Notes from the home front-Turkey at War
Submitted by devrim on Fri, 2007-10-26 09:01
A few reflections on the situation in Turkey. Sorry this is in English.
Thursday 25th:
Yesterday only two nationalist demonstrations came past my house. I suppose that is an improvement...There was an attack on a Kurdish area of Ankara by fascists on Monday. I haven't seen anything about this in the media. I heard it from somebody who lives there. God knows what is happening in İstanbul... Nationalists demonstrated at ODTÜ, the so-called 'castle of communism' on Tuesday. It is the first time their has ever been a nationalist demonstration there. Our organisation has a couple of members there, and they produced a leaflet, which went down very well...The left seems in disarray... the TKP are going on about not letting the imperialists divide our country, a little short of coming all out in favour of the war, but only just...I was accosted on the way to work by a flag seller. He asked me if I had a flag, and when I replied that I didn't, he demanded to know why not. I told he what to do with his flag...then I realised that it was probably a very dangerous thing to have done...He was one of seven flag sellers I saw while walking to work this morning. 26,000 workers still on strike at Türk Telekom...Novamed also still on strike too...on a personal note yesterday after an argument with a particularly nationalistic shop keeper, I decided that I wasn't going to shop in places flying the national flag any more. Unfortunately the only shop I have seen since without a national flag was one selling artificial limbs. The need for bread overtook a stupid abstract idea coming from annoyance...
Friday 26th:
Last night the Army General Command thanked the public for demonstrating against terrorism... The news is full of these sort of demonstrations. Every city, or small town has them... It is difficult to say how much the army have been directly involved in organising them... Some comrades tell me about discussions with workers on a Telekom picket line. The workers there were condemning the acts of sabotage, which have taken place, and saying that they were patriots, and wouldn’t do anything against the country...Everybody is caught up within it...Leftists still very confused. I speak to the comrades from ODTÜ again. The leftists there are deciding whether to attack the fascists. They have been talking about this for four days now. I am slightly shocked when I learn that there are only actually six fascists there...Anarchists are arguing that we should burn Turkish flags. Are they crazy? The result would be pogrom. There was a flag burning incident a couple of years ago, and the whole country was whipped into hysteria. I can’t imagine what it would cause in Today’s atmosphere...I speak to a girl at work, her voice drops to a whisper when she mentions to me that she is Kurdish. Twenty percent of the country are Kurds, and how many are even afraid to whisper it now...“The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice is to visit Turkey early next month to try to reduce tensions between Ankara and Iraq.” There is a war going on today, and she is coming early next month. Whatever they are saying, is this a signal from the States giving a green light to the generals?...The Chief of the General Staff, General Yaşar Büyükanıt, calls for demonstrators to ‘be restrained’. He says it is the PKK who want to spark ethnic conflict. This makes me feel much more relaxed about the nationalist mobs roaming the streets. It is the PKK who want to spark ethnic conflict not them...I count the number of Flags flying from my apartment block. There are only seven. Why on Earth am I thinking ‘only‘...
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Thanks a lot, Devrim!
Thanks a lot, Devrim!
Your notes are very interesting, and I'm going to translate them into Italian. We're following the situation with great attention.
Saturday 26th
Saturday 26th
High court lifts government ban on ‘negative’ media…There is general bourgeoisie media approval of the fact that we don’t have censorship in Turkey…What this means is that you censor yourself. After all if you write anything at all against the national interest you can be tried under the all covering Article 301, insulting ‘Turkishness’...Or end up dead like Hrant Dink, Ahmet Taner Kışlalı, Uğur Mumcu, Ümit Kaftancioğlu, Abdi Ipekçı…I decide not to go to the football tomorrow. At Sivaspor on Monday there were 15,000 people, all with Turkish flags. The Chief of Staff praised them. I think it will be the same everywhere this weekend.. Generally, I don’t stand for the national anthem. I can’t imagine what not doing that would cause tomorrow…Rice warns Turkey against interfering in Iraq…I had an hour discussion with a group of railway workers about the war while I was at work today. Most of them are arguing the standard nationalist line. Some of the things that are said are frightening: “We will clean the Kurds”. One of them argues things that are close to us. It makes me feel a bit more optimistic…I mention it to a comrade later, and it turns out that the rail worker is an anarchist, and the comrade knows him. That is how small the group of people arguing against the war is…Yaşar Büyükanıt Says that a cross boarder operation is not imminent. It sounds like it will start after the 5th of November meeting...
Devrim
Enternasyonalist Komünist Sol
I’ve just translated your
I've just translated your last post into italian
Nick says that some people
Nick says that some people are interested in the politics of our organisation. Unfortunately none of us speak Italian. For those who read English we have, unfortunately very few, translations into English on our website.
Some of our articles on this situation, should be available here next week in Italian:
These things posted here are not a political analysis, but just an attempt to give comrades in foreign countries an idea of what it is like here at the moment.
We want to discuss these things with the comrades here, and will try to take the time to answer any questions that are posted in English (Turkish, and Arabic are also ok.)
Devrim
Hi Devrim. MA07 is a very
Hi Devrim. MA07 is a very young comrade from Rome. We met him in a recent demonstration, after we had some brief discussions with him on this forum.
He's worried by the level of nationalism in Turkey, as you describe it in your notes, and by the fact that an intervention in Iraq could deteriorate an already severe situation. It could also inflame nationalistic spirit and pave the way for a conflict between nationalists and religious extremists, like in Algery. According to him, Turkish bourgeoisie could want to fill the lack of power which followed the fall of the Ottoman Empire, to face the problems of Middle East. He also asks where words of Hanna Batatu, Ervand Abrahamian and Faleh A. Jabar ended up.
Finally he asks: //How much value has the proletarian alternative in Middle East today?// I think this question is one of the most relevant ones, and I would also like to hear something about this from you.
Sunday 27th
Sunday 27th
Kayseri 300,000, Sivas 30,000, Fethiye 30,000, Antalya 10,000, Çorlu 40,000, Amasya 30,000, Nigde 10,000, Çorum 10,000, Gönen 10,000, Golbasi, 10,000, Şirnak 5,000, Samsun, 1000, Kahramanmaraş, 1,000... Today is Sunday, and I am sitting at home reading the newspaper. These of the numbers of people attending pro-war demonstrations in different cities in Turkey yesterday… Tomorrow is Republic Day, a national holiday, it will be worse. The shop at the bottom of my apartment block has a new flag. It has a large picture of Mustafa Kemal, and the words ‘How happy, I am to be a Turk’ written on it…It reminds me that I am not an ethnic Turk, and that my wife is half Kurdish…
Devrim
“He’s worried by the
Yes, so are we.
l“It could also inflame
l“It could also inflame nationalistic spirit and pave the way for a conflict between nationalists and religious extremists, like in Algery.”
I don’t think that the fundamentalists are as powerful here as in a place like Algeria. Political Islam in Turkey has a character more like the European Christian Democrats than that of bin Laden. In a way this struggle is a reflection of the struggles within the state between the Government, and the army for the last year. The army (nationalists), are trying to pressurise the government (a moderate religious party) into a war it doesn’t really want.
“He also asks where words of Hanna Batatu, Ervand Abrahamian and Faleh A. Jabar ended up.”
I don’t know these people. Actually, I think I have heard of the first one. They are Arabs not Turks. We speak different languages.
“Finally he asks: How much value has the proletarian alternative in Middle East today? I think this question is one of the most relevant ones, and I would also like to hear something about this from you.”
This is the most important question. It is also a big one to answer. There is workers struggle in the Middle East. The victory at Mahalla in Egypt, and the spread of strikes following it, the huge strike wave in Iran last year, and even this summer’s much smaller strike wave in Turkey shows that the working class is still capable of struggling. There are also very strong tendencies dragging the entire region into ethnic, and religious conflict. As always the question is posed: Socialism, or barbarism.
Devrim
You are right! Socialism or
You are right! Socialism or barbarism.
Thank you for answering me.
What is your opinion about the friendly relationships between israeli and turkish governments?
Is the turkish proletarian class as keen as the bourgeoisie in having such relations?
How can Turkey support Israel's imperialist behaviour towards palestinians?
to Devrim the honour and the
to Devrim the honour and the burden to answer to such interesting questions...
Monday 28th
Monday 28th
Today is a public holiday, Republic day, I walk out of the apartment to buy some bread, and a newspaper, into a group of about 500 school children waving flags, and screaming about how the army should take them to be martyrs…The banner on the newspaper shouts out The Greatest holiday, Republic day…I watched some fighting in Istanbul yesterday on the news, the newsreader said it was Kurds throwing petrol bombs at the police…I saw a lot of police panzers, but no molotovs…Stones thrown at a Kurdish coffee shop in Bursa…There is talk of there being a demonstration against the war soon in Ankara…A speak to a friend about it. She tells me she is too afraid to go…20 ‘Terrorists’ were killed in Tunceli yesterday. For those unaware of Turkish geography this is nowhere near the border region. Inside the country, the war goes on…Kurdish shops looted in Bursa…DTP (pro-Kurdish social democratic party) offices burnt down in Ayvalık…Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the PM says “As long as we are firmly bound together, the treacherous separatist terrorist attacks will never attain there goal”…
Devrim
Israel
Israel
“What is your opinion about the friendly relationships between israeli and turkish governments?
Is the turkish proletarian class as keen as the bourgeoisie in having such relations?
How can Turkey support Israel’s imperialist behaviour towards palestinians?”
MA07,
What is public opinion in Italy like on the Palestine issue? I would imagine that it is quite similar if a little more pro-Palestinian here. There isn’t the same feeling as there is in Arab countries. Of course I am sure the workers are less for it than those making the money.
I once heard the Islamicists blaming an earthquake on co-operation with Israel.
Turkey is an imperialist country too. At the moment Turkish troops are in Lebanon, Afghanistan, and of course Iraq.
Devrim
Devrim, there are some
Devrim, there are some comments in Italian which you may want to answer to.
The question is: what kind of support can we provide from Italy, or elsewhere, to comrades in a difficult and also dangerous situation like yours?
In particular, Gek wrote:
> I believe the most incisive solidarity is the call to revive class struggle in our country, against all ideological lies of nationalism, against the military aggression of Turkish state but also against the cul-de-sac of struggling for "free Kurdistan" (free for whom? Not certainly for kurdish working class) in the name of proletarian internationalism and disfactism. Our country is the world.
I also believe we should work toward a proletarian alternative, in the place we live but strongly linked to a world movement for communism - which unfortunately is very weak now. This requires the coordinated effort of comrades in different places, certainly, but also the construction of a real and strong international party, with roots in the working class, to transform the struggles for economic and social needs into a political struggle for power, at an international level.
I believe you're making a great good job by contacting workers in strike at Telekom etc. That's the way. I think the duty of all comrades should be to deploy at least pairing efforts, everywhere. We're trying hard!
Long live proletarian internationalism!!!
Long live proletarian internationalism!!!
Hello comrades, hello Devrim!
I am a IBRP sympathizer from Greece. It's a pleasure for me to learn about the existence of your group in Turkey. It's very difficult to fight for the communism and internationalism in Turkey. But the situation in Greece is not better. There is also here a long and deep nationalist and religious tradition which infects the conscience of the workers. There is here the anti-turkish/anti-macedonian/anti-albanian patriotism, the national holidays, the racism against the immigrants, the nationalist-racist groups etc. During the national holidays the students are forced to parade in procession through the streets of the towns. The formal propaganda speeks for the superiority of the "Greek nation", the flag is flying in every place. The class struggle is in bad position, but the revolutionary action is a daily affaire.
Here, in Greece, we have a strong current of sympathy for the palestinians, the Kurds and the islamists of the Middle-East, but that's only a manifestation of the false antiamerican "anti-imperialism" of the greek stalinists and maoists (these currents are very strong in Greece).
The only solution is the communist revolution!!!
02 Kasım
02 Kasım
Nothing really seemed to happen this week…the war went on. Turkish helicopters bombarded the PKK positions in the Kandil mountains…people died…there was more sabre rattling…Massoud Barzani warned the PKK…Rice arrived here yesterday, with the one hand promising to find an effective strategy…and the other warning the Turkish State; “We have certainly been concerned that anything that would destabilise the north of Iraq is not going to be in Turkey's interests, it is not going to be in our interests and it is not going to be in the Iraqis' interests”…One has to ask whose interests it is in really…Nationalist youths demonstrated against her in Ankara…There were a few small nationalist demonstrations across the country…200,000 in Samsun for example…I spent some time at Telekom on the picket lines this week…The strike is solid, 99% in Ankara, 98% nationally…Morale seems to be good…I got an e-mail from friends in Berlin… “we are very concerned about the situation in Turkey. But also in Germany we are faced with a new wave of nationalism in the Turkish/Kurdish community. Last Sunday there was a violent confrontation between Kurds and Turkish Nationalists in Berlin. The situation was very explosive and dangerous. Especially in my district the Bozkurtlar are very active now.”…Tomorrow there is an anti-war demonstration in Ankara…I have no idea what will happen…
I will answer the comments later.
Devrim
Today's Demo
Today's Demo
The demonstration was much bigger than we expected, but still tiny compared to nationalist ones. I will write more later.
Devrim
How strong is left communism
How strong is left communism in Greece Communiste?
...
...
MAO7
There aren't organisations of the Communist Left in Greece. Here the current of the italian Communist Left is completely unknown. On the contrary there are stalinists (Communist Party of Greece), left reformists, maoists, trotskists etc. The influence of the stalinists is the result of the historical backwardness of the workers class in Greece.
03 Kasim
03 Kasim
Today was the demonstration…It was bigger than we expected…KESK, and Eğitim-Sen really mobilised their members. I think that there were about 25,000. It is hard to say though...For those who don’t know what a Turkish demonstration is like, it is a lot louder, and more colourful than those in the West…Political groups come in their matching hats, or bibs, and in military formation…There is lots of organised shouting…People stop at seemingly random moments to form a circle, and dance the Halay…Some things of course are the same the world over. There are always some anarchists with funny hair…I didn’t see any Kurdish flags. I only saw one group of Apocular…Lots of the slogans were about US imperialism, and getting it out of the Middle East. I thought we were protesting against Turkey…Only one group of students seem to shout slogans against the nation…All in all a good day. It was good to not feel so isolated… It is nothing though compared to the size of the nationalist demonstrations. This was a national mobilisation. There were people there from all over the country. The nationalists brought out 10,000 in Golbaşi, a small town near Ankara…I didn’t know that 10,000 people even lived in Golbaşi…In other news some group in İzmir is distributing a petition calling for the State to sterilise Kurds…Two armed nationalists in Osmaniye set up a road block early in the week, and threatened to shoot anyone who didn’t shout “Damn the PKK”…Most people didn’t need the encouragement. When they were taken away by the police, crowds were cheering them…Everyday the 5th and war edges a little closer.
Devrim
What is the war about?
What is the war about?
Devrim
We had heard from the GIS in Berlin about the clashes between Kurdish nationalists and Turkish nationalists there. What a contrast to the Mayday demonstrations when many Kurdish and Tuirkish workers march together in European capitals where (especially in the UK) hardly anyone else marches at all. However the question that all this poses it why the Turkish regime has decided to play this card now. It is not a abaout any general explanation such as "decomposiiton" or decadence but about the precise needs of the Turkish state and government now. It cannot be because they are threatened with the struggle of the working class (since apart from the telecom strike there is little for them to fear). It is not because the PKK is more active now than it has been, since these incursions have been going on for decades (and the Turkish Army knows how to quietly fight a dirty war). It cannot be because the Turkish state is becoming anti-american since it is a key supply route ot Iraq (as well as a key player for the US in the region). It is also not because the Government of Erdogan feels weak since it just triumphed unambiguously in the elections.Some comrades suggest that it may be to do with trying to liquidate the Kurdish problem once and for all by preparing to expand into Iraq for the oil of Kirkuk? This I don't think is the case because the consequences for everyone would be general conflagration (but am prepared to listen to arguments). Are the isues relly internal to Trukey. Is it because there is a conflict between the Erdogan Government and the Army high command? Erdogan is threanening to accede to Army requests to invade Iraq in order to ensure its loyalty after the ruling class split over the election of Gul as President? The nationalist card is usually played by Governments who are desperate about their hold on power but this is not the case here unless it is simply that Erdogan does not want the Army to outmanoeuvre him on the national security front and sabre -rattling helps to reunify the Government and the Army High Command. What do you think?
Cleishbotham
IBRP
“But the situation in
“But the situation in
Yes, I know. The wife, and I went on holiday there a couple of years ago. I particularly like the way that some of the small islands near the Turkish coast have huge flags painted on them, nice touch. It is just as insane as Turkey. It is just like home (but Christian). Do you remember the Imia/Kardak dispute?
I think that part of the sympathy with the Kurds is an anti-Turkish thing.
It is difficult to think of practical things that people can do to help. I think that Gek is very right "I believe the most incisive solidarity is the call to revive class struggle in our country". The job of the communists is to be in the front line of the class war wherever they are.
Devrim
I’ve heard about clashes
I've heard about clashes even in Bruxelles between groups of young nationalist turks trying to assault kurds shops and police.
25000 people rallying against war right now in Ankara I think it's good result :)
"KESK, and Eğitim-Sen": who are they, namely can You give us a brief description of their basic position/history ??
Last but not least: I seem Cleishbt takes You ( Devrim ) important questions to be answered .
Red Greets
“I seem Cleishbt takes You
“I seem Cleishbt takes You
Yes, I know. I will reply (probably tonight). There is some sort of flood control on your board, which stops me posting two replies (it reads post is too long).
KESK-Confederation of Public Workers' Unions formed in 1995, probably the most left wing of the Turkish union confederations.
Eğitim-Sen is their teachers union.
Devrim
5 Kasim
5 Kasim
The Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is in Washington meeting with Bush at the moment...The eight Turkish soldiers captured by the PKK have been released...A PKK ceasefire has been declared... There seems to be an attempt to make some sort of deal... There is a lot of war talk on T.V. ...
Devrim
today’s 7/11. 90 years
today's 7/11.
90 years ago, the Octobre's revolution.
Has none remainded it today in Turkey ?
We actually had a
We actually had a celebration about it in a pub.
we’ve had some conferences
we've had some conferences in our different headquarters.
all the "communist parties" ( trotskist or heirs of the luckly former stalinist PCI ) have celebrated it at their own ways and meanings.
even the main tv channels in their news have reminded such date, obviously with their anti-communist meaning.
today there has been a national general strike called by all indipendent/radical trade unions ( leftist, ..anarchist ) against low wages, temporary jobs and retiring future schemes. We've joined it with our own leaflet having even - in my own opinion - some interest by wokers.
Nothing like that at all
Nothing like that at all here. I didn't see any mention of it in the media, even the leftists had nothing to say.
Devrim
11 Kasim
11 Kasim
Enternasyonalist Komünist SolYesterday was the 10th November, and the 68th anniversary of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s death. The whole country officially stops for one minute at the moment that he died, 9.05 a.m. …Ten years ago I would say 100% of people stopped, and stood to attention, in the intervening years it has been decreasing …Last year I was sitting in a café laughing , and joking with fellow workers while my boss (at another table) was the only person who stood…Yesterday, I spoke to people at work who wanted to hit the very few people who didn’t stop…546,620 thousand people were at the ceremony at Atatürk’s mausoleum in Ankara yesterday…That is a fourfold increase on last years 127,392... So far this year nearly 11,000,000 people have been there…
Yesterday I got out of the city, and went to pick up my wife’s parents…When I arrived there was the Turkish flag in the window…I am not allowed to talk politics with my elderly father-in-law in case it upsets him…Unfortunately this week the usual substitute of football, and Beşiktaş wasn’t guaranteed to have the same effect…The wife corrected the mother-in-law when she called some demonstrators on T.V terrorists…They are just leftist kids, Mum…In case you are wondering there have been no more demonstrations against the war. It was from a series about the 70s…There was a lot of talk about ‘how much we all miss Atatürk’, and how he would have dealt with the terrorists, … I think I mentioned it before, but in case you have forgotten my father-in-law is a Kurd…
It is a bit like my friend F…She talks about how the Arabs are dirty, and not to be trusted…There is nothing strange in this in itself…It is the fact that she is a native Arabic speaker, and has relatives on the Syrian side of the border, which makes it seem just a little incongruous…This is the reality of 84 years of assimilation…
In other news a politician said that he would have rather that the eight Turkish soldiers who were kidnapped had been killed than brought dishonour on the army…The DTP (pro-Kurdish party) has elected a new ‘hard line’ leadership…Newspapers report from their congress that ‘A small Turkish flag was hung in the congress hall, but the Turkish national anthem was not played and no picture of the republic’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk…Will their party be closed down?…Two Gendarmerie officers are being charged with complicity in the murder of the journalist Hrant Dink…
The immediate threat of war seems to have diminished. The parliamentary decision though is valid for one year. It is time for some analysis…
Devrim
Thanks again for your report
Thanks again for your report from "frontline".
now I have no time for deep analysis of international situation.
your description of the real life is much more intriguing than some analysis sometimes I've read somewhere...
Red Greets
Enternasyonalist Komünist
Enternasyonalist Komünist SolPresident Gül announces that Turkey will fight terror to the end…The UN says it understands Turkey’s concerns: "The secretary-general fully understands Turkey's national security concerns. In that regard, he continues to urge Iraqi authorities to do everything possible to curtail armed groups using Iraqi territory to launch cross-border attacks on Turkey”…Polls say that 81% support cross boarder military operations, up from 46% in July…On Friday, the chief prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals on Friday opened a closure court case against the DTP (Democratic Society Party)…and everyday the Turkish army continues to shell Iraq…This is called peace…
Devrim
Hi Devrim, can you please
Hi Devrim, can you please link to the source of data? I'm very interested in this. Polls can be easily set to show almost everything... but it would be some kind of "evidence" of the strong derive toward nationalism you already described. A very dangerous one!
By the way, how is your political work going on? And strikes?
Yesterday there was a strike of metal workers in Italy. Unions played their role fully to protect interests of capital and when necessary to block with every means workers' disapproval. When we'll have a full report, we could also translate it.
Thanks! Internazionalist greetings, Mic
It has been widely quoted
It has been widely quoted but here is an English source: todayszaman.com
It is from the English language version of a Turkish (Islamic) newspaper.
"The number of people saying Turkey should conduct a cross-border military operation against the PKK stood at 81 percent, up sharply from 46 percent in the last poll in July. The poll was conducted before a PKK attack left 12 soldiers dead on Oct. 21 near the Iraqi border and before Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held crisis talks in the White House with US President George W. Bush.
...The Pollmark survey canvassed the views of 2,982 people in 12 cities across Turkey on Oct. 17-20. Its findings were unveiled at a briefing at the SETA think-tank. "
Political work is going well. The Telekom strike continues. We will send you a translation of the article in next month's bulletin.
Personally I have a lot of work on. I am a casual worker, and get paid by the hour, so I have to take it while it is there, so I am quite busy at the moment.
Regards,
Devrim
DTP and Turkish imperialism
DTP and Turkish imperialism
Cleishbotham
IBRP
Following my previous questions and the information you have given of the court case against the DTP (the Kurdish Democratic Party I think), I was wondering if the aim of the whole business has been to liquidate the whole Kurdish question once and for all. As I understand it the Kurds are not even allowed to speak Kurdish (and are not even recognised as a separate linquistic group (but are referred to as "mountain Turks"). The other point that arises is that the general disintegration of Iraq is enormously destabilising for the whole region so the Turkish bourgeoisie want to be ahead of the game if more fragmentation does occur.
The return of the 8 soldiers was obviously the result of Rice's expedition (and the US exerted pressure on the Kurdish autonomists in Kirkuk to put pressure on their friends in the PKK to return the soldiers in return for the Turks making no deep incursions into Iraq.
Keep up the information.
Internationalist greetings
“Following my previous
We aren't ignoring them, and will come back.
Demokratik Toplum Partisi (Toplum is society) pro Kurdish party.
This is very out of date. We even have Kurdish on TV now.
I don't think that it is possible to liquidate the problem.
Banning political parties is part of the democratic process in Turkey. They have been banned before, and will be again. The current Government part has been banned twice in the last ten years.
Read this article talking about the American-Turkish conflict:
I am not saying I agree with it, but there are some points.
Devrim
Supporters of Kurdish party clash with police
Supporters of Kurdish party clash with police
News - Hundreds of supporters of a pro-Kurdish political party that prosecutors are trying to ban clashed with police during a party rally in southeastern Turkey on Saturday...
[[iht.com]]
Kurdistan
Kurdistan
Cleishbotham
IBRP
Devrim
Thanks for that useful information (and all the corrections!). I think all I know of the issue is taken from Guney films like "Yol" and talking to one Turkish Maoist in the 80s who was actually captured whilst on national service by the PKK who released him after he told them a few jokes (they said his grandmother must have been a Kurd!). What still puzzles me is that the PKK have done very little since Ocalan was imprisoned and they have had splits etc. so why did a couple of successful operations against the Turkish Army provoke the response that it did?
Sincere thanks for all the information you have sent.
“What still puzzles me is
“What still puzzles me is
There was a drop in activity for a while, but over the past few years it has been rising again.
Devrim
Read this article talking about the American-Turkish conflict:
Read this article talking about the American-Turkish conflict:
Cleishbotham
IBRP
Devrim
Thanks for the reference to Al Ahram (which is an official Government paper in Egypt I think?). As you say you don't have to agree to all of it to find it very useful and it certainly opened my eyes on the issue because it put the whole issue in a wider context. The contradictions of US imperialist policy in the Middle East and Central Asia are such that they are having difficulty keeping all their allies or former allies, on board. We have at least one text on this in the next RP(44) which is due out next week so we would be interested in hearing your comments
“News — Hundreds of
“News — Hundreds of
The same thing happened in Batman on Sunday
No, the Arabic daily is, but the English weekly is independent.
Devrim
Al-Ahram again
Al-Ahram again
reasonable article from the bourgeois press:
Al-Ahram wrote:
Déjà vu again
For the sixth time in 15 years, Turkish authorities are seeking to outlaw the only pro-Kurdish political party, writes Gareth Jenkins
Devrim