Following the outbreak of the US-Israel imperialist war of aggression against Iran, Die Linke co-chair Jan van Aken made a statement on Monday celebrating the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other leading officials.
The Workers’ Party of Türkiye’s (TİP) branch in Germany had announced on X/Twitter on January 26, 2026 that one of its members was standing as a candidate on Die Linke’s (the Left Party) Neukölln list in the Berlin state election on September 20, and called on voters in Berlin to “vote for Die Linke in the upcoming elections.” The TİP is the main pseudo-left party in Türkiye. It entered parliament through an electoral alliance with the Kurdish nationalist Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM).
On Sunday, Ulaş Sevinç, national chairman of the Sosyalist Eşitlik Partisi – Dördüncü Enternasyonal, Turkish section of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), published the following open letter exposing the TİP’s ongoing electoral alliance with this pro-imperialist war party in Germany.
The Workers’ Party of Türkiye (TİP) and its leader Erkan Baş, who have declared their opposition to the imperialist war of aggression against Iran, must answer the following questions regarding Die Linke’s—the very party with which TİP has forged an electoral alliance in Berlin and urged voters to support celebration of the killing of Iran’s leaders by the United States and Israel:
Jan van Aken, Die Linke co-chair and a member of the federal parliament, stated the following on Monday, in the aftermath of the unlawful killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei and other leading officials in the imperialist assault carried out by the US and Israel: “There is absolutely no doubt that we all—I personally as well—am glad that Khamenei is dead, that many figures from the regime are dead. One should never rejoice over the death of a human being, and yet I think it is good that they are gone and may they rot in hell.”
1) How do Erkan Baş and TİP evaluate the fact that the leader of Die Linke—a party they actively support—has publicly declared his joy at the deaths of state officials killed in the unlawful US-Israeli military operation against Iran? Will you condemn this statement, or will you ignore it?
2) The TİP claims to be “anti-imperialist.” Is it consistent with this claim for TİP to maintain an electoral partnership in Berlin with a party—Die Linke/the Left Party— that celebrates the deaths of leaders of a historically oppressed country bombed by imperialist-Zionist forces?
3) The TİP is running a candidate from Die Linke in the Berlin state elections and calling for votes for that party. This amounts to de facto endorsement of that party’s program and leadership. In the wake of van Aken’s statements, will TİP withdraw its candidate and its support? If not, how does this position differ from complicity in imperialist war policy?
4) In its statement of February 28 on the war against Iran, TİP declared, “This attack is a blatant act of imperialist aggression.” If TİP stands by its own statement and is prepared to withdraw its candidate and support for the Die Linke, will it instead back the Berlin election campaign of the Socialist Equality Party (Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei, SGP)—a party that has taken a revolutionary socialist stance against the US-Israeli imperialist war of aggression against Iran and against German imperialism’s complicity in it?