The Revolutionary Communist Group and its paper Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! support the resistance of the risen Kurdish people of Afrin against the attack launched on 21 January 2018 by the Turkish state and its Free Syrian Army auxiliaries. The Turkish army could never have attacked without the connivance of the US, British, European and Russian governments.
Ever since the Rojava revolution liberated parts of northern Syria from Ba’athist rule in 2012, Turkey has threatened and attacked the territory, often using jihadist proxies. Rojava stands for direct democracy, gender equality, secularism, inter-ethnic cooperation, environmental protection and the rights of the Kurdish people. The Turkish state, led by President Erdogan, will not tolerate any manifestation of Kurdish political rights, either in Syria or in Turkey. 13 Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) MPs have been imprisoned in Turkey, including the party’s co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag; scores of Kurdish co-mayors have also been gaoled; over 170 journalists have been imprisoned and 150 media outlets closed down. Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) remains isolated in prison in Turkey, despite seeking a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question in Turkey.
When people protested in Turkey against the attack on Afrin they were arrested and charged with ‘spreading terrorist propaganda’. Erdogan threatened: ‘You are being followed. Wherever you take to the streets, our security forces will be at your throat. Just as we root out those on the mountains out of their caves, we will not let you take to the streets.’ Turkish fighter jets are bombing Afrin city and villages, killing civilians. This is what the British government is complicit in, by refusing to condemn the Turkish state’s attack on Afrin.
When the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) liberated Kobane in February 2015 from the Islamic State (IS) after 134 days of resistance we said that they had achieved a pinnacle of resistance and that new peaks would arise. We salute them. All socialists and communists around the world salute the resistance in Afrin. The Kurdish people and their allies in battle are on the front line in the fight for the future of humanity. Their victory, when it comes, will change the Middle East forever and begin to end the suffering of its people under imperialism and its accomplices.
End all British arms sales to Turkey and all British military and political collaboration with the Turkish state!
Victory to the Kurdish-led resistance!
