The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is at war with the main Kemalist social-democratic opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP). Dozens of CHP mayors of cities and districts have been jailed on corruption charges. The judiciary has ordered the replacement of the current CHP leadership, both in Istanbul and at the central level, from the very popular party president Özgür Özel to the previous one, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who has raised no objections to the judicial moves.

The CHP has easily mobilized its cadres and grassroots supporters in periodic mass demonstrations across the country and in various districts of Istanbul against the imprisonment of its mayors. Therefore, the outcome of the maneuver to reshape the CHP leadership is uncertain. Moreover, with every judicial move against the CHP, the Turkish economy sinks deeper into the abyss.

The municipality of Ankara has also been the subject of an anti-corruption investigation. With Istanbul Mayor and CHP presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu in prison, CHP Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş, who has fascist roots, had become the favorite for the opposition’s presidential candidacy. Although the investigation has not yet reached Yavaş, the AKP would certainly welcome his arrest, as the most popular opposition candidates would not be able to run against Erdoğan under such conditions. That said, Yavaş’s possible arrest could provoke an even stronger reaction than Imamoğlu’s arrest, mobilizing not only the CHP base but also that of the dissident fascist parties Good Party (İYİP) and Victory Party (ZP).

Meanwhile, the so-called “peace process” with the Kurds continues. A “National Commission for Solidarity, Brotherhood, and Democracy” has been set up by members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, and PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, currently in prison, continues to play an active role. After years of collaboration with the CHP and the Turkish left, the Kurdish nationalist DEM party finds itself in a difficult position: on the one hand, it is pushed by its base to express solidarity with the CHP, while on the other, it is forced by Öcalan, who is reportedly working on reorganizing the DEM party, changing its leadership and name to include the word “Turkey”, to conform as much as possible to the government and the ruling coalition. Öcalan, whose main concern seems to be securing his release from prison, has gone so far as to advise the CHP to withdraw from the streets.

Last but not least, there is discord within the ruling coalition, the People’s Alliance. Just as AKP leader and President Erdoğan seeks to ease the pressure he is under from Turkish society in general over the genocide in Palestine by cozying up to Trump, his coalition partner Devlet Bahçeli, president of the traditional fascist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP, which is now more explicit in its support for the “peace process” than the AKP itself, given Bahçeli’s role in it) has called for an unlikely alliance between Turkey, Russia, and China. In turn, CHP leader Özgür Özel has not hesitated to attack Erdoğan on the Palestinian issue and his friendly relations with Donald Trump, and is organizing a demonstration in support of Palestine.

The municipal strike in Izmir, which saw the participation of 23,000 workers, organized by Genel-İş, a member of the DİSK grassroots trade union confederation, was the last major strike to take place in Turkey. Viciously attacked by the bourgeois opposition led by the CHP, which controls the municipality of Izmir, the strike was defeated and followed by mass layoffs. Class struggles continued with less intensity after this defeat.