They threatened to come suddenly one night, and sure enough they came – and turned just as suddenly to flee.
…
Today, the Kurdish national revolutionary-democratic forces – fighting in the mountains of Northern Kurdistan, routing attacks in Xakurke and Heftanîn, resisting on the fronts of Rojava, and now repelling colonial aggression in Garê – are the most organised and most effective of the antifascist forces in the struggle against the regime. The Battle of Garê, in which communist guerrillas fought to victory, has been recorded as a major victory against the fascist chieftaincy.
They came with their planes, helicopters, Howitzers and special combat units, artillery and airborne divisions. They came to display their colonial power in one of the places where Kurdish guerrillas are most powerfully deployed, 70km beyond the artificial border that illegitimately divides Northern and Southern Kurdistan. They came to Shengal and Maxmur to establish a stepping stone for new invasions of Rojava, to destroy the central command of the Kurdish freedom forces and to effect a permanent occupation in the Medya Defense Zones. They came with confidence in the consent of the USA imperialists, the silence of the Baghdad government and the vile cooperation of the KDP. They designed to fly the colonial-fascist flag in Garê on the 15th of February, anniversary of the imperialist conspiracy that captured Abdullah Öcalan. But they did not hold on until February 15th: after four days of guerrillas’ heroic resistance, they were defeated and turned back.
They threatened to come suddenly one night, and sure enough they came – and turned just as suddenly to flee.
The bourgeois colonial-fascist Turkish state, which has become the spearhead of counter-revolution in the region, did not expect a military and political defeat in Garê. But despite carrying out this attack with all its strength, the Turkish army, declared invincible by the architects of fascist psychological warfare, could not escape defeat. And though they claimed their operation of furious aggression was to save soldiers, police and intelligence officers held as prisoners of war by the PKK, they proved willing to sacrifice them all in their bombardment.
The Garê occupation attempt has once again demonstrated that when it comes to the demand for Kurdish national and political freedom, the various imperialist and colonialist blocs and states have long since suspended their conflicts of interest; or at the very least are willing to turn a blind eye. Barzani, too, at the head of the regime in Southern Kurdistan, has clearly deepened his political engagement with Turkish colonial-fascism.
The strategy of using friction between Erdogan’s regime and the other imperialists and regional reactionaries for the benefit of the revolution therefore cannot be the primary element of revolutionary strategy, but at most a subsidiary of revolutionary strategy on the level of political and military tactics.
The attempt to invade Garê has once again revealed that Erdogan’s “legal and economic reforms” and the debate around a new constitution have no scope other than to consolidate the foundations of the fascist regime and rearrange its relations with imperialist states and monopolies. To think that the regime can turn to the route of bourgeois-democratic reconciliation and that democratic rights and freedoms can be achieved by the struggle to draft a new constitution can only serve to relieve pressure from the regime.
The attempt to invade Garê has also demonstrated that a whole bourgeois opposition block from CHP to IYIP will not hesitate to line up behind fascist-in-chief Erdogan at every critical turn, and that these parties have as little in connection to the peoples’ demands for freedom as the Turkish bourgeois state in general. The way to bring an end to the fascist regime is not by standing shoulder to shoulder in a democratic alliance with the Nation Alliance and CHP; but to politically isolate the bourgeois opposition bloc which does nothing but cripple and exhaust the antifascist struggle’s potential.
Most importantly, the failure of the Garê invasion attempt confirmed that however fervently they try, and however vicious their attacks on the working people and oppressed, the fascist chief and his subjects are incapable of achieving their goals. There is no reason to doubt the fact that, armed with a revolutionary spirit of determined resistance, the antifascist struggle is more than capable of defeating the regime and putting an end to Erdogan’s fascist political-Islamist reign.
Today, the Kurdish national revolutionary-democratic forces – fighting in the mountains of Northern Kurdistan, routing attacks in Xakurke and Heftanîn, resisting on the fronts of Rojava, and now repelling colonial aggression in Garê – are the most organised and most effective of the antifascist forces in the struggle against the regime. The Battle of Garê, in which communist guerrillas fought to victory, has been recorded as a major victory against the fascist chieftaincy.
The attack on Garê provides opportunities for enhancing the position of the left workers’ movement with a renewed understanding of the current situation. For example, increasing the struggle against the preparations for new colonial invasions of Shengal, Maxmur and Kobanê by showing the toiling and oppressed masses in Turkey nation that the blood of prisoners of war who died in the bombardment of Garê is on Erdogan’s hands alone. To develop the outlook of the working left movement in this way is a basic mandate for advancing the antifascist struggle.
The Garê victory is the newest link in the chain of struggle against the fascist regime and a fresh source of revolutionary power for the antifascist movement, which is already in a process of revival.
Looking at the past few months, the success of the women’s liberation movement in preventing the political-Islamists from tearing up the Istanbul Convention; the success of the struggle to prevent Gökhan Güneş from being “disappeared” by state forces; and the success of the student and youth struggles which have defended their resistance positions at Boğaziçi under conditions of unbridled police terror immediately spring to mind. The success of the Garê resistance can now be added to these achievements, each of which have opened great breaches in the political will of the regime.
The accumulation of the above gains draws direct attention to the actuality of organising and preparing the transition of the antifascist mass struggle from the defensive to the offensive position. The two main cornerstones of this task are the enhancement of all forms of antifascist struggle to a higher level, and the cultivation of a broader unity of antifascist forces.
It is time to strengthen the political mobilisation of socialist women and other united forces in order to welcome the 8th March International Working Women’s Day with persistent rallies, strikes and demonstrations; turning it into a pivotal moment of revolt against fascist and patriarchal domination of women.
It is time to enhance the revolutionary initiative and courage of the communist youth and united forces of the Boğaziçi resistance, to effect a great leap forward in the youth struggle and organise the general resistance of the oppressed into a powerful political tool.