The generalized ban on gatherings, demonstrations, and every form of popular mobilization for 13 days, from June 28 to July 10, constitutes an unacceptable attack on the democratic and social rights of the people of Turkey. These measures aim to impose silence in the face of the mass opposition of the working class, the people, and the youth to NATO’s war plans.
PAME expresses its full internationalist solidarity with the class-oriented trade unions of Turkey that are preparing mobilizations against the NATO Summit. Their struggle is just and necessary. No ban or repression can hide the truth: NATO is not a factor of peace and security. It is a war machine, a murderous machine of the imperialists, responsible for interventions, wars, occupations, bloodshed, and refugees.
The Ankara Summit is taking place at a time of dangerous escalation of imperialist rivalries. The USA, NATO, and the EU are adding fuel to the fire of the war in Ukraine; their ally, the terrorist state of Israel, is murdering people in Palestine and Lebanon; and the USA continues its threats against Iran. New military expenditures of tens of billions are being promoted, strengthening the war industry and preparing the peoples for sacrifices for profits and wars.
At the same time, workers in Greece, Turkey and every other country are paying the price through high prices, poverty, cuts in Health, Education and social spending, so that the coffers of the monopolies and the merchants of weapons and war can be filled.
State repression in Turkey once again reveals the real face of NATO and of the governments that serve it. Where the imperialists meet, the peoples are expected to remain silent. Where new interventions and massacres are decided, popular protests are banned. This is the content of their “democracy”: freedom for the monopolies, bans, and repression for the workers and the people.
We strengthen our internationalist solidarity with the workers, the trade unions, and the people of Turkey, to condemn the authoritarian measures of the government. We unite our voices against NATO and its war plans.
The peoples have nothing to gain from the Summits of the imperialists. They have the strength and the interest to walk the path of common struggle and solidarity among peoples, against the system of war and exploitation.