The Labour Party of Turkey (EMEP) called on workers with a written message on the Turkish government’s planned operation in Syria.
In the statement, it was mentioned that the cross-border intervention will mean “heavy burdens” for workers and that “war is an opportunity for the rulers to limit public awareness of the current burden of the crisis on their back and drowning out the reaction to it with loud calls for sacrifice. Let’s not give this opportunity to those that feed off the back of workers. We refuse to carry this burden. No to war. We want peace and democracy and peoples living together and in fraternity within and outside our borders. ”
The Operation Is a Lifeline for the Government
The Statement by the Labour Party (EMEP) is as follows:
“Turkey has been engaged in negotiations and delivering/receiving ultimatums with ‘super powers’; with the ever-rising tensions it has been pushed to the edge of an operation to the East of the Euphrates river.
The operation is not only a step to serve long-term aims but also a lifeline in the short-term for a government in the middle of a representation and legitimacy crisis.
The deepening economic crisis; erosion in support from the electorate; reaction of the workers, open to explosive and unpredictable reactions; the operation is a valuable tool for covering up all these issues. On the other hand, the area to be emptied, to become the so-called secure zone is targeted as a region that will in the near future need rebuilding and hence an opportunity for big contracts. For the Turkish administration, the cantonal administrations built in the region by Kurds and other ethnic minorities are both a source of fear and a tool for oppressing Kurds in Turkey. The Palace, trapped and looking for a solution, sees the operation in the East of Euphrates as an important step in its cross-border expansionist intentions and wants to use it as an opportunity to reunite within its own borders.”
The Administration Is Appointing People That Pose a Risk to the Future of the Region
Insisting that an operation in the southern borders is a must for the security and the unity of the country, the political rulership is taking steps that jeopardise the future of the region.
This operation is portrayed as a part of the fight against terrorism but in reality it is not. Firstly, it is nonsense to claim that an intervention in the lands of a neighbour, completely ignoring its lead structures, supposedly protects its sovereignty. An intervention in the region, which will lead to loss of control over tens of thousands of IS militants can also not be a strike against terror.
Bartering Between Two Big Imperialists
The rulers of Turkey entered negotiations with two big imperialist camps and had to compromise heavily. Finally, the US has seen Turkey’s eagerness as an opportunity to solve its own impasse within and outside its borders and gave the go-ahead to the operation. Russia and Iran, seeing the operation as an opportunity to get the Kurds closer to the Assad regime, only want to make sure that the operation does not get out of hand. But the fact that Trumps speech was poorly received even within his own party; conflict between the Department of State and the Pentagon; the closure of the airspace following the door being left ajar for the operation: These are signs that negotiations both within the US and between US and Turkey, as well as the Russia-Iran axis will be tough.
Trump received the opportunity to threaten Turkey with decimating its economy on negotiation tables by this administration. Hence they hold primary responsibility for the country to be treated like a colony. Turkey cannot be dragged to this position.
Attempts to start this operation, which will drag Turkey and the neighbouring peoples into a quagmire, must be abandoned immediately.
Let’s Not Give the Opportunity to Those That Live Off the Back of Workers
The cross-border operation means the paying of heavy burdens for an adventure we are dragged into. War is an opportunity for the rulers to limit public awareness of the current burden of the crisis on their back and drowning out the reaction to it with loud calls for sacrifice. Let’s not give this opportunity to those that live off the back of workers.
We refuse to pay the burden. No to war. We want peace and democracy and peoples living together and in fraternity within and outside our borders.” (Evrensel Daily)
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