On Turkey’s Invasion of Syria and the Kurdish Struggle

By a commentator for Tjen Folket Media.

The Turkish invasion of Syria is underway:

https://www.nrk.no/urix/tyrkias-militaeraksjon-i-syria-har-begynt-1.14736035

On Sunday, October 6, President Trump announced that the Yankee imperialists are withdrawing from Syria and are leaving their Kurish allies to stand alone against possible attacks from Turkey. CNN writes that this is happening after the War in Syria has entered a “”new consolidation phase”.

The US’s allies are the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which is dominated by Kurdish forces. In the protracted war in Syria, they have entered into a tactical alliance with the US, primarily against ISIS, but also against the Syrian Assad regime.

The Norwegian group “Solidaritet med Kurdistan” has written in a statement that the Norwegian state must seize their weapons sales to Turkey, while warning of a Turkish invasion of Rojava and demanding that Turkey withdraw from Syria and Iraq. Rojava lies in the north of Syria and is a part of Kurdistan.

The solidarity group writes in the statement:

Ever since the start of the War in Syria in 2011, Turkey has played a central role and supported various opposition and terrorist groups, among them groups with ties to IS and Al Qaeda. This support was not enough to put in place a Turkey-friendly regime in Damascus.

With US support, Turkey occupied mid-Northern Syria three years ago. Turkey used their own forces and mercenary soldiers. In January 2018, Turkey forced its way into Afrin. This region in Syria’s northwestern corner has been spared much of the violence of the war and was under the control of democratic forces. Both Russia and the US gave Turkey the green light to carry out this occupation. In 2018 and 2019, Turkey escalated its war activities in Northern Iraq. Turkey has for many years had military bases in this region […]

Who Are the Kurds’ Friends?

It must be emphasized that neither the US nor any other imperialists are Kurdistan’s friends. Turkey has been a member of NATO for a long time. Turkey has been one of Yankee imperialism’s allies in the Middle East for a long time. For just as long, and even longer, Turkey has waged its war against both the Turkish and the Kurdish people.

The Turkish government is a fascist regime. The Turkish state is a prison of nations, where the Kurdish nation in particular lives under colonialism and oppression. The Kurdish nation will never be able to liberate itself under bourgeois leadership. The bourgeois forces have, as in Iraq, entered into an alliance with imperialists. This has led the Kurdish nation to its betrayal more than once before.

A Kurdish proverb says that only the mountains are the Kurds’ friends. This is true when we talk about imperialists. Neither imperialists in the east nor the imperialists in the west are friends of Kurdistan. But Kurdistan has friends all over the world. All people who fight for freedom, independence, and revolution are fighting as a part of the same wave of new democratic and socialist revolutions. And the Kurdish movement is a part of it.

Turkey’s Character and Alliances

Turkey sees all Kurish independence as an existential threat. The Kurdish areas in Turkey make up one third of the country. In these areas, there are enormous natural resources and several tens of millions of people. Kurdistan’s autonomy in Iraq and Syria comprise a base for the Kurdish struggle in Turkey and thereby a threat that Turkey cannot live with.

Historically, Turkey has been both in alliance and competition with the US and Russia, along with several European imperialists like England and France. The alliance with the US has been strong for a long time, while the relations to a number of other states in the region, along with some in Europe, have been more complicated. For instance, Turkey has had a poor relationship with Greece, and has been involved in many diplomatic struggles with Germany and the EU. Relations with Syria and Egypt have been tense, but they have had tactical alliances with Saudi Arabia against the Assad regime in Syria.

Turkey is a semi-colonial and semi-feudal state, primarily subjugated by US imperialism. But in the past few years, the relationship has deteriorated somewhat and the relations with Russia and China have warmed. For instance, Turkey has become a member of several alliances that have included Russia and China. This has concerned the US and the play over Rojava must be understood in light of it being a measure to secure Turkey’s position within Yankee imperialism’s sphere of influence.

Turkey-United States Relations

Changing Alliances and Sparks that May Signal New Conflagrations

A lot is being written about this situation today, but everything that is being written – as always – must be read critically. A number of left-oriented writers have analyzed Rojava as a radical democratic project of a unique or new type. In reality, the Kurdish autonomy in northern Syria is primarily under the control of the Kurdish party PYD, which is the PKK in Syria. The struggle for Kurdistan is justified and has support from all anti-imperialists, but the PKK strategy will not lead to a national liberation for Kurdistan. The tactic of US alliances that steadily fall apart is a crystal clear example of this.

On the other hand – in today’s situation, unity against the fascist Erdogan regime and for the Kurdish peoples’ struggle is primary.

The social democratic periodical Jacobin has written on the situation and background:

The Annihilation of Rojava

NRK has written several reports about the current situation:

Venter et nytt blodbad i Syria?

In another report from NRK, they have written the following about a statement released by a Kurdish guerrilla soldier:

«We are going to fight until the last drop of blood. Turkey will meet resistance. I would be lying if I said I was not afraid. Everyone here is afraid,» says the Kurd.

In a third report from NRK, the Russian position to the past few days’ change in tactics is portrayed as follows:

Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergej Lavrov calls for dialogue between Kurds and the Syrian government, and urges the US to clean up its communications.

«The Kurds are extremely alarmed by US statements, and the confusion can ignite the entire region. This must be avoided at all costs,» says Lavrov.

Russia has been allied with the Assad government in Syria throughout the entirety of the bloody war in Syria. Semi-colonial Syria has for many decades been closely tied to Russian/Soviet imperialism. Turkey has primarily fought against Assad, but with some tactical compromises here and there, along with – as mentioned – a certain warming up to Russia.

Today, October 9, Turkey guaranteed that an impending military invasion in northern Syria (southern Kurdistan) is on the cusp of being carried out, according to Iranian Press TV:

Turkey adamant on Syria offensive as military takes position

Press TV writes that:

Iran and Russia have warned that the offensive could further escalate tensions in Syria. The Damascus government has also voiced its opposition to the incursion.

Kurdish forces are being mobilized against the intervention. And the forces that are against Turkey’s intervention warn that imprisoned ISIS members may be set free in the chaos that they say will ensue when Turkey invades. Turkey, on the other hand, says that the goal is to establish a buffer zone without Kurdish armed forces, where they also wish to send the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees that today find themselves in Turkey.

NRK has also written that Turkey will enter Syria:

Tyrkia vil krysse grensen til Syria innen kort tid

This is also a part of the complex situation where the leading Kurdish parties in northern Iraq (south-east Kurdistan) by no means have a friendly relationship with PYD/PKK. They have earlier been at war with each other and with the PKK party in Iraq (PJAK). Turkey has earlier entered Iraqi territory to eradicate PKK bases on that side of the Iraqi-Turkish border.

“Jeg vil kjempe mot Tyrkia” (NRK)

Stoltenberg ber Tyrkia være tilbakeholdne

The Communist Party and the National Question in Turkey

The communist party TKP/ML leads the people’s war in Turkey. This is a people’s war for New Democratic revolution and socialism. As a part of the New Democratic revolution, they fight for the Kurdish nation and its right to self-determination.

In connection with both the Kurdish question and the view of Turkey and the necessary New Democratic revolution in the country, we recommend reading the selected works of the great communist leader Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, who led the establishment of the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist in 1972:

Selected Works of İbrahim Kaypakkaya

Here, he writes:

The Marxist-Leninist movement is today the most relentless and determined foe of the national oppression inflicted on the Kurdish nation and minority nationalities by the Turkish ruling classes, and is in the forefront of struggles against national oppression, persecution of the other languages and national prejudice. The Marxist-Leninist movement unconditionally supports, and has always supported, the right of self-determination of the Kurdish nation, oppressed by the Turkish bourgeoisie and landlords; that is, its right of secession and to establish an independent state.

However, in the same place, he also writes that communists are not always in favor of secession in all cases. They support the right of all nations to this, but is not thereby claimed that it is always the right choice.

Furthermore, he writes:

The Marxist-Leninist movement also directs and administers the class struggle of the Kurdish proletariat and toilers against the bourgeois and small landlords that make up the leadership of the Kurdish national movement. It warns the Kurdish workers and toilers against the actions of the Kurdish bourgeois and landlords that aims to consolidate nationalism.

The faltering bourgeois leadership of the Kurdish nation has shown time and again that they cannot lead the Kurdish nation to true independence. Yankee imperialism has shown time and again that it is no friend of Kurdistan. The Kurdish national struggle is, like all other national struggles today, forced to become part of the proletarian world revolution, as a part of one of the two tendencies in this revolution: the national democratic tendency for independence and self-determination that orients itself against imperialism and feudalism.