Communist Party of Turkey

(CPT, Türkiye Komiinist Partisi), a party founded at a congress in September 1920 and bringing together Communist organizations operating in Istanbul, Anatolia, and outside the country. The congress adopted a program and rules, declared its agreement with the resolutions of the Comintern, and elected directing bodies.

The Communists of Turkey were active in the national liberation struggle of the Turkish people in 1918–22. In January 1921 the CPT suffered a grave blow when 15 of its leading figures, including Mustafa Siibhi, the chairman of the party, were murdered. In 1923 the reactionary forces of Turkey had the party banned, and it has been illegal ever since. Despite difficult conditions,

Table 1. Congresses of the Communist Party of the United States of America
	Place	Date
¹At this congress the Communist Labor Party of America and the Communist Party of America merged and adopted the name United Communist Party of America ²The Communist Party was a component part of the Workers Party of America ³This congress adopted the name Workers (Communist) Party of America ⁴At this congress the party was renamed the Communist Party of the United States of America
Founding Congress, Communist Labor Party of America ...............	Chicago	August-September 1919
Founding Congress, Communist Party of America (CPA) ...............	Chicago	September 1919
Unity Congress¹ ...............	Woodstock, N.Y.	May 1921
First (Founding) Congress, Workers Party of America² ...............	New York	December 1921
Second National Congress, Workers Party of America ...............	New York	December 1922
Third National Congress, Workers Party of America³ ...............	Chicago	December 1923-January 1924
Fourth National Congress, Workers (Communist) Party of America ...............	Chicago	August 1925
Fifth National Congress, Workers (Communist) Party of America ...............	New York	August-September 1927
Sixth National Congress, Workers (Communist) Party of America ...............	New York	March 1929
Seventh National Congress, Workers (Communist) Party of America⁴ ...............	New York	June 1930
Eighth National Congress, CPUSA ...............	Cleveland	April 1934
Ninth National Congress, CPUSA ...............	New York	June 1936
Tenth National Congress, CPUSA ...............	New York	May 1938
Eleventh National Congress, CPUSA ...............	New York	May-June 1940
Twelfth Congress, Communist Political Association ...............	New York	May 1944
Thirteenth Congress, CPUSA ...............	New York	July 1945
Fourteenth Congress, CPUSA ...............	New York	August 1948
Fifteenth Congress, CPUSA ...............	New York	December 1950
Sixteenth Congress, CPUSA ...............	New York	February 1957
Seventeenth Congress, CPUSA ...............	New York	December 1959
Eighteenth Congress, CPUSA ...............	New York	June 1966
Nineteenth Congress, CPUSA ...............	New York	April-May 1969
Twentieth Congress, CPUSA ...............	New York	February 1972
Twenty-first Congress, CPUSA ...............	Chicago	June 1975

the CPT staged a series of large demonstrations of the working masses during World War II against the policy of collaboration with fascist Germany espoused by Turkish reactionary circles; the demonstrations called for the establishment of friendly relations with the Soviet Union. The CPT was repeatedly subjected to harsh repression, especially in 1944 and 1951, when many activists and party leaders were arrested. The party has consistently supported the vital interests of the working masses, and it has stood for a genuinely independent democratic Turkey, for the country’s withdrawal from the NATO and CENTO military blocs, and for the elimination of American bases on Turkish soil.

Representatives of the CPT participated in the work of the international Conferences of Communist and Workers’ Parties (1957,1960, and 1969 in Moscow). The CPT approved the documents adopted by the conferences.

N. IL’DAROVA