On July 20, a bomb attack by the Islamic State killed 28 Kurdish youth, all of whom were members of the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF), and wounded over 100 in Suruç, a Kurdish town in Turkey on the Syrian border. Since then, many developments have unfolded with great consequences for Turkey as well as the whole of region, including Syria and Iraq.
AKP joins the US-led coalition in the so-called fight against IS
On July 22, the deputy prime minister of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Bülent Arınç, announced that Turkey was joining the U.S.-led coalition in the so-called fight against IS, a sharp change of direction in AKP policy after having long withstood the pressure by the U.S. administration to join the coalition. The following day, on July 23, a group of IS fighters on the Syrian side of the border attacked a border outpost in the Turkish town of Kilis, killing a soldier and wounding five others. Turkish forces returned fire and killed at least one IS fighter. It is not by coincidence that AKP announced the decision to open up the İncirlik airbase to the U.S.-led coalition the same day. Strategically located in southern Turkey, only 60 miles from the border with Syria, İncirlik is much closer to Syria compared with other airbases in Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan used by the U.S.-led coalition.
AKP launches attacks against Kurdish forces in Northern Iraq
On July 24, there were reports of Turkey attacking IS targets in Syria, both by tanks deployed across the border as well as by fighter jets. It was questionable, however, whether these attacks really targeted IS- or Kurdish-held positions. YPG (People’s Protection Units), the armed wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), released a statement that said: “Instead of targeting IS terrorists’ occupied positions, Turkish forces attacked our defenders’ positions. We urge the Turkish leadership to halt this aggression.”
On the same day, a wave of airstrikes by Turkish jets targeted Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in Northern Iraq, essentially unilaterally ending a cease-fire that had been in place between Turkey and PKK since 2013. Closely allied with YPG/PYD, PKK has waged a 30-year-long armed struggle for Kurdish independence in Turkey. PKK, whose forces are mainly in Northern Iraq, released a statement saying that the peace-process that was in place has been rendered meaningless.
The Iraqi government renounced the attack as “a dangerous escalation and an assault on Iraqi sovereignty.” Hadi Al-Ameri, commander of the Iraqi volunteer forces fighting IS in Iraq, said, “Turkey still supports IS, it has not changed its stance; it carried out operations against the PKK, which is fighting with the Kurds against IS in Syria.”
AKP unleashes a new wave of repression against opposition forces in Turkey
Using the so-called fight against IS as a pretext, AKP also launched a wave of repression within Turkey, mainly targeting the Kurdish movement and leftist organizations.
On June 24, AKP police conducted raids against 140 addresses in 26 districts in İstanbul. In one of the raids, a woman named Günay Özarslan, a member of a leftist organization, was killed by the police in Bağcılar district. According to TAYAD (Solidarity Association For Families of Prisoners), Özarslan was assassinated by the police, as 15 bullets were found in her body, with no evident sign of her resisting the police.
As of July 29, after police raids over 39 cities, over a thousand people had been detained.
Of the 172 people arrested, 140 were PKK members, 1 DHKP-C (Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front) and only 31 IS members. There were also reports of many IS members being released shortly after being detained.
The number of arrests is a testimony to the fact that while AKP is fighting IS in words, in deed, it is waging a bloody war against the Kurdish movement and the revolutionary left.
Police represses protests denouncing the Suruç massacre
Protests were held all over Turkey, in İstanbul, Ankara, Diyarbakır, İzmir and many other provinces, denouncing the Suruç massacre, pointing to AKP’s role in the rise of IS and denouncing the recent military operations against Syria and Iraq, demanding peace. Slogans of “Murderer IS, collaborator AKP,” “Murderer and thief AKP,” were chanted by the crowds. The police violently repressed the protests, attacking the protesters with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons, detaining many.
AKP’s anti-Kurdish rhetoric intensifies, with early elections in mind
In tandem with the military attacks against the Kurdish in northern Iraq and the domestic repression, AKP officials’ disgustingly racist anti-Kurdish rhetoric have also intensified.
President Tayyip Erdogan accused the main Kurdish opposition of Turkey, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) of having ties with terrorism. In a written statement he released on July 22, he said, “It’s disgraceful for circles—who have openly expressed that they rely on the terror organization—to not be able to show courage to condemn and instead remain silent on the PKK’s brutal terror acts.”
Targeting the newly elected HDP deputies, Erdoğan has also asked the parliament to strip parliamentary deputies with links to PKK of their immunity from prosecution. HDP responded to Erdoğan with a statement that said: “We are calling on the whole parliament. Come and lift the immunity for all 550 deputies. Everyone should justify their own actions. We call on the AKP and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) who feel it is a merit to attack the HDP. If you have the courage, if you are genuine, give up your immunity. Everyone’s files, including those on corruption and theft, should be opened.”
Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu claimed that there is no difference between PKK and IS, adding, “You can’t say that PKK is better because it is fighting Daesh (IS).”
In a similar vein, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said, “Any terror organization, either IS, which attempted to take the lives of young people, or the PKK, which is firing bullets at our policemen, soldiers and citizens, will receive the same response from us,”
There are material reasons behind this glaringly racist, anti-Kurdish rhetoric parroted by AKP officials.
After more than 12 years of rule marked by repression, corruption, ruthless neo-liberal economic policies coupled with a neo-Ottomanist, Sunni-sectarian and aggressive foreign policy, AKP lost the parliamentary majority in the general elections in June. In the same elections, HDP, the Kurdish opposition party, received over 13 percent of the vote, clearing the threshold to enter the parliament. Instead of a coalition government, which has to be formed by August 28, it looks like AKP is setting the stage for early elections in the hopes of grabbing the single-party government again. By labeling the whole Kurdish movement as terrorist, no different than IS, AKP officials are attempting to consolidate support from their reactionary mass base while also looking to gain votes from the ultra-right, fascist sectors of the population that voted for MHP in the last elections.
HDP deputies released another joint written statement that said: “By creating chaos and conflict, AKP is attempting to push the country towards early elections. It is hoping that it will regain the single party government on a nationalist basis. Our society has to realize that the massacres committed by the barbarous organization of IS, its attacks against Turkey, are the direct results of AKP’s policies towards Syria for the last three to four years. In order to disperse the domestic and international perception of its ‘collaboration with terrorism,’ AKP is attempting to create the illusion that it is fighting against IS. AKP’s so-called fight against IS is not remotely convincing or sincere. Why did the state, despite being aware of and closely following IS members who committed the massacres in Diyarbakır and Suruç, not prevent them?”
US-led imperialism endorses AKP’s aggression against the Kurdish people
On July 27, addressing a group of reporters, U.S. State Department spokesperson John Kirby said “Turkey has continued to come under attack by PKK terrorists, and we recognize their right to defend themselves against those attacks.”
Kirby added, “What we’re trying to focus on here is a coalition to go after ISIL. I recognize that in some cases, the PKK has fought against ISIL, but they are a foreign terrorist organization, we’ve designated them as an FTO.”
NATO, the military arm of U.S. imperialism, also gave AKP full political support after an emergency meeting held on June 28 in Brussels. Speaking at a news conference after the meeting, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, “We all stand united in condemning terrorism, in solidarity with Turkey.” Saudi King Salman was also behind AKP’s actions. He said: “I support Turkey’s right to defend itself and protect its citizens from terrorist acts.”
Turkish President Erdoğan said, “At the moment, Turkey has come under attack and is exercising its right to defend itself and will exercise this right until the end.” He added, “There could be a duty for NATO, and we ask NATO to be prepared for this.”
This is imperialist hypocrisy at its best. From the U.S. government to its armed force, NATO, to its brutally oppressive ally, the absolute monarchy of Saudi Arabia, some of the most notorious sources of violence and oppression against the people around the whole world, are all joining the chorus of support for AKP in its so-called fight against terror. They want us to somehow forget the fact that it was AKP itself that played a very significant role in the rise of IS by harboring, funding, training, providing arms to it, and then funneling them across their border to Syria to wage war against the Syrian government as well as the Kurdish forces.
Agreement between US and Turkey for a ‘safe-zone’ that is really a ‘no-fly-zone’
On July 27, an agreement for a plan between the U.S. government and AKP was reached for the creation of a so-called ‘safe zone’ in northern Syria. Needless to say, such a plan for a ‘safe-zone,’ apart from being a brazen violation of the sovereignty of Syria, is also a total mockery of international law.
The New York Times, the leading mouthpiece of U.S. imperialism, described the plan as one that “envisions American warplanes, Syrian insurgents and Turkish forces working together to sweep Islamic State militants from a 60-mile-long strip of northern Syria along the Turkish border.”
Here is a “translation” of what the NYT is really saying about this plan:
The ‘safe zone’ will serve as a safe haven for a slew of mercenary Islamist groups, Al-Qaeda off-shoots, such as Al-Nusrah, Ahrah Al-Sham and many others, with fighters from 100 different countries, backed by the U.S., Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, who are fighting a proxy fight for U.S.-led imperialism in its drive to overthrow the Syrian government.
Let us be clear, despite the contrary rhetoric deployed by U.S. imperialism and its mouthpieces, there are no moderate rebels or “Syrian insurgents” as The Times refers to them.
In early July, under the leadership of Al-Nusrah, Ansar Al-Sharia, a coalition of 13 mercenary groups, initiated a massive assault in Aleppo. They have since been locked in a fierce fight against the Syrian government forces for the control of northern Aleppo, which is less than 20 miles from the reach of this “safe-zone.”
According to Hürriyet, a mainstream Turkish media source, which reported on the unconfirmed details of the plan earlier, the “safe-zone” will be established between the towns of Marea and IS-held Jarablus, extending 25 to 30 miles deep into Syria. Even though denied by the U.S. officials, the details about the plan reveal that it is more like a “no-fly-zone,” similar to one that was deployed by U.S.-led imperialism in the destruction of Libya.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Kirby’s comments on the topic of “no-fly-zone” is revealing indeed: “Ongoing coalition efforts are almost having the same effect as if there was one, because only coalition aircraft are occupying that airspace. There is no opposition in the air, when coalition aircraft are flying in that part of Syria. The Assad regime is not challenging us; ISIL doesn’t have airplanes,”
What does the deal between AKP and US mean?
This is a dirty and shameful quid pro quo deal struck between U.S.-imperialism and its junior partner AKP, all in the name of their so-called fight against IS, at the expense of the Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq, who are ironically the only other effective force that have been fighting IS on the ground, other than the Syrian government itself.
As a result of this deal, U.S.-imperialism got AKP to fully comply with its plans in Syria, gaining the ability to use the strategically located Incirlik air-base it long sought after to accomplish its ultimate objective of overthrowing the Syrian government.
As a result of this deal, AKP got the approval from the imperialists to attack PKK in Northern Iraq and to repress Kurdish opposition on the domestic front with impunity. AKP also got what it had long been asking U.S.-imperialism for, a safe-zone in Syria. By this so-called safe-zone, which will sit right between the Kurdish towns of Kobani and Afrin, AKP has acquired the means to prevent the Kurdish PYD/YPG forces from gaining control over a contiguous corridor in northern Syria, as this area will be harboring various reactionary Islamist groups under AKP’s guidance.
It is worth remembering the words of Erdoğan, spoken in late June, right after YPG/PYD forces had repelled the IS attack on Kurdish-held Kobani: “I say to the international community that whatever price must be paid, we will never allow the establishment of a new state on our southern frontier in the north of Syria.”
Speaking to Sputnik News, PYD co-chair Asya Abdullah denounced the plans for a “safe zone.” She said: “We do not accept intervention in Syria. The people of Syria do not want Turkey’s intervention. No pretext can legitimize Turkey’s entry into Syria.” Rejecting claims that YPG/PYD is after establishing an independent state, Abdullah added: “These claims are not realistic. We defend the idea of co-existence, based on the principle of the brotherhood of the peoples.”
Statement by the Communist Party (CP), Turkey
CP, Turkey released a statement on the recent developments that partially read as follows:
“It is not a secret that the reactionary AKP government has been providing support for the reactionary, anti-people insurgence of the jihadists in our neighbor, Syria.
“It was AKP, which hosted the Free Syrian Army meetings in luxurious hotels in Turkey. It was AKP officials who were hosting FSA generals in their villas as these generals were giving orders to suicide bombers that massacred hundreds of innocent people in Aleppo, in Damascus.
“The names of the mercenary gangs supported by AKP might have changed but their character have not. Arms were provided to FSA, to Al-Nusrah, to Ahrar Al-Sham and ISIS.
“The reactionary government of Turkey has been a party to the massacres in Syria. And now, a new chapter is being staged in the drama, a new chapter in which ISIS, having been fostered by the approval and support of imperialism, has a role to play.
“Turkey is fighting ISIS! The reality is AKP and its armed forces have always been at war with the people of Syria. We only have the following to say: Get your hands off Syria!
“The people of Syria and their legitimate armed forces have the power to deal with the enemy of their people, the jihadist gangs. AKP hands off Syria!”
US-imperialism and its partner AKP: arsonists and firefighters at the same time
All these recent developments bring to mind the earlier words by Bashar Jaafari, the current permanent representative of Syria to the UN: “Those who have great interest in stopping violence in Syria should stop interfering in our domestic affairs, stop arming, hosting, financing and protecting the armed terrorist groups in my country. You cannot be an arsonist and a firefighter at the same time.”
Does AKP really want to fight IS terror? It should start by stopping sponsoring it. Does U.S. imperialism really want to end terror in the region? It should start by stopping sponsoring it, whether covertly or overtly, directly or indirectly.
Of course, our questions and answers above are only rhetorical.
The ultimate objectives of U.S.-led imperialism have never changed: the overthrow of the Syrian government at all costs to replace it with a puppet government that would be beholden to their interests, to secure for international capitalists the domination of this strategically decisive and oil-rich region while also delivering a blow to the popular resistance movements in the region, including Palestine.
U.S. imperialism, its collaborators in the region, like the AKP of Turkey as well as their mercenaries on the ground in Syria, the so-called opposition groups. The peoples of the region have suffered immensely at the hands of these criminals. Whether Arab, Kurdish or Turkish, the people in the region have one thing in common for sure, their enemy: U.S. imperialism and its lackeys such as AKP.
AKP hands off Turkey, hands off Syria! U.S. and NATO hands off Turkey, hands off Syria!
