WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE - news journal UPDATE - (en) France, UCL press release: Iraq: Large-scale Turkish operation against the Kurdish left (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 Here we go again for a campaign of bombings and death. At the beginning

of July, Erdogan launched his army into the Iraqi mountains to hunt down
the guerrillas who challenge him. At the same time, he is trying to
patch things up with another bloodthirsty tyrant, Bashar al-Assad. ----
Since the end of June, at least 300 armored vehicles, including tanks,
and 15,000 Turkish soldiers have entered Iraqi Kurdistan. In the Qandil
Mountains is in fact the rear base of the PKK, the center of gravity of
the Kurdish left in the Middle East, which Erdogan promised to destroy
during the summer. To achieve this objective, he has the support in Iraq
of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (PDK), the "liberal-feudal" faction of
the Barzani clan. But he also multiplies diplomatic initiatives.

Erdogan has a history of galvanizing nationalism in Turkey with external
military operations whenever his authority falters at home. This is the
case following the success of the opposition, and in particular the
Kurdish left, in the last municipal elections.

But this operation also constitutes global pressure on the Kurdish left
in Turkey, Iraq and Syria. Despite their quibbles, the various far-right
regimes that tyrannize Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria have at least one
thing in common: hatred of left-wing forces and of the revolutionary
experiment being carried out in Rojava.

Russia seems to be interfering
In Syria, precisely, Erdogan is reaching out to Bashar al-Assad. On June
28, he declared that he saw "no obstacle to the reestablishment of
relations with Syria", where the Turkish army occupies several regions,
where it covers Islamist and even jihadist militias. But Assad himself
affirmed on June 26 that he was open to "all initiatives concerning
Syrian-Turkish relations". At the end of May, the Iraqi Prime Minister
declared that he was working for reconciliation between Ankara and
Damascus, but it is mainly Russia which seems to be interfering.

However, there remains a gap between Syrian and Turkish demands. Assad
wants the withdrawal of Turkish troops and an end to Ankara's support
for jihadist militias. Above all, Turkey demands that Damascus eliminate
the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) dominated
by the Kurdish left. No one wants to make the first move.

If the Iraqi government and the PDK have given the green light to a
Turkish military intervention in Iraqi Kurdistan, it is probably because
of infrastructure issues, particularly oil, which for the moment are
hampered by the activity of the Kurdish guerrilla.

The French state will be even more complicit with the RN in power
The French state, for its part, no longer exerts any pressure on Turkey
for a peaceful solution in Kurdistan. Worse: to please Erdogan, he
occasionally represses activists from the Kurdish diaspora in France.

This cynical policy could worsen with the coming to power of the
National Rally, whose sympathy generally goes to dictators, whether
Erdogan, Assad, or Putin.

"Militant support actions in France and abroad are of vital importance,"
the representative of the Autonomous Administration of North and East
Syria (AANES) recently recalled. This also generates a lot of hope
locally.» Even if it is obvious that in France the priority is the fight
against the extreme right, our revolutionary comrades who fight the
extreme right in power in Turkey, Iran and Syria must continue to
receive our support. Many initiatives are supported by the Serhildan
network, the Kurdistan National Solidarity Coordination and the Rise Up
For Rojava network.

Libertarian Communist Union, July 2, 2024

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Irak-Operation-turque-de-grande-envergure-contre-la-gauche-kurde
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