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CounterPunch
February
12, 2003
Turkey and War
94 Percent Opppose Invasion of Iraq
by EMRAH GÖKER
Wholeheartedly or not, the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP by its Turkish acronym) of Turkey is playing
a very dangerous game. Squeezed between two pro-war minorities,
the militarist elite led by the Army and its faithful underdogs
in corporate media and political circles and the big bourgeoisie
the "White Turks" of Istanbul business circles
the neo-Islamist leadership of AKP (chiefly its "natural"
leader Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Abdullah Gul) is desperately
trying to convince the rank-and-file that AKP has no more room
to maneuver between supporting U.S. militarism and buttering
up antiwar sentiments of Turkey's citizens.
AKP's MPs are basically told that they
have to stop being self-respecting Muslims who believe in justice
and democracy, that they have to ignore voices of protest coming
from their grassroots constituencies which carried AKP to power,
and that they have to be "realistic" about allowing
the bombardment, starvation and massacre of another Muslim population.
The successful passage of the February 6th resolution from the
parliament, allowing the U.S. to modernize its military bases
in Turkey and to use Mersin and Iskenderun harbors for the transportation
of equipment, personnel and arms, was a definitive proof that
the leadership has been successful in forcing the bitter pill
of compromise down the throats of its MPs. As the second session
on February 18th (during which the other resolution about allowing
U.S. troops in the country will be voted) approaches, more and
more antiwar groups are being mobilized throughout Turkey; as
Koray Caliskan and Yuksel Taskin remind us in their beautifully
written exposition of AKP's dilemmas, recent polls show that
an overwhelming 94% of Turkey's citizens oppose a military campaign
against Iraq.[1]
Whatever pressure a warmongering minority
(which also controls and/or owns important economic and political
resources in the country) puts on the government, whatever orders
hidden behind the rhetoric of "friendly diplomacy"
are given by the U.S. army-state, Turkey's antiwar activists
argue that the "realist" ground does not hold. AKP
leadership's fatalistic stance blinds the party to the fact that
this strange creature called "national interests" is
actually the brainchild of the Army, groomed by the caring arms
of the Turkish bourgeoisie. The assumption that "there is
no alternative" to the designs of the Bush administration
for the Middle East is also part of the ideology behind "national
interests" so stringently tried to be defended from a pro-war
position.
The interests being "realistically"
defended by the ruling powers, as long as the dispossessed multitudes
of the country constitute the bulk of the "nation",
cannot be "national" interests. Being an accomplice
(if not a direct agent) in the destruction of Iraqi lives, despite
the promises of the so-called "realists" shedding crocodile
tears as they secretly vote for war, cannot ensure our
citizens' security, welfare and dignity.
On the contrary, aiding the U.S. army-state
in its crusade will ensure insecurity by disrupting the
social and political dynamics of the region of which Turkey is
a part and by giving more leverage to the "security establishment"
in its own domestic policing campaigns which undermine the civil
rights of Turkey's citizens. The war will ensure that
Turkey's workers will be hit hardest by the looming economic
losses, as the military and business elite appropriate war profits
and war aids. Finally, being forced by the ruling politicians
and officers to become an accomplice to the massacring of other
human beings will also definitely ensure a decline of
our moral integrity and self-esteem as members of a democratic
polity.
Therefore, exerting physical and psychological
violence on another people, whether they are members of another
nation or members of an ethnic group with which constitutional
citizenship is shared, is in direct, absolute contradiction with
our real interests.
Peace and demilitarization of politics
are in the interest of Turkey's antiwar majority. So is social
justice. And so is a politics of redistribution. As opposed to
"national interests", the pursuit of these inseparable
interests can successfully challenge the already-bankrupt legitimacy
of AKP and the credibility of the pro-war camp.
The antiwar movement in Turkey can and
should fight for the realization of the real interests of the
country's many disenfranchised citizens, who struggle to survive
in the country's regime of "permanent crisis".[2] The
popular struggle for peace will not only open the way for the
long-overdue democratization of the polity and for our empowerment
as citizens, but also can help the people of Turkey to radically
rethink their attitudes towards each other as members of different
ethnicities and towards members of other nations.
Our message is clear: We shall not kill
for the U.S. war machine, we shall not allow our citizens be
killed for it, and we shall not passively watch as the government
helps it kill. We have to keep pressuring the government until
it submits to the real interests of the overwhelming majority
of Turkey's citizens. The growing antiwar movement all around
the rest of the world is our inspiration.
Turkey belongs to a world without war.
Emrah Göker
is a graduate student at Columbia University. He is also a member
of the antiwar group Peace Initiative/Turkey based in New York
City, which is organizing for the upcoming February 15th protest.
His opinions are not necessarily those of Peace Initiative/Turkey.
He can be reached at peaceinitiativeturkey@hotmail.com
[1] Koray Caliskan and Yuksel Taskin,
"Litmus
Test: Turkey's Neo-Islamists Weigh War and Peace", Middle
East Report Online, .
[2] For a critical analysis of Turkey's
permanent crisis regime, see Sungur Savran and Nesecan Balkan,
eds. (2002) The Politics of Permanent Crisis: Class, Ideology
and State in Turkey, Nova Science Publishers, New York.
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