20.12.2001
Obituary - Source of inspiration
Riza Yurukoglu (Veli Dursen) November 4 1945 - December 12 2001
The ideological leader of our party, our general secretary for many years and a serving member of the central committee up to the present time, Ismail Nihat Akseymen (comrade Veli Dursun, who also wrote under the name of Riza Yurukoglu) passed away on the morning of December 11 2001. Our sorrow, which we share with all communists, revolutionaries and the working class of Turkey, knows no bounds.
Comrade Veli Dursun, who fell victim to cancer at the age of 56, always stood out because of his theoretical expertise. He joined the Communist Party of Turkey in 1970 and remained at the forefront of his party until his death. He served as general secretary for many years until 1999, when he stepped down from the position, after which he remained an active member of the central committee. At the last central committee meeting he attended he said: à¢â¬ÅI am a member of this party and will remain so until my last breath. I will die as a member of the party.à¢â¬Â True to his word, he breathed his last as a leader and a foot-soldier of his party.
Comrade Veli Dursun believed in studying Marxism from the original sources, the works of Marx, Engels and Lenin. He also instilled this practice in his comrades.
As a member of the central committee and politburo of the Communist Party of Turkey, he raised the banner of struggle against opportunism, which had become dominant in the party in the latter part of the 1970s. He and his comrades, with their hearts and minds immersed in the revolution and communism, started an open discussion in 1979, based on the newspaper Iscinin Sesi (Workersà¢â¬â¢ Voice), as the leadership had banned the debate of theoretical and organisational questions within the party.
Comrade Veli Dursun wrote numerous articles, studies and books advancing the struggle for communism, based on principles of Marxism-Leninism. Of these, his first major contribution to the communist movement was Turkey - the weak link of imperialism, which he presented to the central committee of the Communist Party of Turkey in 1978. The book, which was subsequently reprinted many times in Turkish and English, analysed the communist movement and the working and living conditions of the working class of Turkey. It later became a source of inspiration to all communists struggling for the immediate and long-term aims of the working class of Turkey. Comrade Dursun was also the author of numerous other books under the name Yurukoglu.
Veli Dursun was one of the first comrades to identify the impasse which the world communist movement had arrived at and to provide constructive criticism in his book Living socialism in 1982. The views he developed around socialism and democracy formed the basis of the fourth programme of our party after a gap of 52 years since the third programme.
At the time of his death he was engaged in an all-embracing theoretical study during a period of reaction throughout the world following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The studyà¢â¬â¢s first volume Sosyalizm nedir (What is socialism?) was published recently. His last wish was to have the later volumes published by an editorial board of his comrades in struggle.
Comrade Veli Dursun was married with one daughter.
Central Committee of the Communist Party of Turkey
December 11 2001