Imperialism has decided to attack Iran recently, in its quest to dominate every inch of the globe, especially if that area is rich in oil. Iran has a history of independence and fighting off foreign forces that challenge its sovereignty. However, the war is not only directed against the people of Iran but also against its neighbors, as one by one they are pulled into this assault led by US and Israel. Türkiye can no longer pretend to sit on the fence in this conflict, and, as the second-largest army in NATO, it must choose a side. And the side she is ordered to choose becomes obvious when the contradictions, secret dealings, secret and open cooperation with Israel and the US become much clearer.
Today, with the open encouragement of the US, Turkey is openly taking part in the war against Iran. Not only is it fulfilling its duties as a staunch NATO member, but it is expanding its role by accepting a new (and a secret until last week) NATO army corps to be established on its soil close to the Syrian, Iraqi, and Iranian border. This unit potentially will host up to 40-50 thousand foreign troops in Türkiye, something that has never happened before.
However, Turkey’s unrealistic ambitions to spread across Africa and elsewhere, and its attempt to convince the US Imperialism that Türkiye, not Israel, should be its reliable fighting dog in the region, are hampered first by its internal class contradictions. Unable to even feed its own people, suffering from an uncontrollable inflation, a completely failed and bankrupt, dependent economic system, Türkiye is in no way able to fulfill even the pretense of being a regional power. Although it may act like a sub-imperialistic country, every endeavor it has taken has blown in its face as the retirees, workers, women, environmentalists, and even its previous supporters are up in arms over the total collapse of such a country. With the support it enjoys from the US and its ruling classes, Turkey is a vessel state sinking deeper and deeper every day into an abyss that the system can only manage through systemic fascism. But for how long?
Ali Ergin Demirhan is the editor of revolutionary Marxist news and editorial site Sendika.org in Türkiye. He is also on the Publishing Board of the same site. Many charges have been filed against him and are pending. The latest being siding with the French humor magazine Charlie Hebdo to protect the freedom of speech. He is facing a 5-month prison term for this charge alone. In 2017, the offices of Sendika.org were raided at 5:30 in the morning, and Ali was detained. He was also detained and questioned in 2018 due to writing an article titled “We can stop this dictatorship.” He was also charged many times in 2018, 2019, and 2021 for “Insulting the President” for his social media posts. He also faced several separate court cases over a single tweet he had sent. He is one of the founders of the BDS movement in Türkiye.
