We are publishing here the tribute given by the Young Guard of Bolshevik-Leninists, a Trotskyist youth organization in the former Soviet Union, to Halil Çelik, founder and leader of the Sosyalist Eşitlik Grubu which is the Turkish section of the International Committee of the Fourth International. It was sent to a memorial meeting for Halil on the fifth anniversary of his death held Sunday, January 14 in Istanbul.

Dear comrades,

We send you our greetings from the former Soviet Union and express our support on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of Comrade Halil’s death. His contribution to the building of the Turkish section of International Committee of the Fourth International is a very important experience that we are eager to learn from.

It will be right to point out that thanks to Comrade Halil’s tremendous work, the Turkish group was able to find an international basis for its activities. It is only thanks to this that it could reach a new level of political clarity on the history of the Trotskyist movement and its historical tasks.

A decade of work helped to provide the foundation for the integration of the Turkish group into the ICFI. This strengthened not only the group by linking it to the revolutionary atmosphere of the international working class, but also the International.

Unfortunately, we were not able to get to know Halil, which we bitterly regret, since his path to Trotskyism and the experience gained along the way are exemplary in many matters and carry great educational and inspirational value for comrades in the YGBL.

By leaving behind a written legacy on many issues of Turkish and Middle Eastern political, social and economic life, he showed how important an international approach is in dealing with issues that arise on a national and regional level.

We are seeking to assimilate the path that was taken in the building of the Turkish section, in which Halil played a great role, so that in the future the International Committee will be supplemented by sections from the countries of the former Soviet Union, where the struggle for the revival of Trotskyism meets clear resistance from our opponents.

With fraternal greetings,

The Young Guard of Bolshevik-Leninists