- by William Briggs
- The Guardian
- Issue #2137
Kurdish girls dancing. Photo: petit1ze – flickr.com (CC BY-NC 2.0)
The call by Abdullah Öcalan, jailed leader of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), to disarm and to seek a peaceful path to unity and democratisation in Türkiye is a significant development. A delegation from the Kurdish People’s Equality and Democracy Party visited him in prison and were handed a letter calling on the PKK to cease hostilities. An ongoing guerilla war has been waged since 1984. More than 40,000 people have died. Most of these have been Kurds. An end to the war is welcome.
The PKK is routinely referred to as a Marxist party. It was formed in 1978 as a Marxist-Leninist party with a strong nationalist slant. Its aim was the creation of a separate Kurdish state in response to Türkiye’s refusal to allow any expression of Kurdish national identity.
The ideological perspective of the PKK shifted over the years. It has long since ceased to be a Marxist party but the media still use the Marxist-Leninist tag. It is a deliberate ploy, used not only by the Turkish government but by states and media the world over. As the Turkish Communist Party recently stated; “the PKK is not a Marxist organisation. At a time when the self-termination of this nationalist-based organisation is on the agenda, we will not remain indifferent to the government’s cunning attempt to shift the responsibility for the past onto revolutionaries and socialism.” Importantly the Turkish Party made the point that “Marxism is fundamentally incompatible with nationalism infused with liberalism, or with having alliances with the United States or Israel.”
The allusion to ‘alliances with the United States and Israel’ has special significance. It links the call by Öcalan for an end to the decades-long conflict with the current manoeuvring in Syria.
The PKK, while based in Türkiye is closely aligned, and indeed has a sister party relationship with the Democratic Union Party and its military arm, the YPG (People’s Defence Units). A close relationship has developed between these groups and the USA.
This intricate set of relationships and alliances is especially relevant in light of Öcalan’s letter or ‘Call for Peace and Democratic Society.’ His statement declares that “the inevitable outcome of the extreme nationalist deviations, such as a separate nation-state, federation, administrative autonomy, or culturalist solutions, fails to answer the historical sociology of the society.” There is a direct appeal to “democratise” the existing state. This is long overdue, but unlikely as things stand.
The Turkish Communist Party says that they “are also struck by claims from ruling party circles that this process represents a major step forward for democracy in Turkey. The reality today is starkly different: extreme poverty and deep social inequality prevail, justice has been entirely eroded, and tyranny and unlawfulness have become the norm.” Any ‘coming in from the cold’ on the part of the PKK is unlikely to change these realities.
Another aspect to this is the idea being touted that if Turks and Kurds form an alliance, Türkiye will become the most significant power in the region.
For the Kurdish people in Türkiye, and for the working class as a whole, these intrigues are of secondary importance. Tens of thousands have died. Whether a policy of ‘Neo-Ottomanism’ is being contemplated doesn’t matter to them.
The manipulation of the region is having tragic consequences for the people. The hand of imperialism is painfully visible in post-Assad Syria as the jostling for position and power continues. Türkiye, Israel and the USA occupy territory. Assad loyalists are still on the ground. ISIS remains entrenched. The former jihadists attempt to juggle this and appeal to the West for material support. All seem engaged in a macabre game of chess for control. The people and their needs and aspirations are of little consequence.
What this means for Syria is clear. Dismemberment and virtual partition will become the long-term reality. The Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by YPG occupy nearly 25 per cent of Syria. There is a ‘fluid’ relationship between this group and the Turkish-sponsored Free Syrian Army that control a further 20 per cent of the country. It is in the interests of Türkiye, the USA and Israel that Syria remains divided. There is oil, and there is geostrategic significance to contemplate.
Against this are the calls by the PKK for democratisation, for peace, for unity. They are lofty calls and if they could be achieved in Türkiye, it would be a major step forward for peace and security in the broader region.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has warmly welcomed Öcalan’s letter. A statement from the president’s office claims that “the call basically said that there is no more [Kurdish] identity problem, that the denial [of Kurds] is over, that there are no two nations, no two official languages, no two citizenships, no demand for autonomy, no demand for federation. The unitary state has been defended.”
The assessment of the Turkish communists is clear. “The cessation of the conflicts … is a development that cannot be opposed. These conflicts have led to the estrangement of citizens based on ethnic origins, dragged them into a bloody confrontation, divided the working people, and distanced them from real solutions to Türkiye’s problems. The TKP views calls for peace and any resulting agreements reached or to be reached in this regard as a positive step.”
The TKP goes on to say “The Communist Party of Türkiye is determined to ensure the fraternity of the oppressed, the poor strata, and the working class by fighting against imperialism, exploitation, monopolies, and the rule of religious sects. We seek to unite the vast majority of Turks, Kurds, and all others – regardless of ethnic origin – who have been deprived of this country’s wealth, not through heroic references to the past but through the realities of today.”
On one hand there is the call from Öcalan. Inherent in this is the sentiment and politics of nationalism and the promotion of regional and narrow, sectional interests. On the other is the principled call of the Turkish Communist Party, committed to the needs of the people, regardless of ethnicity or nationality.
