Solidarity with the Revolutionary Socialists in Turkey

 Written by: ICOR on 12 March 2026

 

(Source: Instagram youngstruggle_europe )

The International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organisations (ICOR) has taken up the case of the latest victims of repression inside Turkey. We reprint a call from ICOR for solidarity with the arrested activists - eds

On February 3, 2025, the Turkish state carried out a large-scale wave of arrests targeting numerous revolutionary forces. Among those arrested were representatives of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), the Limter-Is Port Workers’ Union, the Central Workers’ Movement (BIH), the Beksav Cultural Center, the environmental organization Polen Ekoloji, the youth organization SGDF, and journalists from the ETHA news agency. A total of 82 people were taken into custody. This state attack is yet another attempt to silence antifascist and revolutionary forces in Turkey and suppress resistance against the fascist regime under the AKP and MHP.

What is particularly striking is the fact that while the state is negotiating with Abdullah Öcalan for the disarmament of the Kurdish movement, with no substantial progress made in the national question or democratic reforms, the repression against antifascist forces, even the bourgeois opposition, continues to escalate. A particularly notable example is the persecution of Istanbul's opposition CHP mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, whose arrest in March 2025 led to large scale mass mobilizations.

The repression against the ESP, which has positioned itself critically towards the current political process and is actively mobilizing against the NATO summit in Ankara in July 2025, is meant to serve as a warning to any antifascist and anti-imperialist forces in the country. Despite the repressive measures, the comrades of the ESP have shown their militant stance and moral strength in court as they resisted fascist pressures.

These arrests and persecutions are just the beginning of a series of repressive measures that will be taken against all antifascist forces and political resistance in the country. A new generation of fascist jurists is already in office, with the new Minister of Justice, Akin Gürlek, acting strictly according to political orders and already planning significant restrictions on the rights of lawyers.

While the AKP once faced the threat of being banned as a party and vehemently opposed such repression at times, it now seeks to de facto eliminate any parties that oppose the fascism.

Worldwide, repression against revolutionary and antifascist forces is growing, accompanied by the rise of fascism and the threat of imperialist wars. Reports of similar repressive measures are emerging from countries such as Cameroon, India, and Nepal. In light of this international development, international solidarity becomes even more important. The experiences of resistance and international solidarity are invaluable, and we must build upon them.

In this critical situation, ICOR is calling for a comprehensive solidarity campaign for the revolutionary socialists in Turkey.

 

 

Turkey: Freedom for the Prisoners of the Kobanê Case!

Written by: Solidarity Initiative for Figen Yüksekdag on 2 September 2024

 

We have been contacted by the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) of Turkey and asked to publicise the case of leaders arrested in 2016 for supporting the Kurdish revolutionary forces in Kobane in neighbouring Syria. 

The HDP is a social democratic party with representation in the Turkish parliament. It is not a revolutionary party but has opposed the reactionary, fascist Erdogan regime.

In 2014, it called for demonstrations in support of Kobane, whose majority Kurdish people were fighting a life and death battle with ISIS.  They were ultimately successful but the region they have liberated in north-east Syria presents a threat to Turkey, which keeps its own Kurds under draconian control, and is today bombing the Syrian Kurds.

We support the right of the HDP to support Kobane and to oppose the Erdogan regime – eds.

.....................

Freedom for the Prisoners of the Kobanê Case! 
 

On May 16, 2024, the protracted “Kobanê Case” in Turkey concluded with an immense verdict of 407 years in prison for former board members and leading figures of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), including former co-chairs Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş, who have been detained since November 4, 2016. Those convicted in this trial stand as symbols of the relentless fight for equality, justice, and freedom in Turkey. 

The resistance of the people of Kobanê against the brutal ISIS attack in October 2014 garnered global sympathy and political and practical support. Thanks to the heroic resistance of the Kurdish freedom fighters and international solidarity, Kobanê did not fall; instead, it marked the beginning of ISIS's defeat. The HDP's solidarity with the people of Kobanê and its call for support for this people is a completely democratic and legitimate right and cannot be used as a pretext for this trial. 

The Kobanê Trial has clearly demonstrated that the judiciary in Turkey is not independent and has become an extension of political power. Ongoing bans against the HDP, arrests and suppression of democratic opposition, restrictions on assembly and demonstration rights, the isolation of prisoners and denial of their medical care, and media censorship are all manifestations of the multifaceted attack on democratic freedoms in Turkey. This is also evident in the non-implementation of European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) judgments, such as those in the cases of Yüksekdağ, Demirtaş, and Kavala. 

We view the trials and lengthy sentences against the HDP's leading figures as expressions of the Erdoğan dictatorship's efforts to suppress democratic opposition. We express our solidarity with Figen Yüksekdağ, Selahattin Demirtaş, and all those convicted in this trial, who steadfastly stand against this injustice and for democracy and political freedom. 

We demand the annulment of the sentences for the prisoners of the Kobanê show trial and the immediate release of Figen Yüksekdağ, Selahattin Demirtaş, Alp Altınörs, Ali Ürküt, Aynur Aşan, Bülent Parmaksız, Dilek Yağlı, Günay Kubilay, İsmail Şengül, Nazmi Gür, Pervin Oduncu, and Zeynep Ölbeci. 
............
Who is Figen Yüksekdağ? 

Figen Yüksekdağ is pioneering advocate for freedom and equality and a representative of the socialist movement in Turkey. Born on November 9, 1971, in Adana-Ceyhan, she was introduced to socialist ideals during her school years. Her political activities led her into conflict with the Turkish state at a young age, resulting in arrests and repression. As a student, she was involved in various student associations advocating for democratic and social rights, including the High School Students' Association (LÖB), the Working High School Students' Association, and the Association of Democratic High School Students. 

During her university years, Yüksekdağ founded student unions and later worked as a journalist for various socialist publications such as the youth magazine Özgür Gençlik and the weekly newspaper Atılım. Her commitment to women's rights was evident in her role as editor of the magazine Sosyalist Kadın (Socialist Woman). 

Her political activities intensified in 2002 when she became the spokesperson for the Socialist Platform of the Oppressed. Despite serving a one-year prison sentence in 2006, she continued her work and contributed to the founding of the Working Women's Association. Her participation in the funeral of the socialist intellectual Kutsiye Bozoklar in 2009 led to another arrest. 

In 2010, she played a key role in founding the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) and became its chairperson. Amidst a period of global political upheaval, including the Arab uprisings and the Gezi Park uprising in Turkey in 2013, as well as growing social protests against the global economic crisis, she participated in the founding process of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). In June 2014, she was elected as co-chair of the HDP alongside Selahattin Demirtaş. 

As a Member of Parliament for the Kurdish region of Van from 2015 to 2018, Yüksekdağ faced constant attacks and repression from the Turkish government, which viewed her position and the role of the HDP as a threat. On November 4, 2016, she was arrested along with other leading HDP representatives as part of the so-called Kobanê trial. 

Even in prison, Yüksekdağ continued her resistance. Her poetry collection The Walls Will Collapse, written in prison, was banned and confiscated. Yüksekdağ remains a symbolic figure in the fight for women's freedom, the self-determination of peoples, and against exploitation and oppression, both inside and outside the prison walls.

 

Condolence letter sent to MLKP

 

Written by: Central Committee, CPA (M-L) on 13 January 2023

The Central Committee of our Party has sent a condolence letter to the Marxist-Leninst Communist Party of Turkey/Kurdistan (MLKP) following the murder by Turkish drone attack of two leading members in Rojava, Syria on January 3.

The letter reads:

Dear Comrades,

The Central Committee of the Communist party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist) extends its profound sympathies to all members of the MLPK on the death of Zeki Gürbüz (Ahmet Şoreş) and Özgür Namoğlu (Firat Neval) in Rojava. These are new crimes to be added to the long list of crimes committed by the fascist Turkish government.

Comrade Zeki Gürbüz was a member of your Central Committee, a tried and tested revolutionary who had withstood torture by the Turkish state for days as a young man. Reaching the mountain of Kurdistan he contributed to the growth of unity between Turkish and Kurdish revolutionaries in the Peoples' United Revolutionary Movement (HBDH).

The MLPK stands at the head of an entirely just cause. Although there will be such sacrifices, oppression by the Turkish regime will eventually be defeated.

Nothing can prevent the eventual victory of a free united socialist Kurdistan.

Nick G.
Chairperson, 
Central Committee, Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist)
13 January 2023

For further information, see: https://anfenglishmobile.com/kurdistan/pkk-zeki-gurbuz-and-Ozgur-namoglu-will-live-on-in-our-struggle-64880    

CPA (M-L) expresses solidarity with Turkish activist Ecevit Piroğlu

 

Written by: CPA (M-L) on June 4, 2022

The CPA (M-L) has written to the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Serbian Ministry of Justice, and the Ambassadors of Turkey and Serbia, to support Turkish activist Ecevit Piroğlu.

Currently jailed in Serbia, Piroğlu faces extradition to Turkey and imprisonment under anti-terrorist laws. He is not a terrorist, but a revolutionary activist, and we stand in solidarity with him.

The letters follow a similar format to that sent to Serbian Ambassador Stepanovic, below:
...............
H.E. Ambassador Mr. Rade Stefanovic
Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Canberra

Your Excellency,

I am writing on behalf of the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist) in relation to the Turkish national Ecevit Piroğlu who is currently facing an extradition request by Turkey for his return to that country from Serbia.

Ecevit Piroğlu was arrested in Serbia in 2021 because he was on the red list for people wanted in Turkey. He was the former director of the Human Rights Association’s branch in the Turkish city of Izmir and a central committee member of the Socialist Democracy Party. He took part in the Gezi resistance and also in the fight against ISIS in Rojava. Because of the Gezi protests he faces trial for terrorism and 30 years prison sentence. 

His appeal against extradition on June 3 was sabotaged by the deliberate mistranslation of his words by the official translator. The hearing will continue n June 17 with a new translator. 

We are concerned that he faces torture and imprisonment under the Turkish Terror Law. In Turkey there is no guarantee for his life or safety. 

We respectfully request that Ecevit Piroğlu be allowed to seek asylum in Serbia and that the extradition order made on behalf of Turkey be quashed.

Nick G.
Chairperson,
Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist)
June 4. 2022

ICOR condemns Turkish attack on South Kurdistan

 

Written by: ICOR on June 4, 2022

The International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organisations (ICOR), to which our Party is affiliated, has issued a statement condemning the Turkish attack on South Kurdistan. The statement reads:

ICOR stands with the workers in Turkey and the Kurdish people

While the democratic mass movement is reviving, workers in Turkey fight for their labor rights, for rise in wages and better living conditions and the fascist Turkish state has once again launched a comprehensive military attack on South Kurdistan on 17 April. 

This is a long-planned invasion with the strategic aim to eliminate the Kurdish freedom fighters, to occupy the whole region and to abolish all achievements of Kurdish people. But at the same time, it is a new offense of state terror and chauvinism against the growing mass movement, especially the rising workers movement, which organized independently over 100 wild strikes this year, more than in the last couple of years together.  

With the support of the imperialists the Turkish state uses state terror against the mass movement and commits war crimes in Kurdistan. The collaborationist bourgeois leadership of Kurdish Democratic Party is directly involved in the invasion attack providing intelligence and the Iraqi state started an aggression against the Yazidi self-defense forces in Sinjar. 

Simultaneously, the Turkish army and jihadist militias bomb Rojava while the Turkish police put a crackdown on democratic forces and alliances in Turkey. Political prisoners are tortured and murdered in Turkey.

The heroic resistance of the guerillas with mobile units and an effective tunnel system against air strikes will once again defeat the Turkish army but it needs the urgent solidarity and support of the workers, the democratic mass movements and all progressive people in the world. 

As ICOR we stand by the fighting workers, revolutionaries, antifascists and anti-imperialists of Turkey and Kurdistan and condemn this war of occupation. 

We salute the united struggle of the revolutionary forces in Turkey and Kurdistan, especially within the HBDH (People’s United Revolutionary Movement) and call all progressive people of the world to support the freedom forces and coordinate for an international and regional revolutionary unity. Active resistance everywhere is the only way to defeat this barbaric center of counter revolution in the region.

We will defeat fascism!
Long live the united revolution of Turkey and Kurdistan!
Long live socialism!

Communist women fight and die for Rojava

Written by: Nick G. on 18 November 2019

Organisations and parties active in the fight against fascist Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria/Rojava have honoured two females comrades recently killed by the invaders.

The Marxist-Leninist Party of Turkey/Kurdistan wrote:

Ceren Güneş of DKP (B) and Aynur Ada of DKP-BÖG fell martyr in the great resistance against the invasion of Rojava by the colonialist fascist Turkish state.

They rejected the patriarchal capitalist system and all "easy" living opportunities within it and realized their own history in a revolutionary way. In Rojava we fought with them in the International Battalion and witnessed their revolutionary practice. We took part in the defense of our Rojava women revolution, shoulder to shoulder in the battle trenches.

Ceren and Aynur; The ideals of these two pioneering women, who are exemplary revolutionaries of the break-away from the patriarchal bourgeois order, the sharp practical reckoning with traditional roles imposed on women, are our ideals. We once again promise that for these ideals we will raise our level of warfare on all fronts and strengthen our revolutionary commitment to them at every step.

will draw strength from their responsibility, daring, courage and determination, to shoulder strategic tasks within their party at a young age. We will learn from their practice of becoming leadership and command and force all the possibilities to include it in our leadership style.

Once again we salute all our female comrades who have become immortalized fighting with great devotion and determination in the trenches of Rojava. In the struggle against the invasion of Rojava, we promise victory to all the heroines and heroes of the resistance who have gone to immortality.

Comrades Ceren and Aynur are alive, the fight continues!
Long live our Rojava revolution!
We will defend every position and fight for every piece of land!
Long live the women's comradeship!
Long live our women's revolution!
November 10, 2019

The Turkish Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist), said of Comrade Ceren (above):

The commander of the women’s liberation struggle became the voice and colour of resistance to fascism, patriarchy and all kinds of reactionism in every area of Rojava. When the Turkish fascism turned Rojava into hell under the leadership of imperialism, comrade Ceren, a member of the Central Committee of the DKP/Birlik (Revolutionary Communard Party/ Union), who didn’t refrain from any revolutionary actions, determined her ranks without hesitation. She rejected all he careers, and opportunities offered to her….

Of Comrade Aynur, it wrote:

Comrade Aynur was martyred, who ran from trench to trench without discrimination of duty and she was written as a commander who enlightened our way in the struggle for women’s freedom as a member of DKP/BÖG (Revolutionary Communard Party / United Freedom Forces) central committee member and commander of KÖG (Women’s Freedom Forces).

We will not only remember her as BÖG fighter, but with infinite revolutionary solidarity, and we will always commemorate her in our struggle. As comrade Aynur said “We will defend this land without any organizational concern, even sharing our arms and legs”, who proved her position in the struggle, she will live in our struggle as a commander, fearless warrior and comrade…

Aynur Ada is Immortal!
Ceren Güneş is Immortal!
No Forgetting! No Postponement! Never Give Up!
TKP-ML Communist Women’s Union
10 November 2019

The DKP/Birlik said that Ceren Güneş took her part in all the battle fronts for the past four years, adding:

“She joined the battle for Manbij and served as a commander in the International Freedom Battalion (IFB) in the Raqqa battle. On the Raqqa front, she commanded the fiercest battles with great courage as ISIS attacked three times to bring down the IFB headquarters.”

The statement ended with the following remarks; “She did not come to these lands to die but she never hesitated to challenge death. She came here pursuing her great dreams. She came to carry the revolutionary and militant accumulation against Turkish fascism. Death will not stop her march. The youth of Turkey will make the ideals of this brave revolutionary woman come true.”

The International Freedom Battalion said,

“Ceren Güneş, real name Özge Aydın, was the military commander of DKP/Birlik and one of the coordinators of the international volunteers inside the International Freedom Battalion. She left Turkey 4 years ago to come to fight alongside the Kurdish people in Rojava in their struggle against the Islamic State.”

The statement added: “Loyal to her ideals, she kept fighting against all forms of fascism threatening Rojava and its people. Following the revolutionary path in which she believed, she had been actively fighting on the frontline since the battle of Serekaniye, although she was lightly injured a few days before her death.”

The statement continued: “No words are sufficient to describe the admiration we had for her political commitment in life and the pain we have since her death. The internationalist fighters have lost a dear friend and an extraordinary comrade. The price for victory is high, but she inspires us to continue to struggle for it.”

The statement ended: “Now more than ever, revolutionary unity and international solidarity are needed to defeat the imperialist forces who have chosen Northern Syria as a new battle/play-ground. It is our duty to honour Ceren’s legacy and to oppose with a strict revolutionary ethic those who try to impose a tyrannical order on these free lands.”

A moving visual tribute (not in English) to the two women and their fellow martyr, the male comrade Imran Firtina, is available on Youtube.  It begins with their childhoods, early teenage activism and mature communist activity and ends with their funeral. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MOUgYbVW64

Glory to these fallen heroes!

(Comrades Aynur and Imran, above)

Down with the Turkish fascists and their invasion of Northern Syria and Rojava!

Statement by the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist)                11 October 2019

The Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist) condemns the fascist Turkish invasion of Northern Syria and Rojava and its attacks on the Kurdish people and their popular defense forces.

US imperialism has once again shown what it stands for. It has deserted its Kurdish "allies" that played a key role in the defeat of ISIS, and has cleared the way for them to face a Turkish invasion led by the fascist Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Let this be an opportunity for the Australian people to think about the nature of US imperialism and what the "US-Australia alliance" is really worth.

Under the pretext of "security concerns", the Erdogan regime is seeking to attack the Kurdish autonomous region of Rojava and its popular democratic revolution which has profoundly challenged religious dogmatism and women’s oppression. Turkey has a significant ethnic Kurdish population. Erdogan and the Turkish fascists see the example of Kurdish autonomy in Rojava as a threat to their hold on the Turkish state.

The NATO imperialist bloc of which Turkey is a member has turned a blind eye to its aggression.  NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg urged Turkey to “show restraint” in its operation against Kurdish forces in Syria. He acknowledged Turkey had “legitimate security concerns”, but called for a measured response. What rubbish!  How can invasion of another country ever be conducted “with restraint”? What is a “measured response” when one country invades another?

Our comrades in the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Turkey/Kurdistan (MLPK), who fight along side the Kurdish popular forces, declare, “The forces of revolution and counter-revolution are once again confronted. The freedom revolution of peoples in Rojava, the Rojava women's revolution, the international Rojava revolution are now going through a new process. The peoples of Rojava and Northern Syria will defend their land, honor and freedom with great resistance against the occupation. Nobody shall doubt that! It is the most current duty of communists, socialists, revolutionaries, democrats, women, young people, workers and all oppressed to defend the acquired revolutionary position with all our strength and turning the occupation attack into a defeat of the colonial Turkish state and global imperialist powers in the region.”

We support their struggle and call upon all Australian communist, anti-imperialist and progressive forces to unite to oppose the Turkish invasion!

Down with the Erdogan regime!

Down with US imperialism and NATO!
No Australian support for US imperialism!

 

Turkey plays the Russia card to force US imperialism to drop the Kurds

(The following article is from the International Bulletin of August 2019 published by the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party Turkey/Kurdistan.  We have made some minor stylistic changes.  The article explores the apparent contradictions between the fascist Turkish state and US imperialism over the former’s purchase of Russian S-400 missiles.)

Why does Turkish State Want the S-400?

The S-400 conflict between the U.S. and Turkish state has passed its first round as the first batch of the Russian S-400 missile defence systems was delivered on July 25.

The U.S. has responded to this move by excluding Turkey from industrial participation in the F-35 program.    As we recall, the negotiations over the S-400 between Turkey and Russia began in 2016, one year after Turkey shot down a Russian jet near its border to Syria in 2015, which stood as a compensation payment for the jet shot down in the crisis.

Going parallel with a remarkable rapprochement process between two states, which has developed especially over their conjecturally matching policies on Syria, the S-400 negotiations resulted in a 2.5 billion dollars deal at the end of 2017, under which Russia agreed to supply Turkey, a NATO member state, with four S-400 batteries.

Since then, despite the objection of NATO’s big boss, including verbal ‘threats’ pointing out various sanctions, the Turkish state has mainly preserved its position and made some advance payments, as well as received loans from Russia. While the fascist chief Erdoğan has been marketing this process as a courageous step by the Turkish nation challenging the imperialist system(!), the Russian Federation on the other hand enjoyed an important profit not only in an economic but also in a political sense by pulling a NATO country to its side.

So, what was the actual reason behind Turkey heading towards the S-400 system, rather than to NATO’s Patriot missile defence system at the expense of deepening its conflict with the U.S.? Does the fascist dictator Erdoğan really intend to land a blow on the imperialist influence of the U.S. on Turkey, as his lackeys keep on yelling night and day? Is he conducting an anti-imperialist fight against the U.S.?

Of course not. Just as how he was in his initial years in power, today’s fascist chief Erdoğan keeps on working together with the U.S., IMF, World Bank and other sorts of imperialist states and monopolies for eliminating any kind of economic and political obstacles against Turkey remaining a financial-economic colony. The imperialist monopolies and their integrated collaborators, the monopolist bourgeoisie are still exploiting the labouring masses with the most brutal methods and there is no obstacle for them to letting the profits flow outside the country. Neither the U.S. nor Erdoğan will allow their capitalist exploitation brotherhood to be ruined.

Then why did Turkey move to deepen its conflict with the U.S. by buying the Russian S-400 missile defence system? The answer is nothing other than the Kurdish liberation struggle, the Rojava revolution.

If we remember the initial years of the Syrian civil war, we see that Erdoğan was the most loyal partner of the U.S., because of his bloody appetite towards benefiting from the regional hegemony gap. However, the Kurdish liberation gave this show away. If the Rojava revolution had not erupted, then he would have already seized Syria together with the U.S. But after the Rojava revolution erupted and conducted a heroic war against the ISIS, the U.S. was obliged to build a tactical alliance with the YPG. This led the Turkish state to approach Russia in order to destroy the advances of the Kurds. The fascist chef Erdoğan is well aware of the fact that neither his regional hegemony, nor his own fascist existence could be preserved unless the Rojava revolution was liquidated. Struggle is the actual reason for buying the S-400 missile defence system.

One may say that the Kurds in Rojava have no missiles that would threaten Turkey. Yes, it is true. That’s why the S-400 does not have a military meaning in this picture. It is the ransom for approaching Russia which Erdoğan uses as a “political weapon” to move the U.S. away from the Kurds in Rojava, or at least, make them totally neutral against the Turk’s fascist and colonialist hostility. In this equation, the fascist chief and his team are getting more and more close to Russia in order to save their political future while Russia seizes every opportunity to pull Turkey to its side, as an imperialist power.

However, economic relations and class interests may force the fascist chief to switch his way again. Let’s put it clearly once again: Turkey is a financial-economic colony of the world monopolies. The imperialist states and their local collaborator states are the representatives of the interests of the global financial oligarchy and their collaborator monopolistic bourgeoisies. The Turkish economy has been integrated with the world market which is dominated by the world monopolies, and Erdoğan has played a major role in this process. With any sort of bourgeois administration, Turkey cannot turn the tables on this situation.   

Does the Turkish state have the power to redirect the political superstructure, even though it has completely tied its economic relations to the financial oligarchy? We do not argue here that the economic conditions determine the political superstructure one to one. This would be nothing more than economic determinism. There is no doubt that contradictions between the ruling classes, the struggle between the oppressors and the oppressed, as well as the class struggle all appear in the field of politics and thus create space for various manoeuvres.

However, economic conditions are ultimately crucial, and due to Turkey's dependence as a financial-economic colony there is scope for action to some extent. This action ends where political manoeuvres threaten the interests of the financial oligarchy as a class.

If faced with such a threat, the financial oligarchy will not hesitate to translate this financial-economic colonial dependency into a political blackmail against Erdoğan. Some sections of the financial oligarchy have already begun to prepare other bourgeois political alternatives manifest in the attempts of Erdoğan's former companions to found new parties or in the "rise" of the bourgeois opposition, the Republican People's Party (CHP) with its new political figure İmamoğlu, the newly elected mayor of Istanbul.

All in all, just as it is seen in the S-400 crisis, the fascist chief Erdoğan seems to continue holding the “Russian weapon” to create room for himself to manoeuvre against the U.S. hegemony which is an economic obstacle to Turkish colonialism’s objective of an immediate occupation on Rojava.

So far, being excluded from the F-35 program does not seem to be enough to dissuade this “naughty” NATO member from its plans. The “anti-imperialist” limitation of the Turkish state will show itself after a possible defeat in Rojava or other sanctions of the U.S.

Defend Rojava - drive the Turkish fascists from Syria!

(Above: Kurdish fighters defending Afrin March 2018)

Nick G.

The fascist Erdogan regime in Turkey has all along aided and abetted the ISIS reactionaries in Syria.  They have allowed free passage of ISIS recruits through Turkey to boost terrorist fighters and have facilitated arms shipments and other supplies to ISIS in Syria. The US imperialists hoped that ISIS would destabilise the Syrian government and make regime change there possible.  Turkey shares that objective but has also seen in ISIS a formidable weapon against Kurds fighting for self-determination throughout the region.

Not content with supporting ISIS, the Erdogan regime has time and again intervened militarily in Syria in flagrant violation of that country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Throughout 2018 that has been a repeated pattern of Turkish aggression.

On January 20, Turkish troops entered northern Syria in a major offensive against Kurdish militia in Afrin. Faced with fierce fighting, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, called for support from the Syrian government. Syrian pro-government forces relieved Afrin on February 20. The victory was short-lived however, and fighting continued throughout March during which Turkish soldiers recaptured Afrin, engaging in widespread looting and pillage. They also started a “resettlement” program for soldiers of the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (TFSA) in homes from which Kurds and Yazidis had fled. Since then, guerrilla operations against the Turkish occupation authorities have intensified, both by the YPG and other independent Kurdish militias such as the Afrin Falcons.

By mid-year, Turkish forces had also gained control of Aleppo and Idlib in the northeast of Syria, while 2000 US forces were in Syria providing support to the YPG in its fight against ISIS whom the US imperialists could no longer control. More and more of Syria was reclaimed by government troops, leading some to say that the Syrian conflict had entered its final phase.

In December, YPG forces had the terrorists on the run in the area around Rojava. With the defeat of their terrorist allies imminent, the Turks opened a new offensive against the Kurds, forcing them to split their forces into two fronts, one against ISIS and the other against the Turks. Nothing more clearly displays the alliance between Erdogan and ISIS than this attack on the Kurds.

We support the call of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party Turkey/Kurdistan (MLPK) to defend the Rojava revolution and defeat the colonialist, fascist occupation troops of the Erdogan regime.

For further reading, please see this statement of December 16, 2018 by the MLPK .