On Turkey’s invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan
3 March 2008. A World to Win News Service. The following leaflet was put out by the Committee Abroad of the Maoist Communist Party (MKP) (Turkey and Northern Kurdistan) on the occasion of the Turkish military’s large-scale invasion of the Kurdish region of Iraq. It was distributed at numerous demonstrations against the invasion held around Europe, including a protest march of some 3,000 people that wound through the streets of part of London’s East End where many Turkish and other immigrants live. The full title is, “The Kurdish nation and the PKK are not alone! Resist the Turkish government and their military, the servants of the imperialists, in every sphere!”
The Turkish government has once again launched a broad operation in the interests of the U.S.
The Turkish government is facing an economic crisis and is trying to divert the discontent of the people through an attack on Kurdistan. On the basis of denying the existence of the Kurdish nation under the watchword “One nation, one country, one flag”, the Turkish government is trying to negate the revolutionary aspirations of the Kurdish people.
We should never forget that Kurdistan has been divided into four parts by the imperialists and their running dogs. In every part of this division, the Kurdish nation is being oppressed, as are all the minority peoples and their religious faiths.
The Kurdish leaders in Iraq are backing the U.S. imperialists and in conjunction with that, the fascist military forces are crossing the border and attacking in an operation that is not independent of the interests of U.S. imperialism in the region.
With this latest operation, it is being demonstrated that the politics of begging from the imperialists and awaiting their handouts brings nothing to resolve the Kurdish national question.
With an approach based on, as the Turkish government puts it, “solving the Kurdish national question without the PKK”, they are trying to oppress and undermine the revolutionary dynamic of the PKK. It is mainly the responsibility of the Kurdish revolutionary nationalist forces to thwart them, and it is secondarily up to the Turkish-North Kurdistan revolutionary leaders to also do this.
If the forces of revolutionary nationalism were to be integrated into the Turkish political system and eliminated altogether, it would be a big loss to the radical revolutionary movement – this is crucial for us to understand in order to prepare to carry out our tasks.
Because of this, anyone who considers themselves a human being and all parties and organisations should stand side-by-side with the Kurdish nation and the PKK and support them – this is more important now than ever.
In short, our response to the reactionary fascist butchery shouldn’t be conceived of as being mere supporters – we should also see it as our own task to resist, and to do this in deeds.
We therefore call on our own activists and all progressive people and intellectuals, patriots, democrats, revolutionaries and communists to resist the fascist Turkish military operation. We must be active in every sphere with a practical approach. We are calling on everyone to support the Kurdish national movement.
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