arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

It was mainly the army that was scolded by the USA. Again, it was the army that wants to carry out its wishes.
Wolfowitz made it perfectly clear that the army is the main force in Turkey that America relies on.
The psychology of the generals was that of a thief lurking in darkness feeling surprise and guilt when suddenly caught in the beam of a torch. A thief accustomed to such darkness in order to beat and steal, hang and cut throats on behalf of a big boss. But suddenly the big boss himself has revealed the thief’s role. The whole world and Turkey are witnesses to the position the most senior generals in the Turkish Armed Forces are in when confronted by these belittling and humiliating statements. Their facial expressions fit so well our Turkish saying that “the cat has spilled the milk” (ie. they had done something wrong and looked guilty), and nothing but ignorant words came from the lips of these four-star generals, quite unbefitting to their lofty position.
The army, which forms juntas and plays the democracy game at the same time, which is responsible for the massacres, torture and much more, for hunger and poverty also, in short for all the accursed things that happen in this country, has nonetheless had some success in portraying itself as being above all that. Concealing itself behind the MGK (National Security Council), the “sacred nature of the military” or being “national”, the General Staff is continuing to hold this position.

For 50 years the army has continued the “leadership” of neo-colonialism and fascism. While externally it has relied on the USA, internally it has continued in power by using repression. Wolfowitz scolded the army, saying it “had not carried out its duties of leadership”. There is nothing new about Wolfowitz’s words, they are a statement of what is known. The “leadership” of the army within the existing political structure is a reality of the last 50 years.
Apart from exceptional periods or events in the history of the Republic, the army has always played a decisive role in government. This decisive role has come to the fore in support of imperialism since 1945; since the military coup of September 12, 1980, it has attained the level of playing an institutional role in day-to-day policies.
This decisive role of the army comprises everything from the economy to politics, from social policies to “security” policies, from education to culture. This decisive role is one of the peculiarities of colonial-type fascism in our country.
The army defends and pursues the dependence of Turkey on the USA. The entry into NATO, the countless bilateral agreements with the imperialists, both public and secret, which tie our country to America all have the signatures of our generals on them.
All the system parties are responsible for the dependence on imperialism and for deepening it every year, but the decisive role is played by the General Staff. This process has gone on under the “leadership” of the General Staff.
In all periods, both “civilian” and “military”, the army’s stamp is upon all executions, murders by unknown perpetrators, torture, and all plots and provocations conducted by contra-guerrilla organisations and the means afforded by the contra-guerrillas. Of this there is no doubt. It is obvious and well known to be true.
The General Staff also formed the democratisation game; it broadened or narrowed its extent. System parties could be the “government” only within those limits that were set.
To continue neo-colonialism, and protect the interests of imperialism and the collaborationist oligarchy, it was necessary to practice terror and repression against the people. In this framework, the main duty of the General Staff has consisted of remaining in power and at the same time suppressing the anti-oligarchic, anti-imperialist struggle. For decades the General Staff has stayed in power by suppressing opposition forces, using excuses like the fight against “terrorism, separatism, an Islamic state”.
For this war against the people, it got all its strategy and tactics from America.
Even the “training regulations” for the army in its barracks are taken from the regulations of the US army.
Contra-guerrillas were organised and trained with CIA support. Up to the present, the General Staff has remained in its position of power by giving political, military and financial support to system forces and by carrying out every kind of political and military operation against the revolutionary and patriotic forces.

How is it that today the USA is complaining about the leadership of the generals? Why did the USA blow the cover of the General Staff’s neo-colonial relationships and its place within the system? The General Staff sent the proposal (*) to Turkey’s parliament, not stating its position, with the attitude that “it will get through whatever happens”, and this was a manoeuvre to make the AKP (Justice and Development Party, the ruling party in parliament) foot the bill for being an accomplice of America. But the game was foiled. The proposal did not get through. The AKP and the General Staff failed to meet all the demands America was making on them.
The rivalry within the oligarchy has been pursued with methods such as these up to now. The imperialists also “tolerated” some disloyalty, faulty functioning and problems of the oligarchic system which arose from rivalries within the system. The relations between the General Staff and the USA up to now have taken the form of the General Staff saying “internally, everything depends on me” and putting it into practice with the permission and support of America.
The USA supported the oligarchy even when it carried out the most blatant massacres. All attempts by European imperialism to subject the oligarchy to accounts from a different quarter were personally prevented by America. In short, America has paid the greatest attention to continuing the internal “democracy game”.
But now America has entered a new period; “I’m not interested in your internal squabbles and rivalries,” it says, what it wants is unconditional submission and the unconditional practice of American policies.
After September 11 America breached these limits and ceased worrying about formal democracy. For example, American political and economic officials broke with diplomatic convention when they visited Turkey and held various direct talks with the General Staff itself. The published results of talks held behind closed doors were one of the indicators of America’s new policies.
The words of Wolfowitz are the continuation of this lack of restraint.
A period has come to an end. America has said that politics are to be pursued in its own interests, not in the framework of the oligarchy’s internal contradictions, or the excuses of separatism and an Islamic state that the oligarchy continually used to justify its own rule. At the moment what is important for America is that in Turkey there is a government that will do everything America says and will make America’s interests its own. The USA has no interest at all in whether this government has a civilian, military, Islamist or liberal appearance. When the USA scolded the army, the meaning is clear; whatever the contradictions in this or that action you take, the initiative will not lie with you.
“We are surrounded by enemies on all sides... External forces want to weaken and partition Turkey” – this was the demagogy used against the people’s forces while terror and repression was practiced, at the same time as the General Staff was itself conducting important alliances with external forces. “External forces” - for the General Staff, such propaganda belongs in the past. But now America is openly holding the General Staff, and the system parties the CHP (Republican People’s Party) and the AKP in particular “responsible for the anti-American feelings” shown by the people. This understanding means that from now on the system parties and the General Staff will no longer have room for manoeuvres and demagogy.
In other words, the USA and the General Staff from now on are putting an end to the game of being “national” and are being made to openly announce their pro-American nature.

It is not possible for the General Staff to maintain a national attitude in the face of this pressure. Also it will not be able to resist for the sake of the existing status quo. Certainly the General Staff is completely aware of the form American politics has taken since September 11. Despite this the General Staff made calculations during the latest attack on Iraq based on being able to protect its former status. Today’s “resistance” is also about continuing this status.
But they will not be able to continue their resistance. From today onwards, they are prostrating themselves in an atmosphere of “we have done it, you don’t have to do it”. These mighty generals are hiding their belittling and humiliation at the hands of America by using the excuse that “these were only the personal views of Wolfowitz”, but even children will not believe that.
How can they resist? With what economics, with what military forces, with what kind of politics? The bullets in their weapons, the shells in their tanks, the bombs in their planes all come from America. How can an army resist when even the pants and the boots won by its generals come from America? Can such minds really come up with statements like “either independence or death!”?
Neither the system parties nor the General Staff have an anti-American, national line. Up to today, their words about being national were nothing but a game and demagogy and now everybody will see this in a more blatant way. The statements of US spokesmen do have this beneficial side to them. And the General Staff is made uneasy by having its nature revealed. Why is the USA doing this? We gave the answer to this question above.
Henceforth the policies and aims of the Empire will be pursued in a more undisguised and coarse from. America also wants its neo-colonies to show that they are in step with this. This is a period in which the there is no room for political manoeuvres like “neighbourly relations”, “international legitimacy”, “my internal affairs” that may make less smooth the path along which American plans move forward. The former US policies which gave the oligarchy what could be called “relative autonomy” in the framework of initiatives is being abolished. It is telling you that you cannot draw a line of your own accord, it does not matter if it is red or white. You can only move according to the line that I set out for you. This is what is happening.
The oligarchy has opened its airspace. The murderous forces of the USA used that airspace and carried out thousands of aircraft sorties, slaughtering thousands of Iraqis. But this is not enough for America. It says that you will act in its name. It says it will carry out economic, political and military operations against Iran and Syria according to the “axis of evil” that it has declared and you will all act in line with that. If you do not, you had better watch out!

It is not correct to say that American pressure and bullying cannot be resisted. It is true that neither the General Staff nor the system’s forces can resist. But the people can resist. The peoples can resist imperialism and can also win! Certainly there is a solution for Turkey. The solution is something that neither the General Staff, the system parties nor the oligarchy as a whole are capable of; it is saying “Either independence or death!” and hoisting the flag of independence. Imperialist occupations, old-style and neo-colonialism all could be ended before now, one way or another, and today no other way out exists. Because the methods of colonialism may change but imperialism itself does not.
In Turkey, pro-Americanism is bankrupt. All the pretexts, all the statements have collapsed. Yes, America has been the strategic ally of the oligarchy for 50 years. This alliance has left the people to go hungry, has slaughtered them and could not even protect the oligarchy itself from humiliation and reproach. Opportunist, advantage-seeking views of the kind that say “in today’s world you have to live without getting in America’s way” are just a way of giving in to humiliations, hunger, poverty and bullying. It is dishonourable surrender.
There are circles of the left which prefer Europe as opposed to the USA. This debate is simply a debate about “whom will we be dependent on?” Such a debate is neither patriotic nor revolutionary. This is a debate among lackeys. You may defend this or that policy or tactic under whatever name but it means nothing other than being a simple pawn of the US Empire and a mere instrument of the imperialists’ regional plans, to be moved hither or thither whenever they wish.
Everyone sees what kind of democracy and freedom America brought to Afghanistan, Iraq and the Balkans. Everyone sees that there is no law or justice in defending American policies but in resisting them and taking a firm stand against the pressure they apply. A result of this was that for perhaps the first time in the world, the opposition to America’s attack on Iraq was able to bring various sections together, right-wing, left-wing, revolutionary, Islamist, social democratic… But there is confusion in people’s minds about “what do we do now?”
For the revolutionaries, for the patriots, for everyone who does not want to live under the hegemony of the American empire and its humiliations, plunder and bullying, there is no other road than to fight for an independent, democratic Turkey. The solution is not a complicated one.
The issue is one of deciding whether or not to fight for independence. If we do not want to live with America’s reproaches, humiliations, military occupations, exploitation and looting, we must take a decision to fight. And to fight requires an organised force.
We invite all sections of the people who want to fight for independence to join the ranks of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front. The Front is a place where all anti-imperialists will gather under the banner of independence. The flag of independence has been waved for 33 years by the Front, in a way remote from any surrender, cowardice or deviation. Our aim is clear – independence in opposition to imperialism.

All patriots who talk of independence should come together under the flag of independence waved by the Front!

Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Cephesi
(Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front)

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(*) The “proposal” was an undertaking to let 62,000 US troops pass through Turkey to attack Iraq from the north. It was put before Turkey’s parliament at the beginning of March 2003 but failed to win a clear majority after a large number of AKP deputies refused to support it and voted with the opposition.