https://themilitant.com/2019/10/19/ankara-hands-off-kurds-in-syria-us-out-of-mideast/
Ankara hands off Kurds in Syria! US out of Mideast!
??By Terry Evans
Vol. 83/No. 39
October 28, 2019
Militant photos: above, Catharina Tirs??n; right, Arlene Rubinstein
Above, Jonathan Silberman, Communist League candidate for U.K.
Parliament, left, speaks at Oct. 8 London action to protest Turkish
government invasion of Kurdish-held area in northeastern Syria. Right,
protester at Oct. 12, Washington D.C., action appeals for solidarity
with Kurdish people???s fight for national rights.
The capitalist rulers in Turkey and Islamist Syrian forces they arm and
control launched airstrikes, artillery bombardments and a ground
invasion of northeastern Syria Oct. 9, targeting the Kurdish-led Syrian
Democratic Forces there. Their goal is to weaken the Kurds hold on the
autonomous area of Syria carved out over the last few years in the
course of their struggle for national rights.
Washington decided to withdraw its 1,000 troops from northern Syria four
days later. President Donald Trump said it was time to get out of the
???never-endless wars??? in the region. Faced with this, SDF leaders decided
to make a deal with Moscow and Damascus to move their forces into parts
of the Kurdish region.
Washington is evacuating most of these troops to other U.S. bases in the
Mideast, as part of expanding its forces and military capacities in the
region. The U.S. rulers??? central goal is to counter the rising military
and political influence of the bourgeois clerical Iranian rulers.
The 30 million oppressed Kurds living in Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran
are the world???s largest nationality without their own country.
In the first days of the Turkish rulers??? onslaught some 200,000 people
fled their homes from near Syria???s border with Turkey. Scores have been
killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The
Turkish government has also arrested opponents of its offensive inside
Turkey, including four mayors from the pro-Kurdish Peoples??? Democratic
Party in districts near Turkey???s border with Syria.
The Turkish government threatens to force hundreds of thousands of
Syrian refugees in Turkey to move into the so-called safe zone it seeks
to impose along the border. This, they hope, will kill two birds with
one stone ??? getting rid of Syrian refugees who are a drain on Ankara???s
resources while also forming a human barrier between the Kurds in Syria
and those in Turkey.
Shorn of Washington???s backing, the Syrian Democratic Forces leadership
turned to the governments of Russia and Iran, no friends of the Kurds???
struggle for national rights, who brokered an agreement for the Bashar
al-Assad government to send its forces into border areas in the
SDF-controlled region.
The capitalist rulers in Tehran and Moscow had provided decisive
military force to prop up Assad after his rule was shaken by a popular
uprising for political rights and a subsequent civil war, helping him
bring large parts of the country back under his control.
But until now Assad???s forces have not tried to move inside the 25% of
the country controlled by the Kurdish-led forces, where most of Syria???s
oil is located. The Assad regime responded rapidly to the SDF???s
invitation, dispatching troops to Manbij and other towns in the border area.
Moscow also began deploying military police there, patrolling areas
between the invading Turkish government-backed forces and Assad???s troops.
No end to ???endless wars???
Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced the evacuation of most U.S.
troops from northeast Syria to Iraq Oct. 13. The remaining 300 U.S.
troops in the country will reinforce Washington???s al-Tanf base in the
south of Syria. That base lies close to the strategic Baghdad to
Damascus highway, a route Tehran wants to use to transfer arms to the
militias that it organizes across the region.
Washington???s pullback was condemned by both Democratic and Republican
politicians. The Democrats are the most bellicose of the bipartisan ???war
party??? today, pushing continued war moves in the Middle East and
Afghanistan. The Trump administration imposed tariffs on steel produced
in Turkey and halted talks on a trade deal with Ankara Oct. 14.
But the pullback of U.S. forces in Syria has nothing to do with ending
the rulers??? military intervention in the Mideast.
Both Democratic and Republican-led governments in Washington have
carried out wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere after the implosion
of the Soviet Union, believing this meant they could impose subservient
governments wherever they choose. But these wars furthered the
fracturing of the U.S.- dominated imperialist world order in the Mideast
and landed Washington in a quagmire.
Far from withdrawing Washington???s forces, Trump is increasing their
deployment. The U.S. rulers intend to challenge the growing influence
the Iranian rulers have established through their military intervention
in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere.
The administration has deployed an additional 3,000 U.S. troops, two
fighter squadrons and a missile defense system to Saudi Arabia. Since
May, 14,000 U.S. forces have been deployed to the Arab-Persian Gulf
region. Working people have no interest in backing the rulers??? use of
Washington???s massive military might anywhere across the Mideast,
explained Alyson Kennedy, the Socialist Workers Party???s presidential
candidate in 2016, in a statement ???Solidarity with the Working People of
Syria,??? published in the Militant in March of that year.
US, Ankara out now!
???Syrian toilers need the space to mobilize in political action, to learn
in struggle, to be transformed from victims into conscious actors in
history. All the imperialist and capitalist forces intervening in Syria
today are obstacles to this course,??? she said.
???We oppose the U.S. rulers??? involvement in the war in Syria and Iraq and
call for Washington, its allies and others ??? from London and Paris to
Moscow, Ankara and Tehran ??? to withdraw their warplanes, ships and
troops now.???
The SWP today demands the capitalist rulers in Ankara halt their bloody
assault on the Kurds and pull their forces out of Syria.
Kurds and supporters of Kurdish self-determination have organized
protests of thousands against the Turkish-government orchestrated
invasion of Syria, including in Erbil, in the Kurdish region of Iraq, as
well as in Washington, London, Paris and elsewhere.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles ???Solidarity with strikers at GM, Mack Truck! Equal
pay, permanent jobs is fight for all workers
???Autoworkers at GM win support in working class
???Ankara hands off Kurds in Syria! US out of Mideast!
??????Militant??? and books drive builds support for labor battles
???Ft. Worth outcry leads to indictment of cop who killed Atatiana Jefferson
???Liberals??? hysteria for impeachment targets ???deplorable??? workers, our
rights
???Copper miners reject Asarco???s ???insulting??? offer, shut down mines
Feature Articles ???Lift US sanctions on NKorea! For a nuclear-free peninsula!
Also In This Issue ??????Standing up, fighting back helps unite working
people???
???Georgia cop faces prison in shooting of Anthony Hill
???PG&E cuts power to 700,000 homes in Northern California
???Workers, peasants in Ecuador push back gov???t attacks
???Socialist Workers Party-Building Fund Oct. 5 - Dec. 10
???Fall Campaign to sell Militant subscriptions and books Oct. 5 - Dec. 10
(Week 1)
Editorials ???Unity and solidarity are crucial to working-class struggles
Books of the Month ???Nicaraguan Revolution opened way for women???s
emancipation
25, 50 and 75 years ago
?? Copyright 2019 The Militant?? -?? 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor -?? New
York, NY 10018?? -?? themilitant@xxxxxxx
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Albert Einstein
???Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.???
??? Albert Einstein
