https://themilitant.com/2019/10/12/halt-ankaras-assault-against-the-kurds-in-north-syria/
Halt Ankara???s assault against the Kurds in north Syria!
??By John Studer
Vol. 83/No. 38
October 21, 2019
Aiming to deal blows to the Kurdish peoples??? struggle for national
rights, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has begun airstrikes on
the Kurdish-controlled region of northeastern Syria. President Donald
Trump announced Oct. 6 the withdrawal of some U.S. troops in Syria near
the Turkish border area, stating Washington would not stand in the way
of Ankara???s operation.
???The Socialist Workers Party demands the Turkish rulers halt their
attacks on the Kurds in Syria and pull their forces back from the
border,??? Seth Galinsky, SWP candidate for New York City public advocate,
said Oct. 9. ???The Kurds have the right to self-determination.
???We also call for Washington to get all its troops and weaponry out of
the Middle East,??? he said.
Erdogan plans to force hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in
Turkey to move into the Kurdish-controlled area of northeastern Syria
once his military occupies it. He hopes this ???Arabization??? would
separate Kurds in Turkey from their brothers and sisters across the
border in Syria and create a base of support to thwart the Kurds???
struggle for self-determination.
Turkish government forces launched airstrikes on Kurdish fighters in Ras
al-Ain and other Syrian border villages Oct. 9, three days after a phone
call between Trump and Erdogan.
Some 30 million Kurds are an oppressed nationality spread across Iran,
Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Over decades the capitalist rulers there
suppressed Kurds??? struggle for rights and a homeland, with the
complicity of Washington and other imperialist powers. The U.S. rulers
have turned support for the Kurds on and off, as best serves their
imperialist interests.
After millions of working people joined an uprising against the Bashar
al-Assad dictatorship in Syria in 2011, Kurds were able to carve out an
autonomous area. That region expanded as the Kurdish-led Syrian
Democratic Forces helped lead the ground efforts to defeat the
reactionary ???caliphate??? of Islamic State. This area now covers some 25%
of the country, including most of its oil. The Turkish rulers see the
Kurdish-controlled area of Syria as a threat to their efforts to repress
Kurds in Turkey, who are also fighting for their national rights.
While Trump says he wants ???to get out of these ridiculous, endless wars
??? and bring our soldiers home,??? his administration???s measures amount to
moving an estimated 50 U.S. special operations troops out of two border
outposts.
Facing bipartisan criticism in Congress that he was abandoning a U.S.
???ally,??? Trump said he had no intention of abandoning the Kurds and
threatened to ???obliterate the Economy of Turkey??? if Ankara???s forces did
anything he deemed ???off limits.??? None of the 1,000 troops the U.S.
rulers deploy in northeastern Syria have been told to leave and most
still remain in areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces.
Washington has been engaged in a series of disputes with Ankara, its
fellow NATO member, including opposition to the Turkish regime???s
decision to accept an anti-missile system from Moscow.
In response to the Turkish government???s threat to push back and punish
Syrian Kurds, commanders of the Kurdish People???s Protection Units (YPG)
ordered their forces closer to the Turkish border.
Kurdish regional officials are seeking protection from the Syrian and
possibly even the Russian government ???to fill the void,??? they say, if
U.S. forces depart. But like Washington, both Damascus and Moscow have
long records against the Kurds??? fight for national rights. Assad says he
wants to seize control of northeast Syria back from the Kurds.
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In This Issue
Front Page Articles ???UAW strike against GM is battle for all workers
???Halt Ankara???s assault against the Kurds in north Syria!
???Liberals push impeachment, target is the working class
???Join 9-week drive to win readers to ???Militant,??? revolutionary books
???Hong Kong ban on masks can???t stop struggle for political rights
???SWP: Working people can make gains ???when we stand and fight???
Feature Articles ???Youth throng Manila book fair for literature, culture,
politics
Also In This Issue ???Titles by SWP leaders attract interest at Paris Fete
???Contribute to SWP Party-Building Fund!
??????The stewardship of land and labor falls to the working class???
???Iraqi protests demand jobs, end to Tehran intervention
???African conference advances solidarity with Cuba
???Montreal rally: End ban on wearing religious symbols
???Independent truckers protest new gov???t regulations
On the Picket Line ???Idaho miners??? rally marks two-and-a-half-year walkout
???California sheet metal workers end strike, cite gains
???Albany nurses fight for union contract, against short staffing
Books of the Month ???In Teamster battles, ???Workers learned to fight as a
class???
25, 50 and 75 years ago
Letters
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York, NY 10018?? -?? themilitant@xxxxxxx
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Albert Einstein
???Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.???
??? Albert Einstein
