Yeni Demokrasi: Disarming the resistance in preparation for a regional war

We hereby share a translation we received of an article published by Yeni Demokrasi, published with some minor changes.

Zionist Israel continues unabated with the genocide in Palestine-Gaza, the occupation and the massacre in Lebanon. The USA and Israel openly commit genocide in the name of a Palestinian cause without resistance and try to create a Lebanon without Hezbollah. The resistance organisations are portrayed by imperialism and Zionism as the tools of Iran, as its wings and arms, as if they had no basis in the countries in which they are based and as if the values they represent were only an extension of the former. By denying the momentum and the political and organisational realities of these organisations, they are trying to legitimise their occupation and genocidal attacks. Exactly the same way it was done in our country with the PKK… The national existence of Palestine and Lebanon is to be given a character that does not allow armed resistance. In this way, the hegemony of US imperialism in the region is to be expanded, Iran contained and the encirclement of Russia in the Caucasus strengthened. To this end, the US feels compelled to carry out a comprehensive cleansing of the streets and, in particular, to liquidate the armed resistance organisations.

This situation creates space for direct confrontations at the state level and breaks the Axis of Resistance. Zionist Israel takes direct action against Iran, which it sees as a threat to its existence, and weakens it. Iran responded to the assassination of Nasrallah and numerous other leaders on 1 October with rocket attacks on Israel. Israel struck back directly at Iran on 26 October. In damage reports from this latest attack, Iran reported little impact, while Israel reported the destruction of its missile and air defence systems. The US was positive about the Israeli attack, which did not target refineries and nuclear facilities. More important than the extent of the attacks and whether or not they were controlled should be the fact that the two states have officially reached the stage of attacking each other.

This indicates that the covert nature of military action has been abandoned. This development should be seen as part of the strategic plan, as an attempt by the USA to divide the armed forces. An orientation is being organised that aims at the dissolution of the armed organisations and the reorganisation of political sovereignty, particularly in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, with the weakening and encirclement of Iran as the central focus.

It can be said that the attack by Zionism today has a characteristic that leads to the restoration of balance in the region and the redefinition of borders and relationships. It is necessary to speak of an attack that affects all states in the region and leads to the shaping of all national, social and cultural problems.

On this occasion, US imperialism is increasingly turning to some problematic issues. For the USA, the common denominator of possible changes on the Syria-Iraq-Iran axis is the Kurdish national question. Kurdistan, which has been divided into four parts by a historical injustice, has become the main hub in the region because separate national entities have formed in each part. This problem is a fundamental national problem in the conflicts and contradictions of the region. The annexation of Kurdistan under the sovereignty of Syria, Iran, Iraq and Turkey cannot be considered a sovereignty issue at present due to the existential problems of the Syrian and Iraqi regimes. The situation is different for Turkey and Iran. These powers are just as interested in the Kurdish question outside their territories as they are in how it is shaped.

Under the current conditions, the Kurdish question is the main axis of regional development. The Kurdish question, which is an existential problem for the fascist Turkish Republic, is also on the agenda as an external problem that will determine regional positioning. The realisation of Kurdish national gains in the form of national sovereignty in any part is the main nightmare of fascism. If the contradictions develop in this direction and the possibilities expand in this direction, it will try to stifle this threat by expanding its regional calculations as one of the most compatible with the imperialist agenda and as one of its most capable regional actors. The Turkish Republic is pursuing a policy that coincides with the course of US imperialism in the region, where Iraq and Syria are disintegrating and Iran is besieged.

It is a process full of contradictions and inconsistencies.

The statement by Devlet Bahçeli: “Öcalan should speak to the party faction of the DEM. He should call on the organisation to lay down their arms and serve the country.” This is undoubtedly an attempt to take a stand against the emerging Kurdish threat and the US plans. This call is not only aimed at giving the Kurdish question in their own country a new form, but also at acting in line with the US in the region. The same Bahçeli said in his message on the 101st anniversary of the founding of fascism, ‘We don’t have a Kurdish problem,’ and showed that the dynamics of his approach is ‘to be a regional player.’ What is happening now must be seen as a new ‘liquidation process.’ Devlet Bahçeli’s speech on 22 October explains this. While the former ‘liquidation process’ consisted of accepting ‘national’ crumbs in return for disarming the Kurdish national struggle, the current step is for the Kurdish national movement to offer its organisational and political opportunities in all its parts, including Rojava, to the US orientation in return for the rights in question. In line with these developments, the Turkish Republic is calculating to fit into the US game plan as much as possible. The first part of this calculation is to rid the entire region of armed resistance in its various forms and to eliminate those who pose a problem. The problem should be transformed into a form in which these structures no longer exist.

This is a further step in the process of liquidation of the PKK by the USA and the Turkish Republic. The inability to crush the PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan despite the deadly siege by NATO mobilisation, and the Zionist aggression that affects the entire region, have necessitated the introduction of other methods in the liquidation process. The political counterweight to this step is not democratisation, the liberation of the Kurdish nation and the strengthening of the achievements in Rojava, but the preparation of a regional war and the conviction of the Kurds to wage it.

The attitude of the Kurdish National Movement (KUH) towards this character of the emerging movement is undoubtedly of crucial importance. It is clear that the main approach of imperialism is to reconcile the Kurds with the Turkish state and to condemn the Kurds to political slavery. The role that US imperialism assigns to its servant, the Turkish Republic, also follows from this. This is because imperialism accepts the tyranny of the sovereign as decisive in every situation.

The position and attitude of the Kurdish national movement will colour the course of the process. It is too early to say anything about the form of the process. However, what must be understood and grasped is the new form, which aims at the liquidation of the Kurdish national movement, and the fact that this has become an urgent task. The concessions that the Turkish Republic will make to the Kurds and the political conditions it will impose on Syrian and Iraqi Kurdistan on this basis, so that Syrian and Iraqi Kurdistan no longer pose an existential threat, may give an idea of the direction in which the problem will develop. It is foreseeable that the KUH will also monitor this development. In this context, we must know that the fascist dictatorship will impose political dependency and slavery on the Kurdish nation in all its parts, in line with its servitude to imperialism and its historical character.

The Communists are firmly convinced that a ‘solution’ under the imperialist yoke can never be a solution without full equality for the oppressed nation. This is shown by all historical experience. It is clear that this new ‘move’ of fascism will bring with it severe political and military repression and intense chauvinism, but at the same time it will lead to strong political debates and a broader politicisation of the masses. The MLMs must take responsibility for finding the right approach to this process. Only in this way can the right approach be organised and implemented. It should not be forgotten that, in conditions where the war drums are beating louder, the contradictions of the masses on an economic-political basis are intensifying, anger against imperialism and fascism is growing sharper, and the opportunities for spreading the idea of revolution are also expanding. The correct positioning and orientation of the masses towards the revolutionary war in all their questions and activities is possible if the gaps are filled in the most forceful way. An approach directed towards this must be adopted and the arbitrariness and spontaneity surrounding the deficiencies and weaknesses must be quickly abandoned.