdoğan for using the bullying style he resorts to back home are thereby promoting the idea that he should have acted meekly when confronted with such effrontery from imperialists and Zionists. They have thus also been admitted that they cannot defend the idea of equality among nations even for their own people, let alone for those nations whom they oppress. Erdoğan's behaviour is so abominable domestically because he unjustly attacks oppressed people. It is exactly for the symmetric reason why his behaviour at Davos is to be commended. There is no basis for comparing the two, as Erdoğan is the oppressor in the domestic cases while he represents the underdog in the Davos case. Erdoğan has displayed a more honourable attitude vis-à-vis the representatives of imperialism and Zionism than his detractors.

The EEK (Workers' Revolutionary Party) of Greece and the DİP (the Initiative for the Revolutionary Workers' Party) of Turkey, both sections of the CRFI in their respective countries, note with disgust the outrageous statement by the Turkish actor Atilla Olgaç concerning his deeds during the Turkish military intervention in Cyprus in 1974. During this statement, made during a TV show to millions of incredulous spectators, the actor confessed to shooting on the forehead  and killing a 19-year old Cypriot prisoner of war whose hands were tied after the latter spat at him and his superior. He went on to say that he killed nine other Cypriots, not elaborating on the details of these cases. Having defended his remarks to Turkish papers during interviews the next day, he then made a turnabout to retract his confession, claiming that he had mixed up the truth with the events he had imagined for a script he was writing. The question of whether the retraction was made under the pressure of Turkish authorities or as a result of the actor's own embarrasment should not overshadow the immense significance of his previous confession.