August 29, 2006

Press Release from Peoples Houses

A call to all pro Labor, pro Democracy and forces of Peace

MOBILIZE TO BUILD A NEW MARCH 1ST![1]

The political government has decided to send troops to Lebanon against the will of the people. Everybody is fully aware that this decision, based on UN resolution 1701, is designed to make Turkey serve the aggressive policies of the US and of Israel.

The UN resolution 1701 was not passed to bring peace to the region. Rather, it was designed to prepare the conditions to spread the war started by Israel to our neighbors Syria and Iran.

After the invasion of Iraq, the bloody chaos in Middle East has grown and is now surrounding Turkey. The invasion, attack and tension causing policies of the US aimed for colonization is affecting our country as well. The developments on the Kurdish issue have become a tool of pressure to force Turkey into the blood bath.

The increasing violence by US and Israel is casting a dark shadow upon our and our neighbor’s peoples. If Turkey enters this environment of violence as a party, it will not be able to avoid becoming a part of this long and bitter war.

The spiral of violence must be broken in the Middle East. Turkey must not be forced into this spiral.

A government for the interests of its people must stand up against US and Israel’s bullying openly and directly. The welfare of the people of Turkey is dependent on defending peace in the region and democracy in our country.

However, the JDP government has turned to patch up the aggressive policies of the US and Israel in hopes of getting strength and continuity in its governance in exchange for the tasks given to it by the US. Other forces of the state power are convinced that in order to minimize the damage from the clashes created by the US imperialism in the Middle East, Turkey should join on the side of the US.

These policies of the rulers are completely wrong. The peoples of the Middle East not only have shown their decisiveness to resist against imperialist attacks but have proven to be able to. The resistance of the people of Lebanon in the latest Israeli attack has demonstrated this fact once again. It is impossible to protect our country from the devastating results of war by sitting at the table with the despots. On the contrary, this policy will make us sink into the same quagmire the US and the zionists have been lodged in, and will make us the target of justified hatred of all the oppressed peoples in the Middle East.

The decision to participate in the UN Peacekeeping Force will be a decision to join the US and Israel in the Middle East war.

The people of Turkey is once again faced with the challenge to defend its future, to cease the pain of its neighbors, defend peace and democracy against its own rulers just like right before US’ invasion of Iraq. The people of Turkey must prevent the political government from making the Assembly pass the resolution to join the UN Peacekeeping Force.

For this, as we have done on March 1st, all forces that oppose going to war on the side of the US and Israel must be united and mobilized under the leadership of labor and democracy forces.

We are calling on all labor and democracy forces who feel the responsibility in this issue to unite and mobilize in an effective, democratic, flexible and multi faceted way to create the next March 1st mobilization.

Respectfully.
Abdullah Aydın
President, Peoples Houses

[1] March 1st Incident:
The March 1st incident refers back to the fateful and historic Assembly decision to prevent the US from using Turkey’s land to launch the war against Iraq. Although the government and the ruling classes tried their best to fulfill the US’s order to comply, and even though the representatives wanted to vote for a pro US resolution, the mobilization of the people was so powerful that they were forced to vote against their wishes. Literally hundreds of thousands of people organized and flooded the representative’s phones with unceasing calls to demand a rejection of the US’s war plans. Even many death threats were reported against the representatives if the vote passed. In the end, on March 1st, the Assembly denied the US the right to attack Iraq from its northern border. Some high US officials have blamed Turkey’s March 1st resolution not to allow the US to enter Iraq from the northern border for their failure in Iraq.