Democratic Palestine : 39 (ص 24)
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- Democratic Palestine : 39 (ص 24)
- المحتوى
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against the state itself. The basis of all
measures is to be victorious in the field
of arms against arms...» (April 9th,
speaking before the meeting where the
decree was adopted). Thus the govern-
ment with the collaboration of the two
main opposition parties, imposed a leg-
ally sanctioned regime of terror, cen-
sure, exile and repression - not only in
Kurdistan, as it is designed to look,
but throughout the whole of Turkey,
as has been seen in practice.
Since the decree, most student
unions have been closed and _ their
leading activists arrested; several
strikes involving tens of thousands of
workers have been banned; editors-in-
chief of 17 revolutionary magazines
were arrested in mid-May; they have
been on hunger strike since then;
revolutionary magazines face great dif-
ficulty in finding printing houses to
print their issues; May 1st demonstra-
tions were attacked; journalists have
been brutally harassed by the security
forces; prisoners striking in protest of
increased repression are under con-
Stant attack; a case has been filed
against the newly founded United
Communist Party in mid-June; 26 staff
members of the 17 revolutionary
magazines were arrested as_ they
attempted to travel to Ankara to pre-
sent the 500,000 signatures they had
collected to the prime minister in pro-
test of the situation.
Now that the opposition has
quickly grown into one of unpredicted
dimensions, all indications of resis-
tance and struggle are fiercely attacked
whereas all signs of trying to coexist
with the regime or of repentance are
rewarded. These developments indi-
cate that after years of torture and rep-
ression, the peoples of Turkey and
Kurdistan and their revolutionary
forces are raising their heads once
again. Struggle is advancing as
revolutionaries at the same time con-
tinue to heal the wounds of the defeat
and repression they have suffered.
Revolutionary forces are now proceed-
ing, putting to use the lessons of past
struggle and defeats. The trends of
unity are gaining in strength. Those
forces putting their stakes in legal and
parliamentary struggle have grouped
together. There is also a new coalition
of those forces who are determined to
24
achieve a coordination of the struggles
of the peoples of Kurdistan and Tur-
key, and to radicalize the struggle of
the masses in order to create revolu-
tionary alternatives and overthrow the
rule of the bourgeoisie. They have
formed the Revolutionary Unity Plat-
form.
New regional role
Turkey has always been depen-
dent on foreign economic and military
aid, with this dependence increasing in
leaps and bounds over the years. Its
foreign debts totalling around $15 bill-
ion in 1980, have climbed to over $40
billion in 1989. Turkey ranks third
after Israel and Egypt among US milit-
ary aid recipients, with $550 million in
1989. «From the Truman Doctrine of
the late 40s to the Carter and Reagan
doctrines of the 80s, Turkey has been
part of every strategic doctrine devised
by Washington» (MERIP, September-
October 1989). As a NATO member
constituting NATO’s _ southeastern
flank, Turkey has always coordinated
its foreign policy with the overall
policies of the imperialist system.
As the socialist bloc in Eastern
Europe has collapsed and ceased to be
regarded as a threat, NATO’s focus on
the Middle East has increased. This
has given new strength to the standing
US argument that NATO’s sphere of
involvement should include not only
the territories of its member countries,
but also those regions having direct
influence on their interests, and espe-
cially the Middle East. This had been
part of NATO rhetoric since 1982, but
the West European countries had been
reluctant to actually implement it. In
line with this shift in focus, there has
recently been much high-level US and
NATO traffic to and from Turkey.
The Turkish government has been
informed that with the «Soviet threat»
receding as a result of the recent inter-
national developments, Turkey must
agree to play a more active role in the
Middle East if it wants to keep its
military aid at the present level.
This «more active role» evidently
implies increased military and political
activity, as Turkey’s economic activity
in the region is already quite high.
Turkey is expected to enter into
firmer alliances with the reactionary
states of the region, and especially
Israel, and has taken steps to fulfill
those expectations. An agreement has
been concluded whereby Turkey will
sell water to Israel, which as Jerusalem
Post reports, will greatly contribute to
solving one of the Zionists’ most vital
problems: shortage of water resources.
The Jerusalem Post also notes the coin-
cidence between the deterioration of
Syrian-Turkish relations and _ the
development of the Israeli-Turkish
relations. Discussions are being held to
resume the full diplomatic relations
that had been dropped to a lower level
in 1981 (as part of an oil deal sought
with the Saudis). The Israeli lobby in
the US has recently cooperated closely
with the Turkish government to under-
mine the discussions held in the US
Congress on the 1915 Armenian mas-
sacre.
Recently, on the issue of the
«giant Iraqi cannon,» Turkey has not
hesitated to act in coordination with
the imperialist states, confiscating and
returning to Britain some iron pipes
destinated for Iraq. Moreover, the
Turkish prime minister declared that
the acquisition of sophisticated military
technology by Iraq is a security threat
for Turkey. The fact that Iraqi oil
pipes pass through Turkey gives the
Turkish regime a weapon that could
always be used. Incidently, Iraq is Tur-
key’s biggest trade partner in the Mid-
dle East.
Water has been a weapon fre-
quently used as a threat against Syria.
Ozal has declared on several occasions
that Turkey can always stop the flow
of water to Syria if it continues to pro-
vide facilities for Turkish and Kurdish
revolutionaries - an accusation categor-
ically denied by Syria. It is a widely
known fact that Turkey assists the
Muslim Brotherhood _ organization.
Starting in February and March, the
possibility of cross-border operations
into Syria and, for the first time, Leba-
non have been publicly discussed in
the Turkish press by ministers and
military officers. There have been
proposals to bomb bases in Lebanon;
the responsible of the Special Forces
has declared that with a 10-man team,
they can easily carry out an operation
in Lebanon and kill PKK’s leader. As of
this writing in mid-June, a Syrian delega- - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 39
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