Socialist Party of the Oppressed Ezilenlerin Sosyalist Partisi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Kurdish name | Partiya Sosyalîst a Bindestan |
| Leader | Hatice Deniz Aktaş[1] Murat Çepni[1] |
| Founder | Figen Yüksekdağ |
| Founded | 29 January 2010 |
| Headquarters | Çankaya, Ankara |
| Youth wing | Socialist Youth Associations Federation (SGDF) |
| Membership(2025) |  418[2] |
| Ideology | Communism Marxism–Leninism Hoxhaism Anti-revisionism |
| Political position | Far-left |
| National affiliation | Peoples' Democratic Congress |
| Colours | Red, White, Blue |
Socialist Party of the Oppressed (Turkish:Ezilenlerin Sosyalist Partisi, ESP;Kurdish:Partiya Sosyalîst a Bindestan, PSB)[3] is aMarxist-Leninistpolitical party in theRepublic of Turkey. It defines itself as "a militant revolutionary socialist party fighting for a workers'-labourers' federative republic in Turkey andNorthern Kurdistan."[4]
Some sources, including the public officials, hold the view that ESP is a legal front for the banned ICOR affiliateMarxist–Leninist Communist Party.[5][6][7] Among its founders isFigen Yüksekdağ, the former co-president of thePeoples' Democratic Party.[8]
The party is one of the participants in the Peoples' Democratic Congress, a political initiative instrumental in founding the Peoples' Democratic Party in 2012.[9]
In 2013The Daily Telegraph called it "a small leftist group" after the homes of 90 ESP members were raided in connection with their involvement in the2013 protests in Turkey.[10]The Telegraph noted that "Police also searched the offices of the Atilim daily [Atılım] and the Etkin news agency, local media outlets linked to the ESP group, the NTV and CNN-Turk television stations reported."[10][11][12]
The youth wing of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed, known as the Socialist Youth Associations Federation (SGDF),[8] was the main target of the2015 Suruç bombing.[13] A group had travelled fromIstanbul toSuruç on the Syrian border to assist in the reconstruction of the neighboring Syrian town ofKobanî after it wasdestroyed by warfare.[8]
