Won’t You Stand Up Against Warmongering?

A cruel war has been going on in the Middle East. And the government in Turkey is making up excuses and lies to justify any possible intervention in Syria, seeking to convince people of war with great effort. Well, from what has the war that the AKP government is preparing for arisen? Who are the real sides of this war? What interests are involved? What will come out from this war for workers?

There is the cruel Assad dictatorship on one side of the civil war ongoing for two years in Syria. Assad has Russia, China and Iran behind him. They support the Assad regime for their interests. And behind the opposition forces that are fighting for power are countries such as the USA, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Wolves have sat down to the meal; all of them are contesting for getting maximum possible share.

Tens of thousands of people have lost their lives in Syria, and 2 million people have been forced to leave their lands. People’s sufferings are not cared by the greedy wolves. All states that seek to make themselves more powerful and influential in the Middle East have the same intention: to make their countries’ bosses earn more! If Assad’s rule in Syria continues, Russia, China, Iran, that is, bosses of these countries, will continue to enjoy their influence. If Assad is toppled, opposition forces will start to conflict between themselves for hegemony, which will also mean an increased influence of the western great powers and those countries in the region such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia over Syria. In other words these countries’ bosses will do more business in Syrian market; they will take more share from plundering Syrian workers’ and toilers’ labour. And they will gain further influence over the whole of the Middle East.

For that reason, while the imperialist war appears as a monstrous murder to workers and toilers, who sweat for a living, it is a feast for capitalists whose only concern is to make profit out of this war… A few years ago, more than a million people were massacred in Iraq by an imperialist coalition of countries led by the USA. And the leadership of AKP tried hard to get Turkey involved in the Iraq war, but they failed to pass a resolution from parliament thanks to the reaction of the public. Turkey did not engage directly in the Iraq war but provided logistic support for this massacre. Thanks to this support Turkish politicians and businessmen rushed in Iraq after the war. Iraqi oil was shared by American and British companies. And the Turkish capitalists were left with construction bids in the pillage. Turkish bosses in food industry also benefitted greatly from the spoils.

The power struggle ongoing in Syria is a struggle between capitalist powers. The AKP government calculated that Assad would fall in a short time and that Turkey would have a say in Syria. By providing arms and logistic support to opposition forces, Turkey is part of this dirty war. Hence the explosions in Ceylanpınar and Reyhanlı. Assad dictatorship has not fallen in a short time which means AKP’s calculations being fallen to the ground. The war in Syria is getting protracted.

There is no doubt that Assad is a cruel dictator who does anything not to lose his power. The scenes of massacres and children dying in pain are proof of the cruelty of capitalist politicians and their greed for power. And the gangs in opposition are as cruel as Assad. People in Syria are not only escaping from Assad dictatorship but also from the gangs such as Al Qaeda that are responsible for bloody massacres carried out in the name of the case of Islam.

Workers and toilers are not, and should not be, a side of the ongoing war in Syria. Because this war is a reactionary war waged by reactionary forces on both sides. Their interests and those of workers-toilers and the poor people are completely opposite. Turkish bosses and politicians do not care suffering people in Syria at all. Although the government has been conducting a warmongering policy coupled with a belligerent propaganda for two years it failed to succeed. Majority of workers in Turkey do not approve an imperialist attack to Syria. The Syrian people will not be saved from the hands of cruel dictators by the aggression of the countries such as the USA or Turkey. While we stand up against imperialist intervention in Syria, we stand for the overthrow of Assad regime. And it should be the Syrian workers and toilers doing this. Our task is to stand up against warmongering and support Syrian toilers and workers who are our class sisters and brothers.

Translated from İşçi Dayanışması (Workers Solidarity) 66, 15 September 2013