The Wave of Racist Hysteria and the Regime’s Destructive Syria Policy

On the evening of 30 June, a terrible racist attack took place in the Melikgazi district of Kayseri. The next day, with the news that anti-Turkish demonstrations were organised in the cities under the control of the Turkish Armed Forces in Northern Syria and that Turkish flags and institutions were attacked, racist attacks spread to cities such as Antep, Adana, Antalya, Hatay, Konya, Urfa and Bursa. In Antep, workers’ shuttles were stopped and Syrian workers were hunted down, while in the Serik district of Antalya, a 17-year-old Syrian child worker was stabbed to death in the street and two of his friends were seriously injured.

The attempted lynching in Kayseri began after news spread that a 6-year-old child had been sexually assaulted and that the perpetrator was a Syrian. Hundreds of people took to the streets and set fire to the homes and workplaces of Syrians, scraping their cars with excavators and burning them. While the fire brigades that came to intervene in the fires started by this fascist mob were prevented from entering the streets, the police stood by and watched this vandalism for a long time. The state officials, including the governor and the district governor, were content with asking the fascist mob to return home, saying that “the raped child is not Turkish anyway”. Yerlikaya, the Minister of Interior, said the next day: “Dear citizens, let us not fall for provocations. Let us show restraint. Let’s not commit crimes by illegal means, by harming people, the environment and property”. Finally, Yerlikaya announced that 855 people had been arrested in Kayseri and that 468 of them had criminal records for fifty different offences.

Syrians who had been terrorised for hours barely managed to save their lives that night. However, the terror campaign against Syrian refugees is still being carried out by smaller groups in many cities. In fact, the criminal records made public by Yerlikaya reveal both the political affiliations of the mobs in question and their relations with state forces: Immigrant smuggling, assault, imprisonment, drugs, sexual harassment, looting, theft, fraud, counterfeiting... The sensitivity of these “respectable citizens” in the face of a sexual assault on a child is truly astonishing! In a country where almost every day there are reports of boys and girls being raped by sect masters, soldiers, policemen, local aristocrats, neighbours and even fathers who are the heads of conservative families, it is certainly not convincing that the “neighbours” who rise up at the rumour of a rape would commit such vandalism for this reason. We know that the nationalist mobs of the fascist regime are not only Kurdish-phobic, but also terribly Syrian and Afghan-phobic. But we also know that no criminal incident of this kind can reach these dimensions without the connivance and often even the instigation and organisation of the state forces. When the state, with its military and police forces, says “stop”, these inherently submissive subjects immediately bend their necks; when the same state opens the way, the subjects suddenly turn into lions!

We do not know which power cliques within the state are fuelling this wave of racist hysteria. We are facing a fascist regime led by Erdoğan, which has united different political tendencies on the basis of some common interests. However, as we have seen more than ever in recent times, the conflicts between these forces are intensified because of their differences. While the bleeding of the AKP, which is unable to prevent economic destruction, is a danger factor for the future of the regime, the AKP’s recent attempts to change course or soften its relations with the opposition are worrying the junior partner, the MHP (Grey Wolves). For the MHP, the Sinan Ateş case, the hearings of which began these days, is a pain in the neck. Other political components of the regime and different forces within the state are also becoming more and more disturbed. As a result, there is a high potential for such serious incidents to be provoked in order to send a message to or tune up the government. However, it should be noted that all components of the regime are involved in the bloody Syrian policy, which has prepared the social ground for this racist hysteria.

This imperialist policy has created a gigantic tangle of problems in every field, from feeding the hordes of jihadist murderers to the occupied Syrian cities and the unbridled influx of refugees. Erdogan’s overnight switch from “Assad the killer” to “Mr Assad” explicitly confirms this bankruptcy. This is precisely why the hired army in Syria perceives a very serious threat to its survival and is openly responding with its actions. Some Turkish-funded jihadist groups have carried out armed attacks on military vehicles, PTT (Turkish Postal Service) buildings, governorate buildings, flags, Turkish trucks, etc. in cities under the control of the Turkish army, such as Afrin, al-Bab, Jarabulus and Azaz. Nearly 10 people were killed and many more injured in the clashes that erupted.

After all, the riot, which began the very next day after the Kayseri attack, sent a double message to Erdoğan. Having hit a brick wall in Syria, however, Erdogan was forced to figuratively extend his hand to Assad. Nevertheless, the fact that Assad has made Turkey’s packing up and leaving a precondition for negotiations makes Erdoğan’s task even more difficult. Turkey’s planned military operation to occupy a 30-kilometre-wide continuous strip on the other side of its southern border under the name of a “safe zone” cannot be carried out, at least in the short term, because it has not received the green light from Russia, the US or the Iraqi government. In fact, Erdoğan replied to the question [“Is military action still on the agenda?”] posed to him on the plane on his return from Astana as follows: “From now on, this will be determined by the course of events in the region. It would be wrong to say that we will take such a step before developments mature and reach a certain point. But if it is necessary to take such a step in the light of developments, it will be taken”. As we can see, Erdoğan, who said “suddenly one night” a few months ago, has once again taken a step backwards.

The regime is trying to cover up the bankruptcy of its Syria policy with lies, manipulation and demagogy. In a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry in the face of criticism against the Erdogan regime’s Syria policy over the latest developments, the ministry said: “Turkey has managed to become an island of peace and stability in a geography that has been deliberately turned into a ring of fire for years. By staying out of the wars in the region, our country has strengthened the peace and security of our nation and increased its prosperity. Our country, which has also improved its defence capabilities in the process, has become capable of fighting terrorism beyond its borders, which it has defeated in its own geography”. Well, shouldn’t we ask, wasn’t the current government the main business partner of those who deliberately turned this geography into a ring of fire for years? Hasn’t Turkey lost hundreds of people to bombs detonated on its soil, not to mention thousands of soldiers sent to the front? Is Turkey an island of peace, security, stability and prosperity, where lynch attempts against Kurds and Syrians never stop, where workers live in miserable conditions while billions of liras in budgets and secret funds are allocated to the war? What is called defence capabilities is the fuelling of militarism and the acceleration of the war industry at the expense of all these.

The AKP government’s policy of war in Syria since 2012 has caused millions of Syrians to leave their homeland and scatter all over the world, especially in Turkey. While ISIS and its offshoots were used as mercenaries to fight there, Yazidis and Kurds were subjected to the worst persecution. Today, the western part of Syrian Kurdistan, called Rojava, is under Turkish control. The puppet organisation set up in Antep as the Syrian Provisional Government claims to be the real Syrian government against the Assad regime. But for some reason, in the “liberated” regions in the north, all institutions, from the PTT to the “governorates”, from schools to hospitals, are under the control of the Turkish Republic. Despite all this, Erdoğan extends a so-called olive branch to Assad, saying “we have no eyes on anyone’s territory or sovereignty, we do not interfere in Syria’s internal affairs”. But even this “olive branch” is plucked from the plundered olive groves of Afrin! Moreover, Erdoğan’s statement that 670,000 Syrians have “returned” to the settlements seized from the Kurds in northern Syria and that 1 million people will be added to this number when the housing projects implemented with the support of Qatar are completed, clearly shows that the regime has no intention of leaving this region and wants to establish dominance there through the jihadists under its control.

There is also the “cheap labour” aspect of the issue of Syrian migrants, which the Erdoğan regime does not hesitate to express publicly. In his recent statements, Erdoğan did not hesitate to mention this dimension of the problem, saying: “We will solve the issue of asylum seekers not on the basis of prejudices and fears, but on the basis of the realities of our country and our economy in an intelligent, humane and conscientious framework”. From industry to agriculture, millions of Syrian workers are being ruthlessly exploited - working in conditions of slavery. Moreover, local workers are accused of “not liking work” because they do not want to work in these conditions.

As we can see, the regime’s Syrian policy has led to multidimensional problems. Does our “native and national” opposition say anything other than “one should negotiate with Assad” on this issue? Of course not. Except for one or two grumblings, the parliamentary resolutions on sending troops to Syria, which have been extended for 12 years, have been fully supported. Erdoğan is supported unconditionally for the extension of the occupation area under the name of “safe zone” and even criticised for “why this has not been done”. The bourgeois opposition, including the CHP, İYİP and the fascist Ümit Özdağ, is only shouting “Syrians should be sent away” and inciting racism. Therefore, the opposition has as much to do with the wave of racist hysteria we are facing as the government. In fact, the racist fascist Zafer Party led by Ümit Özdağ is at the forefront of those who are fanning the flames. The events show once again that the rulers, both in power and in opposition, play with fire, but this fire always burns the labourers - Turks, Kurds, Syrians, Afghans.

“The truth is that neither the regime nor the bourgeois opposition has any real intention of solving this problem. Regardless of who it comes from, saying ‘we will send the refugees back to their countries’ as a solution is not realistic, it is just hollow propaganda. Such rhetoric may be pleasing to the ears of many workers, but there is no such ‘simple’ solution to the refugee problem. (...) It is not possible for millions of people to return until the war in Syria ends, Turkey and the imperialist powers withdraw their hands from Syria, the country stands up economically and the necessary social and democratic conditions are created. The working class must see this reality and demand that all imperialist and regional powers, especially Turkey, withdraw their hands from Syria immediately. (....)

“Those who applauded the regime in Turkey when it intervened in the Syrian war and carried out cross-border operations are now saying “let the Syrians go”. Ignoring this reality and saying ‘it is none of my business, let them go to their countries’ is frankly uncaring. It is clear that the workers must oppose the current regime, which has created this problem, not the migrants, and the racist and expansionist imperialist policies of the Turkish rulers.”[*]