Communist Parties condemn the Turkish military operation launched in the northeast of Syria. (updated)
ICP, 10 October 2019
Following the launch of the operation of Turkish Armed Forces in the northeast of Syria yesterday, Communist Parties released statements that condemned the operation.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) underlined that the AKP government in Turkey was more than eager to play the role of the primary actor in US imperialism's plans for the Middle East. The Party pointed out how the United States and the AKP armed and trained various groups against the Assad government of Syria. TKP accused the AKP of going beyond interfering in the internal affairs of their neighbour Syria and taking on the role of directly provoking a civil war in Syria. However, the process did not unfold as predicted by the US and the AKP since the people of Syria resisted against the imperialist occupation and the reactionary gangs, meanwhile paying a very high price with the loss of hundreds of thousands of people. Millions have been displaced and were subjected to the medieval darkness in the middle of the 21st century. In some regions, the residents were subjected to the most savage barbarism and bigotry.
TKP's statement prescribed that Syria is still under actual occupation and is in a divided state. Jihadist gangs and their armed forces are still terrorizing certain regions. AKP is committing a great crime for the last eight years. AKP disregards the sovereignty of another country by overtly funding, training separatist, jihadist gangs and deploying them as armed forces within Syria. According to the TKP, the AKP government along with the USA are the main criminals behind the human tragedy in Syria. This crime, on which they embarked together in the name of bringing freedom to the people of Syria, has opened a huge wound that cannot be healed for years not only in Syria but in the whole region.
The statement clearly put forward that neither the AKP government nor the USA or any other imperialist force can bring peace to the people of Syria. On the other hand, it was noted that the peace and freedom rhetoric by those who rely on imperialist forces, who see the solution in concepts such as autonomous government, locality, regionalism which are nothing but the product of imperialist strategies to divide the people, and those who rely on this or that nationalism are futile. The Party saw the decision for a peaceful and prosperous future only in the hands of the people of Syria. The demands of the working people in Syria who have resisted the imperialist intervention for the last eight years are clear: Independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The statement concluded, "AKP's operation today against a country, whose sovereignty it disregards under the pretext of Turkey's security, is unacceptable. Additionally, the fact that this is justified with the claim of the return of the displaced Syrians to their homes is nothing but grand hypocrisy.
The real threat to the security of our country is NATO, the US and the imperialist forces and those who insist on collaborating with them. The peace in Syria can be established only when all imperialist and occupation forces withdraw from the region. It is the Syrians who can determine the future of Syria."
The Syrian Communist Party (Unified) strongly condemned the brutal Turkish aggression on Syrian territory as a flagrant violation of international law and of the UN Security Council resolutions. "Our homeland and our people have been fiercely attacked by the new Ottomans and their agents," said the statement, affirming the sovereignty, integrity and unity of Syria with all its people and land. The statement indicated the involvement of President Erdogan in the implementation of the Saudi-Israeli plan which was prevented by "the Arab army and its allies". According to the statement, Erdogan took advantage of the contradiction between the so-called “protection units” to implement the “security zone” scheme, preparing it as a base for the Turkish army in annexing Syrian territory to the "Ottoman Sultanate". The SCP(U) warned that this aggression threatens to ignite a never-ending war in the region adding that "the gamble of some Kurdish leaders on America has been a grave mistake". Addressing all Syrian people, with Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians, Syrians and Armenians, it called to stand united in the face of the Turkish aggression and to allow the Syrian Army to defend the Syrian land by acting together to repel the brutal aggression.
The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) categorically condemned the new, third consecutive, military invasion of Turkish troops against Syria. In the statement released by the Press Bureau of the KKE, it was asserted that this new military operation reveals the insatiable aims of the Turkish bourgeoisie that intends to definitively lay the groundwork, on Syrian territory as well, for further interference in Syrian internal affairs, intensifying the territorial fragmentation of a country that is experiencing the harsh consequences of a long-lasting imperialist war. The pretexts used by Turkey regarding “international law of self-defense” yet again, according to the KKE, cover up the fact that today International Law is interpreted as it may in order to serve various imperialist designs.
The statement claimed that this Turkish military invasion would not have occurred if the USA had not given the green light to the NATO Turkish armed forces. It read, "It reveals how stale the recent celebrating of the ND government is around Pompeo's visit and the alleged peacekeeping and stabilization role of the USA. The US, together with NATO and the EU constitute factors that threaten the peace, security and prosperity of the peoples, confirming the popular saying 'A leopard cannot change its spots...'"
The KKE expressed its solidarity with the people of Syria, including the Kurdish population of the region. The Party rejected the participation of Greece in imperialist designs and demanded the immediate closure of "the bases of death".
The Progressive Party of the Working People (AKEL) considered the Turkish war operation as "a new blatant and flagrant violation of international law, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria" at a time when "a glimmer of hope had appeared for the termination of the bloody long war." The statement of the Press Office of the AKEL continued, "Erdogan's Turkey, after all, took the lead during all the previous years in the foreign intervention to overthrow the Syrian government and divide the country, with the Turkish government itself supporting the 'Islamic State'. It is evident, of course, that the Erdogan government, together with the intensification of the repression against the Kurds inside Turkey, is at the same time also aiming at the extermination of the struggling Kurds of Syria, whose forces clashed heroically with the murderous 'Islamic State'." AKEL denounced Turkey's new invasion of Syria and expressed its solidarity with Syria and its people, who continues to pay with its blood and the uprooting of its people as refugees, the cost of the imperialist plans.
The Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) expressed its strong rejection of the Turkish Government's plans to invade and occupy Syrian territories, in the framework of a new military offensive organized under the pretext of fighting terrorist forces in northern Syria. According to the International Policy Department of the PCV, such actions represent a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic and a dangerous step aimed at extending the war and its terrible consequences on the population.
The Party expressed its firm solidarity with the struggle of the Syrian people against imperialist aggression, towards achieving peace and recognition of their sovereignty and independence. In this regard, the PCV demanded the immediate termination of the presence of foreign military forces of occupation in Syrian territory, the respect for the territorial integrity of the Arab country and the ceasing of any foreign military action of aggression against their territories.
The Lebanese Communist Party condemned the attempt of Turkey to occupy and annex more Syrian territories. The statement of the Political Bureau of the Lebanese Communist Party called the attempt a threat to the unity of Syria with the aim of dividing it within the framework of the New Middle East Project that seeks to break up the region and control it. According to the statement, this aggression should be considered as a part of the American conspiracy with the support of several international actors with the aim of achieving this project and hindering the political solution in Syria. It underlined that this aim has given false promises to the Kurdish forces who confided on US support but who are today paying its price. The Party called all international and Arab support for the resistance of the Syrian people, their state and national forces. "Such a course would push the just political solution that the Syrians themselves must decide, away from outside interference, and ensure the unity of Syria, its people, its state, its national position and full sovereignty over its territory under a democratic system that secures the rights of all Syrian citizens with justice and equality of all categories and components," said the statement.
The Palestinian Communist Party strongly condemned Turkey's aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic and considered that this invasion revealed the intention to displace the local population with the pretext of combating terrorism. The statement demanded, "How can the Erdogan government, which supported terrorism in Syria by backing terrorist organizations such as Al-Nusra and ISIS, claim that it wants to fight terrorism in Syria from which no single shot was fired towards its southern border?" The statement issued by the Information Office of the Palestinian Communist Party called all Syrians to unite in the face of this brutal aggression, underlining the urgent need for a direct dialogue between the Kurdish forces and the Syrian government in order to address Erdogan's ambitions in the region. The Palestinian Communist Party expressed its solidarity with the Syrian people with all its components, wishing them victory over this brutal aggression.
Britain's Communists condemned the Turkish invasion of north-east Syria as a 'blatant and barbaric violation of Syria's national sovereignty'. Carol Stavris told the Communist Party of Britain's (CPB) political committee that such a flagrant breach of international and humanitarian law cannot go unchallenged. "In giving the green light to President Erdogan to bomb and invade this oil-rich region of Syria, US President Trump has double-crossed his Kurdish allies there and undermined the peace and stability process set in train by the multinational Syrian Constitutional Commission", she declared. "Trump's prime intention is to draw Erdogan's authoritarian regime back fully into the NATO fold after its recent rapprochement with Russia, but the tragic consequences will be felt by the peoples of all the ethnic groups of the region, as well as the Kurdish minority."
The CP political committee dismissed as 'utterly false and cynical' the Turkish pretext for this latest invasion of Syrian territory as an 'anti-terrorist' exercise intended to bring peace and stability to the region. Ms Stavris called upon the British government to demand UN sanctions against the Erdogan regime and the immediate withdrawal of all Turkish forces from Syria. "Instead of opening another bloody chapter in Western imperialism's history of violence and subversion in the Middle East, Britain and other Western powers should respect the sovereignty of the Syrian people and their government," she insisted. The CPB reiterated its support for Britain's withdrawal from the EU on October 31 so that the Labour Party can concentrate on fighting a General Election on the left and progressive policies agreed at its recent conference.
The French Communist Party (PCF) condemned the "criminal Turkish aggression against the Kurds of Syria." The statement of the Party put forward that R. T. Erdoğan intends to slaughter the Kurds, proceed with an ethnic cleaning, and recycle the incarcerated members of the Islamic State for the sake of his politic of territorial expansion and running for ultra-nationalism. The Party described the Kurds as "artisans of the fight against the Islamic State and one of the principal forces of democratic peace in the region," but left "alone and betrayed by the coalition, in the face of barbary and obscurantism." The PCF called upon the governments of France and the European Union to "sanction with all means the dictatorship of Ankara." The Party demanded the UN Security Council to place the Kurds under international security.
Members of the Pole for Communist Revival in France (PRCF) participated in the "peace manifestations" held in France against "the military aggression of the Islamist Turkish regime towards the Kurds of Northern Syria."
The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) announced that the Turkish invasion and bombardment of northern Syria is patently illegal and must be opposed, so too the U.S. military occupation of Syria. The statement of the PSL indicated that the sovereign government of Syria has not invited U.S. or Turkish troops into its country, rather it has condemned their presence as a violation of its sovereignty and international law. The PSL criticized that Trump’s Democratic Party opponents and his Republican Party supporters are condemning his announcement of a “pullout of US troops from Syria”, which is testament to the fact that the entire U.S. political establishment is thoroughly imbued with imperialist ideology. The operation was described as follows, "In essence one NATO power has turned over military control of a strip of northern Syria to another NATO ally. But it is not theirs to give. Neither the U.S. nor Turkey have any right to be in Syria." On the other hand, the Party also noted that the road to justice for Kurdish people or any minority people cannot be through a military alliance with predatory imperialism, adding that U.S. imperialism is an obstacle to peace and self-determination and not its agent. The PSL asserted that most of the Western forces, conservative and liberal, who are crying crocodile tears over the Kurdish suffering care only about the projection of U.S. military power in Syria for geopolitical reasons. The statement concluded that Erdoğan "will meet considerable resistance in Syrian Kurdistan on one side while progressive workers in Turkey are already mobilizing at home against this criminal and dangerous adventure. From the United States, our message is clear: Down with the Turkish invasion! U.S. and Turkey out of Syria and the Middle East!"
The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) expressed its solidarity with the people of Syria, with the working people of Turkey and with the Kurdish speaking population of both countries, and denounced the resort to arms by the Turkish government, abetted by the United States. The Party also denounced Turkish and U.S. interference in Syria and its neighbors, which has not only strengthened rather than weakened ISIS, but for many years has enabled their cross-border passage, and trained, weaponized and funded them—this in spite of the fact that both the United States and Turkey justify their actions on the basis of the fight against ISIS. The CPUSA pointed out that U.S. policy, especially under President Trump, has deliberately weakened the ability of the United Nations to deal with conflict situations like this one. It continued, "Indeed, the U.S. has substituted its own military might and that of NATO for the rule of international law and the UN Charter. The people of the United States must denounce this dangerous tendency on the part of our own government." The Party noted that these events prove, if proof were needed, that it is high time NATO itself be dismantled, as an entity that threatens world peace. "Rather than this kind of intervention, the entire Middle East situation needs to be settled peacefully, with the full involvement of the UN," it added. The Communist Party USA called upon all its members and friends to participate in its national elections in 2020 with the goal of removing Donald Trump and his reactionary allies from their positions of power that so endanger world peace.
The New Communist Party of Yugoslavia (NKPJ) categorically condemned the new military invasion of Turkish troops against Syria. The NKPJ considered the military invasion of Turkish troops against Syria as a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic and a dangerous step aimed at extending the war and its terrible consequences on the population. The Party called for an immediate end to this offensive which is absolutely not acceptable given that the use of force continues to endanger the life of the Syrian people, who have already experienced tragedy in recent years. The NKPJ confirmed its solidarity with the Syrian communists, with the people of Syria.
The Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) condemned the Turkish military aggression against Syria "aimed at a direct occupation of part of its territory, which constitutes an open violation of International Law and a new and dangerous development in the aggression against that country."
The Party noted that the aggression against Syria was launched eight years ago by the US and other NATO members - including Turkey - in collusion with the Zionist regime of Israel and Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, among others, and with the support of the Portuguese Government. Accordingly, the PCP recalled the complicity of the European Union and the active participation of its major powers - particularly France and the United Kingdom - in the continuous subversions, aggressions and crimes in the Middle East region, starting with Syria. Likewise, the PCP recalled that the various terrorist groups that remain in Syrian territory were, or continue to be, under the orders of the aggressor imperialist powers that created, trained, fund, armed and protected them as part of their strategy of destabilization, occupation and division of Syria.
According to the analysis of the Party, only respect for International Law and, first of all, for the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic will end an aggression of unforeseeable consequences for the Middle East and the world. In this regard, the PCP reaffirmed the call for an end to the aggression against Syria; the withdrawal of all foreign military forces of occupation, such as those of the US, which illegally remain in Syrian territory; and the return of all Syrian territories to the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic, including the Golan Heights, illegally occupied by Israel.
The PCP reaffirmed its solidarity with Syria and its people, who have resisted the huge operation of aggression and interference that was launched over the past eight years. The victory of the Syrian people in defending the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of their country is a major factor in defeating the plans of imperialism in the Middle East - including those of liquidating the just cause of the Palestinian people and those of military aggression against Iran; to defend International Law and the rights of the peoples of the region; and to respond to the complex problems that result from the colonial heritage and decades of domination and interference by imperialism, as is the case the Kurdish issue.
The PCP expressed its solidarity with the millions of displaced persons and refugees who are victims of the strategy of aggression and division of Syria promoted by imperialism and condemned the manoeuvres that violate their rights, both by the European Union and by the Turkish Government.
The PCP demanded from the Portuguese Government a clear position of distancing and rejection of the strategy of destabilization, aggression and division of Syria promoted by imperialism and the demand for respect for International Law and for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic.
The Communist Party of Armenia considered Turkey’s invasion of northeastern Syria "catastrophic" both on human level and political level. The Party expressed its worries about the threats against the physical existence of the civilian population, especially the Armenian population living there. The Party recalled the memory of the tragic ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population in the area and underlined the possibility of the "repeat of the history of the 1915 Armenian Genocide." The CP of Armenia stated, "regime in Turkey has shown that like its predecessors in the beginning of the 20th century it has expansionist ambitions and intends to carry out their plan of pan-Turkism at any cost."
The Party called upon the international community and progressive forces across the world to voice their rejection of Turkey’s invasion and to mobilise all their power to stop the illegal occupation of Syrian territories and prevent escalation of the invasion in order to protect the Syrian population. It expressed solidarity with the Syrian people and their legitimate government as elected by them. The Pary declared, "only the people of Syria have the right to decide the future of the political system in their country and no one else."