GLW: Turkish government undertaking massacre in Kurdistan

Australian Kurdish Association writes that Turkish government undertaking massacre in Kurdistan.

As a result of the attacks of the Turkish state forces, a comprehensive war is ongoing in Kurdistan since July of this year. The people of Kurdistan, just like all the peoples of the world, want to live freely and govern themselves in their own country. The Turkish state is rejecting all demands for rights by the Kurdish people and is deploying violent suppression. This is the essence and cause of the problem.

In accordance with its own interests, the AKP government put the ongoing dialogue and negotiation process with the Kurdistan Freedom Movement on hold and initialised the war against the Kurds.

As a result, the Kurdistan Freedom Forces took up a position of self-defence. In many towns and cities, the people of Kurdistan have attempted to establish autonomous local administrations in order to govern themselves without rejecting the state. This action in the towns and cities was a completely civil and democratic affair.

However, in an atmosphere in which even the slightest opposition is not tolerated, the AKP government disregarded the rightful demands of the Kurdish people and opted to violently repress this democratic advance. They declared indefinite curfews, targeted civilians and residential areas, killed hundreds of civilians and [destroyed] towns and cities.

Emphasis Mine

As I wrote in Rojava fights off new Islamic State attack:

Once again, the Capitalists want the world to know that “There is No Alternative”. They are prepared to use their enemy, IS, in attempt to destroy what they see as a far-greater threat: that of an alternative, functioning society based on grass-roots democracy and socialist ideals.

And there is the historic problem of Turkish nationalism: what to do about the minorities like Armenians, Kurds, and Greeks? The collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the First World War meant that the Turkish population faced an identity crisis much like the English on the collapse of the British Empire, and the French on the loss of theirs.

When empire defines a nation, the loss of empires means loss of identity. In these cases, national identity became focussed on racial identity. And the loss of identity was explained by the weakening of the national character through the influx of the inferior races. Thus, xenophobia joined racism as the replacement for empire as the national identity.

Just like England and France, Turkey engages in military interventions in former imperial territories in order to defend its interests. Just like England in Northen Ireland, and France in the Basque country, Turkey suppresses minorities who agitate for legitimate rights under international law.

All of this is the natural consequence of a post-imperial Capitalist society. In Capitalism, a country is built around a nation—however that is defined. Threatened the purity of the nation, and the country is threatened. And a threatened country lashes out. A post-imperial country is still willing and able to use military might to lash out.

As long as Capitalism persists, this suppression of minority rights will continue. Capitalism has no other choice.