Erdogan bullying the world

Turkish dictator Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a bully, like most right-wing dictators he is a nationalist and does not like criticism of the ”almighty” Turkish Republic. Turkish nationalism is a huge problem as it has undermined the freedom of all Turkish workers. For the first time, the U.S funded Freedom House has declared Turkey to be a not-free state. This makes the kingdom of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the only actual dictatorship that is part of NATO. Ankara is famous for bullying countries who show any solidarity with the oppressed Kurdish people. Recently the Norwegians were attacked by Ankara for showing a wall painting of Kurdish women. The Turkish state was offended and the cultural centre that showed the painting received threats and insults from Turkish nationalists. Since the Turkish far-right is in league with the conservatives of Erdoğan, it is no surprise that Turkey is now officially no longer called a free nation by Freedom House.

”NATO promotes democratic values and enables members to consult and cooperate on defence and security-related issues to solve problems, build trust and, in the long run, prevent conflict’

This is the first propaganda line of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation on their website. Turkey is a member of this military alliance since 1952. NATO was not formed as a democratic bastion, it was created to protect western capitalism from a potential Soviet attack. The western alliance used democracy as a façade just as the Warsaw Pact used socialism. In all of Turkish history, the nation was never a genuine democracy or a full free nation. Turkish nationalism is the main reason for this fact. When the republic was founded in 1923, right-wing nationalism was printed in its constitution. The intolerance of the nationalists who founded the Turkish Republic, is shown in the massacre of the first Communist Party of Turkey in 1921.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk led the first Turkish Republic from 1923 until his death in 1938. He did not tolerated opposition to his Republican People’s Party. It would not be until 1944 that the party of Atatürk introduced a multi-party system. However the Turkish state would never show any respect towards those who said NO to Atatürk legacy. In the 71 years since Turkey joined NATO, there has been two coups and many undemocratic attacks on the political rights of minorities. Kurds are the main victims of Turkish nationalism. Since the military coup of 1980, Turkey has banned over 20 political parties. Even the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) was almost banned in 2003 for violating the secular constitution.

Kurds have always been oppressed by the nationalist state. This is because Turkey does not recognise minorities. All people who live in Turkey are meant to be Turks. This means they have to speak Turkish and behave culturally Turkish. Kurds have always been regarded as a mountainous Turkish people by the state, although this is not correct. Kurds are a Iranian people, they are not ethnic Turkish. Despite this fact, the Turkish Republic of 1923 oppressed them and force the Turkish language and culture on them. This is why the Kurdish generation born in the last century, could not even speak their own native language. Fifty years of right-wing Turkish nationalism had resulted in the fact that many Kurds did not knew their history and culture.

The foundation of the Kurdistan Workers Party in 1978 was a milestone for Kurds in Turkey. Had it not been for the cruel and abusive ways of the Turkish state, the PKK might never have been so violent. PKK violence rose as a reaction to the crimes of the Turkish government, this fact is ignored by America, Europe and the Turkish Republic itself. When Abdullah Öcalan and his supporters began, few could speak Kurdish. Abdullah Öcalan himself could not speak it, because he was part of the generation who was never told to speak Kurdish at home. After brutal crackdowns of PKK activists between 1978 and 1984, the organisation decided to set up a rebel army to fight back. The People’s Liberation Army of Kurdistan was the armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party, it was renamed People’s Defence Forces in 2000.

NATO supplies Turkey with the weapons to oppress not only the Kurds but also anti-nationalist Turks. This makes NATO co-responsible for any victim of the AK Party and its far-right allies of the Nationalist Movement Party. (MHP). Erdogan needs the support of Turkish fascists in order to stay in power. His conservative party does not have the majority of seats in parliament. This is why they joined up with the far-right, who has no problems with a authoritarian capitalist tyrant like Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Turkish nationalism is a smoke screen used to hide the abuses carried out under the AK Party. Since Turks are raised as nationalists, they are told at schools, at work and by their political leaders not to question the nationalist nature of the state.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has abused this dogmatic intolerance to build up his nationalist dictatorship. Turkey under him slipped slowly from a partly free nation into a not free nation. It needed 20 years, but now there is no way to change the country by democratic means. The 2016 coup attempt by parts of the military gave the dictator more nationalist supporters. Erdogan purged over 48.000 government workers, most were not part of the coup or even supported it. They were all replaced by royal puppets, so the 2016 coup attempt gave the AK Party the final push to remove their critics inside the state apparatus. Erdogan claims that he is defending ”democracy” and ”liberty”. Reality is that he has destroyed the few democratic freedoms the Turks had.

Countries who stand up for Kurdish and other minority rights are bullied by not only the Turkish Republic but also Turkish nationalists and fascists. In countries with a large Turkish minority, Erdogan has a strong base of support. Germany has over four million people with Turkish origins. The Netherlands can count up to one to 1,5 million people with Turkish roots. Around 70% of all ethnic Turks in both Germany and the Netherlands are loyal to the Justice and Development Party (AK Party). This because they originated from rural Turkey, the base of support for the AK Party. While most working class Turks in the cities reject Erdogan, the peasants and poor in the countryside are pro-Erdogan.

These rural Turks who migrated to Europe kept a strong bond with conservative Turkey. After Recep Tayyip Erdoğan first became prime minster in 2002, they were his core supporters. It is thanks to rural Turks that Erdogan was able to win all elections since 2002. Their conservative and religious background made them perfect pawns, because the secularists of Turkey were all living in the cities. The secular constitution was their product as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a secular leader, who wanted religion and state separated. Rural Turks never liked this and Erdogan’s use of conservative populism mixed with Islamic values turned them towards him. Now these Turks bully and intimidate their opponents even outside Turkey.

They raise their children with dogmatism and intolerance for anybody who shows solidarity with the Kurds. The fact that the Kurdistan Workers Party has been labelled a ”terrorist” organisation works in the favour of these nationalists and fascists. Most European government labelled the PKK ”terrorist” in a attempt to get the secular Turks to join the European Union in the 1990’s. Also they claimed that the PKK was terrorist because their armed wing carried out suicide attacks. However the African National Congress led by Nelson Mandela also used terrorism against Apartheid. Mandela renounced terrorism in 1990 and the PKK no longer uses suicide bombers. PKK attacks are now mainly directed against soldiers and police.

In 2018 a Belgian court ruled that the party of Abdullah Öcalan is not terrorist, because they no longer use terrorist methods. Also they fight a legitimate struggle against a oppressive government. The Belgian state said that it would not change anything, for the Kingdom of Belgium the PKK remains ”terrorist” despite their courts telling otherwise. Any solidarity of European organisations with the PKK in Turkey or the PYD in Syria can result in Turkish nationalist protests, intimidations and death threats. Because we are talking here about far-right Turks being allowed to spread their poison and hate. They hide their racism and nationalism under a façade of promoting Turkish culture. The Dutch and German governments should not tolerant Turkish ”cultural groups” who promote nationalist singers and far-right speakers.

Let us not forget that Turkish nationalists and fascists are free to bully and intimidate, because Ankara is pushing them. Erdogan is using his supporters in Europe to do the very things he is carrying out in Turkey. He wants Turks in Europe to act intolerant so that anti-Turkish sentiments rise among Europeans. It will then allow the Turkish government to portray Europe as ”fascist”. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wants to divide the working class of Europe, like all far-right leaders do. It is up to revolutionary socialists to unite workers from all countries and ethnicities. Turkish imperialism and nationalism must be rejected. At the same time we must point out that only class struggle can overthrow Erdogan, not guerrilla warfare by ethnic minorities and small far-left groups.

Presidential dictatorship in the making

President and soon-to-be-dictator: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is almost supreme ruler of Turkey. Back in 2015, he restarted the war with the Kurds and intervened in the Syrian civil war, to fuel nationalism and to crush his internal opponents. Now the final move is made, Turkey is to become a presidential ”democracy” in contrast to the current parliamentary system introduced in 1923. Erdoğan wants to finish his quest and rule unopposed in a dictatorial presidential system. A public referendum is to legitimatize the new system hailed by conservatives and nationalists as ”democratic”!

Turkey is only a democracy in name. Since the rise of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan freedom of speech is more and more limited. With nationalist propaganda against the supposed ”enemies of the Turkish people” the conservative leader is poisoning the minds of many. A big problem is the loyalty of many poor Turks. People from rural Turkey have been the biggest supporters of the soon-to-be-dictator since 2002. They gave Erdoğan his victories in the parliamentary and presidential elections. While rural Turks love him for his conservatism, urban Turks in the cities hate Erdoğan. This is understandable since urban workers are more progressive and reject the growing dictatorial government!

The situation is dangerous as criticism of the president is now more and more impossible. Independent newspapers have been shutdown, left-wing politicians arrested and critics face intimidation by nationalist hooligans. The resuming war with the Kurds has given Erdoğan an excuse to arrest the leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP). This party is supportive of Kurdish minority rights, which is translated by Erdoğan as ”pro-PKK”. Anybody who is not supportive of Turkish nationalism is called ”a supporter of PKK terrorism” by conservatives and far-right nationalists. With the arrest of HDP leaders Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş, the Turkish state has proven that they are not democratic minded. The prosecution claims that the HDP is a front organisation of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is standard procedure when arresting left-wing (anti-nationalist) critics!

In the past, many leftist parties were banned because they supported either Kurdish separatism or Kurdish minority rights. In nationalist Turkey, you are not allowed to call for an independent Kurdistan. Between 2009 and 2015, it seemed that Erdoğan tried to make peace with the PKK. But because of the Syrian civil war and the rise of the PYD in northern Syria, the alarm-bells went off in Ankara. Erdoğan does not like it that Kurdish Syria is controlled by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) a party that is allied to the PKK and its founder. This is why he resumed the brutal crackdown of Kurdish activists. He knew that the PKK would strike back and this they did. Now the soon-to-be-dictator is fueling ethnic nationalism to rally the Turks against the Kurds. Nationalism has always been a problem as many Turks are raised to be deeply nationalistic!

NATO however does not care about the rise of a conservative dictatorship in Turkey. They keep selling guns and weapons to Ankara. This shows that the whole North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a front for American capitalism, with no regard for human rights. NATO weapons allowed the Turks to destroy thousands of Kurdish villages in the 1980’s and 1990’s. European leaders maybe critical of Erdoğan, but their capitalist interests outweighs human rights. Also the Turks are needed against the Islamic State, a terrorist group that grew out of the disaster called: Operation Iraqi Freedom. Also the European Union is afraid that Turkey opens its borders and allows Syrian refugees freely to move into Europe. The refugee crisis is a major problem, yet the EU closes its eyes to people fleeing terror and oppression western imperialism created. Syrians who flee IS terrorism should be welcomed, instead they face racism and rejection by right-wing governments!

Erdoğan is playing on nationalism and the fear of terrorism. These he mixes in a deathly cocktail that is fed to his supporters, who’s backwardness is easy exploited. In rural Turkey, ideas such as democracy, woman rights and freedom of speech are only words used by a secular elite. Many poor Turks have always felt oppressed by those richer and wealthier secularists. They never liked the strict laws on church and state separation. Traditionalism and a conservative mentality are still very dominate outside the major cities. Since 2002, political Islam is making a comeback as the conservative party of Erdoğan is supportive of many Islamic values. The Republicans in America are very similar to the Turkish conservatives. Like the party of Erdoğan, the Republican Party is trying to impose Christian believes on the American people, which is deeply unconstitutional!

Now the big boss of Ankara has picked a fight with the Netherlands. A small country on the western borders of Germany. With over 400.000 Turkish people living in the Netherlands, Erdoğan knows that many of them are politically conservative. Dutch Turks originate as migrant workers in the 1960’s/1970’s. They worked in Dutch factories and were allowed to stay. The owners of the factories searched for workers in rural Turkey and attracted men who were politically and culturally conservative in thinking. This is why after 50 years, many of these rural migrant workers still support Erdoğan. The Dutch government however was not happy that the Turkish government was trying to win over Dutch Turks to vote in favor of the big boss!

The Netherlands has its own election for parliament on 15 March, so the government of Mark Rutte did not liked the idea that Turkish officials were campaigning for a YES vote. A vote which would result in institutionalizing the Erdoğan regime. Turkish minister for foreign affairs: Mevlüt Cavusoglu, wanted to speak in Rotterdam. But the city council rejected his coming. When Cavusoglu said he would arrive no matter what the Dutch think, the mayor banned him from entering the city. Furious at this refusal, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called the Netherlands a nation of ”Nazi remnants”. A typical reaction as Erdoğan also called Germany a ”Nazi state”. It proofs how bombastic and arrogant this mafia dictator is!

Revolutionary socialists call on Turkish voters to reject the president and call for the clear NO. This is difficult as the referendum is held in a deeply undemocratic environment. Critics of Erdoğan has been silenced and those who speak out, risk arrest by the police. With the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) more or less paralyzed by the imprisonment of its leaders, the presidential dictatorship is almost complete. Socialist Alternative in Turkey is calling fora clear NO, as does Revolutionary Socialist Media. The failure of the Republican People’s Party to oppose the conservatives, also shows the bankruptcy of Kemalism, the nationalist ideology of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Turkish workers need to rally with Kurdish workers and others in a workers party on a socialist program!

The People’s Democratic Party has the potential of becoming such a party. But for this to become reality, the HDP needs a program that fully brakes with the Turkish capitalist state. Since it is not allowed to reject nor criticize the bourgeois republic of Mustafa Kemal, the HDP cannot expect that the conservatives nor the nationalists (from both the far-right and the kemalists) will ever tolerate them. Even Mustafa Kemal never accepted opposition to his Republican People’s Party. Like Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the founding father of modern day Turkey was a dictator, who oppressed anybody who did not shared his believes!

Türk işçiler, başkanlık diktatörlüğüne hayır deyin!

#HAYIR

Turkish invasion of Syria

Turkish tanks have invaded North Syria and intervened in the battle for Jarabulus, a small town with 11.000 people. The town came under IS control in July 2013. Kurdish YPG forces tried to take it back, but Turkish artillery prevented the liberation. It is clear why Ankara does not want Jarabulus to be liberated by the People’s Protection Units of Rojava. Dictator Erdogan hates Rojava and considers it to be a ”terrorist” state, much like the Islamic State!

Although the Federation of Northern Syria -Rojava is the most progressive, secular and democratic entity in Syria, the Turkish government considers it ”terrorist”. Why? Because the YPG are the armed forces of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the leading force in Rojava. A party which is linked to the Kurdistan Workers Parry – PKK. Now Erdogan’s tanks are invading Jarabulus, not with the intention to liberate the town but to keep Kurdish forces away!

Over 200 regular Turkish troops and about 50 tanks crossed the border to help rebel soldiers of the Free Syrian Army. Because Ankara hates the YPG, it gives preferential treatment to none-Kurdish rebels such as Arabic and Turkmen militias. The invasion happened at the same time, U.S vice president Joe Biden visited Turkey. It is no coincidence that Erdogan choose to invade Syria now. The Americans are key players in helping YPG forces to gain more grounds. Since the Kurds have united their People’s Protection Units (YPG) with Arabic, Turkmen and Assyrian fighters, it is now able to push Islamic State forces back. Under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), this alliance is the most active battle group fighting the islamists!

Although the western world is slowly starting to support the SDF, Ankara openly rejects it. Erdogan and his nationalist regime have asked NATO to stop supporting the Kurds, who are ”terrorists” in their eyes. Since the fighting resumed between PKK freedom fighters and the Turkish regime, Ankara is trying to destroy anything that is related to Abdullah Öcalan. Erdogan makes no difference between a minority fighting for democratic rights and a reactionary fundamentalist group, which he himself has supported. Turkey has been doing secret business-deals with IS terrorists, specially regarding the selling of crude oil!

In North Iraq (Heremi Kurdistan), the Islamic State took control of some Iraqi oil fields and smuggled many barrels into Turkey. The regime of Erdogan hoped that the Kurds would lose the battle for Rojava, so Ankara tried to hinder the Kurds in almost any way. A victory of the YPG in battle means that the Syrian allies of the PKK, would control all of northern Syria which is a nightmare scenario for Erdogan!

May 2016, SDF forces started with their Manbij offensive. In two months, Kurdish led forces captured over 105 villages and on 12 August, the town of Manbij was liberated. This alarmed Ankara who saw the whole northern border of Syria, ending up in the hands of the Kurds. At this moment 2/3 of northern Syria belongs to the Federation of Northern Syria – Rojava, the political state created by the Democratic Union Party. Islamist forces played the role of buffer zone between Turkey and Rojava. But with the victories of the SDF, Ankara is very worried about PKK fighters using Rojava as a future base!

Turkish Kurdistan or Bakure, is the part of Kurdistan under control of Ankara. Bakure has been oppressed by Turkish nationalism for many ages. Until 1991 it was forbidden to speak Kurdish as the government enforced brutal Turkish nationalism. A famous case is that of Leyla Zana. This Kurdish woman was elected to the Turkish parliament in 1994. But when Zana took her oath, she spoke her final lines in Kurdish. Nationalists in parliament were furious and demanded her arrest. The government agreed and lifted her immunity. Then she was called a member of the PKK and jailed for 10 years!

Leyla Zana is just one story of how the Turkish government oppresses the Kurdish minority. Zana hoped that Recep Tayyip Erdogan would bring peace as he was willing to talk to the Kurds, a rarity for a Turkish leader to do. But Erdogan showed his true colors in 2015 as he abandoned the peace process and resumed the fighting. Maybe he feared a democratic process could lead to an independent Bakure, as Rojava and Heremi (Iraqi) Kurdistan are already de-facto independent. The idea that the Turkish Kurds might wish to join the other Kurdish homelands, is unacceptable for any nationalist in Turkey as it would mean the loss of ”Turkish” land to the Kurds!

The Turkish government therefore wants to stop the SDF from winning more ground. This is why the 200 soldiers and 50 tanks were send into the battle for Jarabulus. Ankara hopes that the town will end up in the hands of forces not part of the SDF, such as the Free Syrian Army. Should the Kurds and their allies keep up with their offensive, it is not impossible that the Turkish troops will be ordered to shoot at them. Ankara does not want Rojava to control all of northern Syria. At the same time the Americans are in a tight position. They want to defeat the Islamic State and to do that, the Americans need the ground troops of the Syrian Democratic Forces. However NATO ally; Turkey does not want the SDF to advance any further!

Revolutionary socialists reject the imperialist plans of both America and Turkey. We call on the brave fighters of Rojava to keep on fighting. Even if Turkey shoots back, the Kurds must be ready to fight them too. Turkey is no ally, it is a imperialist-nationalist regime that is oppressing both Turkish and Kurdish workers. Erdogan is also using the failed coup to remove the last remnants of liberty in Turkey. The U.S vice president has agreed with the demands of Ankara. He called on the SDF to stop their offensive and abandoned the liberated area’s around Manbij. Revolutionary socialists reject this demand and call opon the Syrian Democratic Forces to press on with their offensive against IS. American imperialism is not in command of Rojava and must not be allowed to dictate its military operations!

Because of the limited support the Federation of Northern Syria – Rojava got from western nations, some PYD leaders have turned to Russia for help. Kurdish representatives have already opened an office in Moscow. This is a very unproductive move as the Russians are allies of the Ba’ath regime in Damascus. The PYD should also know that Russia is a imperialist nation with its own agenda. That agenda does not include a free and democratic Syria. Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen and Assyrians must not be fooled by both American and Russian imperialism. The SDF has proven that people’s unity can be effective in both defeating IS and building a none-sectarian democratic society!

Turkish intervention in the Syrian Civil War is disturbing as it opens the road for future interventions. Will Erdogan turn his tanks on SDF held territory? Will his army invade Rojava? To destroy the Democratic Union Party and all who support the ideas of Abdullah Öcalan? Revolutionary socialists demand the full removal of all Turkish forces from northern Syria as well as their attempts to stop SDF advances. Neither Turkish nationalists nor western imperialism will stop the progressive forces from defeating the reactionary Islamic State!

 

Turkish tanks on the border. Now they have moved into Syria!

Kurdish terror is counterproductive

The Kurdish terror attacks on Turkish cities will not serve the people of South Kurdistan. Since the fighting has resumed between the Turkish government and the People’s Defence Force (PKK), many innocent people have been killed. Most of these deaths are ethnic Kurds, who have been murdered by Turkish security forces in South Kurdistan (South East Turkey). In response to these murders, the PKK and other Kurdish resistance groups have started with terror attacks, against police and civilians in major Turkish cities such as Ankara. Revolutionary socialists disagree with their tactics as it will only fuel Turkish nationalism and state-terrorism, against the Kurdish people in both Southern Kurdistan and Western Kurdistan (Rovaja – Syrian Kurdistan)! 

The peace progress between the PKK and Turks seemed to work, but with the Rojava Revolution things changed. Turkish president and soon-to-be-dictator; Recep Tayyip Erdogan feared that Rojava could become, what his people had tried to prevent for years; an independent Kurdish state on the ideals of PKK leader: Abdullah Öcalan. Erdogan came to power in 2002 on a capitalist conservative agenda. His Justice and Development Party (AK Party) challenged the secular Turkish elite, which was very suspicious of this conservative party. In Turkey it remains forbidden to build a political party based on religion. Most Islamic parties have been banned by the Turkish constitutional court. The AK Party claims not to be Islamic, but support most ideals which are common to Islam. Also the party is promoting Ottoman nationalism, Greater Turkish nationalism!

Erdogan has won every election since 2002. This is because his support comes from the rural lands of Turkey. His support in the big cities and tourist regions is minimal. But since most Turks live in the countryside, the AK Party wins their vote. Progressive Turks are secular and more democratic oriented, then the people living in rural Turkey. Most are small minded people, who vote for Erdogan because their family and local community support traditionalism and conservatism, much like Americans who vote for the Republican Party. However secular democratic minded Turks, fear the growing authoritarianism of president Erdogan!

After Syrian Kurdistan was able to become more or less independent from Damascus, Turkey’s worst nightmare seemed to be reality. The cantons of Rojava (Western Kurdistan) proved stable and willing to build a democratic confederalist society. Turkey does not like the idea that a independent Kurdish nation is able to grow, especially when it borders South Kurdistan which is Turkish land. So in secret the government in Ankara, started to support a religious fundamentalist group called the IS or Islamic State. Erdogan hoped that the IS would be able to destroy Rojava and end the Kurdish dreams of independence!

But with support from the Free Syrian Army (Arabs), the People’s Defence Force (PKK – Turkish Kurds) and the People’s Protection Units (PYD – Syrian Kurds), the Kurds were able to stop the offensive of the Islamic State in November 2014. Then they drove the islamists back, Erdogan’s hopes of destroying Rojava failed. Afterwards the Kurds joined forces with Arabs and Assyrians, Armenians and Turkmens to form the Syrian Democratic Forces. Together they fight the reactionary IS and were able to push them far away from the cantons by late 2015!

The struggle of the Turkish Kurds against the Ankara government (regime) has been a long one. It started in the late 1970’s after years of brutal fighting between left-wing guerrilla groups and the far-right who were supported by Ankara. During these chaotic years, a former Kurdish member of the Revolutionary Youth Federation of Turkey, founded the Kurdistan Workers Party in 1978. Abdullah Öcalan based his ideals on Marxism-Leninism (Stalinism) and Kurdish nationalism. His PKK would fight a guerrilla war against the Turks and their nationalist regime. After the collapse of the USSR and his capture by the Turkish MIT and American CIA in 1999, Öcalan abandoned his Stalinist ideals for democratic confederalism. A libertarian socialist idea, which is now attempted in Rojava!

For six years after its foundation, the PKK had no army of its own and lacked the means for major operations. However in 1984 with the foundation of the People’s Liberation Army of Kurdistan, the PKK-Ankara Conflict began. It would become a bloody war with over 45.000 people dying between 1984 and today. Turks call Abdullah Öcalan a ”terrorist”  because his guerrilla murdered both soldiers and civilians, who supported the Turkish government. However for many Kurds, the PKK is the only force capable of fighting for their rights. Basic human rights which the Ankara regime does not grand them!

Recep Tayyip Erdogan seemed to be different then the secular leaders and dictators before him. Unlike them he was willing to give the Kurdish people some rights. He started to talk with the PKK and this resulted in a ceasefire in 2012. For the first time the Kurds were allowed to call themselves Kurdish, could speak their own language and Turkish state television in South Kurdistan, started to broadcast in Kurdish. All these gains are now destroyed as Erdogan aims to destroy the PKK in his own nation and the Democratic Union Party in Syria. The PYD is the Syrian sister party of the Kurdistan Workers Party. Founded in 2003, it has been in opposition to the secular Arab nationalist regime of Bashar Al-Assad!

In the 1980’s the actions of the PKK were mostly based on revenge attacks. Like the terror attacks today, innocent civilians paid the price. Although revolutionary socialists can understand the frustration and anger over the brutality of Turkish imperialism. Revenge killings of the PKK only resulted in more state-terror. Over 3.000 Kurdish towns and villages were destroyed by the Turkish military in the 80’s and 90’s of the 20th century. After Erdogan started to attack PKK camps in both South Kurdistan and North Iraq, the Kurds realized that there would be no peace. On 13 March 2016, a bomb exploded in the capital Ankara, killing 37 and injuring over 120. The attack was carried out by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, a group that broke away from Öcalan’s workers party in 2004!

The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) wishes to have a interdependent Kurdish state, which is no longer supported by the Kurdistan Workers Party. Öcalan has abandoned this idea which led the Freedom Falcons to split from the workers party. They carried out the bombing in the capital on 13 March, so it was not the work of the PKK. Recep Tayyip Erdogan was wrong in blaming Öcalan for the terror attacks, but that is his strategy. He wants to put all deaths caused by terrorism, on the Kurdish resistance. But the TAK are not part of the Group of Communities in Kurdistan and neither belong to the People’s Defence Force (PKK army). Still the terror attack will fuel Turkish nationalism among Turks who want to take revenge, for the death of their fathers, sons, mothers and daughters who were killed at the hands of the TAK!

For the same reasons the Kurdish youth join the PKK in South East Turkey and the PYD in North Syria. They want to fight oppressive forces, Turkey in South Kurdistan and the Islamic State in Western Kurdistan (Rojava). Many Kurdish groups have a strong female presence, which is unique to this region. Few woman take up arms to fight for a cause, but Kurdish woman are a exception. This is why the Woman Protection Units (YPJ) got a lot of western media attention, after young Kurdish woman took up the fight against the Islamic State for a free Rojava!

Although revolutionary socialists can understand why PKK and TAK militants want to take revenge against the Turks, their terrorist actions will only alienate them from the working class of Turkey. Because many Turkish soldiers are conscripts, forced into the army by law. These young men come from working class families. So when Kurdish militants kill them, they do not harm the state. Erdogan can spawn more soldiers from poor families and use them as canonfolder against the newly founded People’s United Revolutionary Movement!

With no hope of peace, the PKK has allied itself with nine illegal revolutionary leftist groups in Turkey. Together they call themselves the People’s United Revolutionary Movement. Members including the TKP/ML, THKP-C, MKP, TKEP/Leninist, TİKB, DKP, Devrimci Karargâh and MLKP. Their goal is to overthrown the Ankara regime of Recep Tayyip Erdogan by guerrilla warfare. Revolutionary socialists disagree, only a unified class struggle of Turkish and Kurdish workers can end the regime. Guerrilla attacks and terrorist bombs will fuel the nationalist propaganda of Erdogan and strengthen the picture that Turkey is ”fighting terrorism”. The soon-to-be-dictator can use the conflict to limit democratic rights in the name of ”increasing security”!

Meanwhile,  Turkish artillery is shelling YPG troops in North Syria. Ankara wants to stop the troops of Rojava, from gaining more grounds. By now the Syrian Kurds control almost the whole north of the Syrian Arab Republic. Islamic State troops keep control over most of the desert and Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Aassad, remains in control of the western coastal cities. Turkey will do anything to stop the Rojava Revolution, shelling the YPG is only the first step. What will Ankara do? Invading Rojava? Destroying the cantons with brutal force, like the 3.000 Kurdish towns in the 1980’s and 1990’s? NATO has allowed it in the past, they will allow it now. Because Turkey is a loyal friend of western imperialism!

Revolutionary socialists call on Turkish and Kurdish workers to build a mass party of their own. We give critical support to the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) which tries to be a voice for both Turks and Kurds. The HDP can become a workers party if it adopts a clear socialist program, in favor of abolishing capitalism and building a Turkish Socialist Republic, with full minority rights for Kurds and Armenians. For this to work, the Turks need to abandon their nationalist thinking and the Kurds need to stop bombing targets in Turkey. Their common enemy is the capitalist system, which is supported by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his Justice and Development Party, the European Union and the United States of America. If the PKK/PYD think that the west will support them they are wrong. For most European nations, the Kurdistan Workers Party is a ”terrorist” group. Therefore no compromises must be made with capitalist governments. Rojava needs to build its own democratic socialist society under control of all people. Kurdish, Arabic, Assyrian and Turkmen workers are needed for socialism to work!

 

Turkish nationalist terror

Far-right nationalists from the Turkish; Nationalist Movement Party attacked the buildings of the pro-Kurdish; People’s Democratic Party ( HDP ) across Turkey. Their aim is to destroy the leftist party and to spread fear and terror into the minds of leftist Turks and ethnic Kurds. The MHP is using the ongoing conflict between the PKK and the state as excuse, to attack and destroy buildings and offices of the leftist HDP. In the last months the violence between the Turkish Armed Forces and the PKK’s People’s Defence Force ( HPG ) escalated. Hundreds of HPG fighters have been killed, in revenge the Kurdish fighters started to murder police officers and soldiers. These revenge killings of public officials is very counter-productive as it fuels the Turkish nationalist propaganda!

The Turkish state started this conflict in the 1980’s, when they oppressed the ethnic Kurdish population. Out of the struggle for a independent Kurdistan came the PKK – Kurdistan Workers Party. Their attacks against the state and army are called terrorist by both Turkey and the western imperialist world. Revolutionary socialists do not agree with this. Sure some actions of the PKK can be called terrorist, but their actions are directed against a colonialist oppressor. Turkey has never given the Kurds ( or any ethnic minority ) any basic human rights. Kurdish language was forbidden, Kurdish children were told to behave as Turks and be nationalist!

After the European Union was founded, the leaders of Europe tried to win Turkey over to their side. This is why Germany banned the PKK in 1993,  nine years later the whole EU designated the PKK as a ”terrorist” organisation.  After the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the Syrian wing of the PKK ( PYD ) became a vital fighter against Islamic terrorism. But Turkey refuses to accept the PYD and  their armed militia the YPG. For the nationalist Turks, both the PYD and YPG are as evil as the Islamic State is. Europe therefore does not support Rojava or Syrian Kurdistan, which is under democratic self-management of Kurds!

In late July, Turkey started to intervene in the Syrian Civil War by bombing both IS positions and HPG bases in Iraqi Kurdistan. This triggered angry responses from the HPG which had kept a low profile in Turkey after the 2013 peace talks. But because of Turkey’s attack the armed militia choose revenge and attacked Turkish police officers and soldiers. Now the government of president/dictator Erdogan was free to launch a full war against the HPG positions in both Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan!

The Turkish media is very on sided and loves to portray the deaths of innocent police officers and soldiers. They do not however tell of the hundreds of PKK members and civilians murdered in Iraqi Kurdistan because their terror attacks. One party that rejects the nationalist warmonger is the HDP or People’s Democratic Party. Founded in 2012, the HDP is a fusion of Kurdish and Turkish leftists. Far-right nationalists are calling for a complete ban on the party, because it would support the PKK and ”terrorism” as they call it. As the HPG started with revenge killings, the nationalists of the Nationalist Movement Party ( MHP ) started  with terror attacks on leftists and HDP buildings!

Although Revolutionary Socialist Media can understand the anger of the Kurds and the desire to strike back, the revenge killings of the HPG are counter-productive and must stop. Because it brings the Turkish working class right into the arms of the reactionary groups like the MHP. In the media, young Turks only read about terror attacks and the killing of ”innocents”. Many are also forced to join the army as conscription is enforced in Turkey. Meaning the working class soldiers are now targeted by the PKK for revenge!

Dictator Erdogan planned this from the start. He knew that an attack on HPG forces in Iraqi Kurdistan would trigger an angry reaction from the PKK. Having lost his 2/3 majority thanks to the People’s Democratic Party, he plans to use the terror of the PKK to win the upcoming election. In his mind he hopes that a massive nationalist campaign, will bring 2/3 of the Turks in line with his conservative party. Then he can turn Turkey into a presidential republic and rule with huge powers like Putin in Russia!

Another reason why the revenge killings are counter-productive is the Turkish police. They have a reason to start arresting critics of the president. In recent weeks many leftist Turks and Kurds were arrested. There is a growing fear that the violence could lead to a civil war in South East Turkey ( Turkish Kurdistan ). Only a mass movement of workers from both Turkish and Kurdish working classes can prevent this. This is why revolutionary socialists call on both the Turkish government and the PKK, to stop their violent actions. Sure the government started it and the Kurds are the victims here. But revenge killings will only serve the agenda of Ankara and the far-right nationalists!

Revolutionary socialists say:

• No to the AKP-led “Palace’s war”; cease all military operations immediately

• No to racist attacks on the Kurds – the real enemies are those who rule the country

• The PKK should immediately end all its attacks

• Build a grass-roots movement against war, where democratic demands are united with working class social demands

• No to creating a Turkish-USA imperialist buffer zone

• Stop Turkey’s support to jihadist groups

• Raise the joint struggle of the Turkish and Kurdish working class against jihadist terror and the warmongering AKP government

• Struggle for a democratic and socialist Middle-East confederation, on voluntary basis, against oppression and capitalism!

 

Many nationalists in Turkey want the HDP banned. They claim the party is supporting the PKK!