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A brief reply to Chris Slee and Michael Karadjis on Turkey, Syria and the Middle East
First I want to thank both comrades for their thoughtful contributions on this issue.
On Turkey as a (sub)imperialist power: I agree in substance with the arguments of Michael. I think Chris fails to give a convincing answer to the following arguments:
* If we characterize countries as imperialist because of an aggressive foreign policy, why not characterize Iran, Saudi Arabia or UAE the same way?! Saudi Arabia and UAE are waging a much more massive and murderous war against Yemen than Turkey is doing in Afrin. And they are also boycotting Qatar, bullying Lebanon, etc.. UAE has also various military bases and troops in Yemen, Djibouthi, Libya and other countries. And Iran has up to 125,000 troops in Syria alone and also many in Iraq. Why is this less aggressive than Turkey?!
Look, the whole Middle East is a war-prone region. It is only logical that various countries are invading others.
* I think Chris runs into danger of characterizing a country as imperialist because of its militarist foreign policy. This is a liberal concept and in clear contradiction to the Leninist approach. For my take on the definition of imperialist and semi-colonial countries, I would refer to my book “The Great Robbery of the South” (https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/great-robbery-of-the-south/)
* Yes, Turkey has foreign direct investments abroad and they are increasing. But one must put them in relation to the foreign investment into Turkey. In 2011 Turkey had outward FDI of $24bn but $140bn inward FDI. Its Current Account Balance has worsened dramatically and its debts are increasing massively (more on this in my book “A World Pregnant with Wars and Popular Uprisings”, chapter V, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/world-perspectives-2018/ as well as the Great Robbery book pp. 224-227)
My only disagreement with Michael is that I think that the category “sub-imperialism” is not helpful. It seems to me a half-way house in order to avoid calling a country imperialist or semi-colonial. I have explained this more in detail in my book on Greece (https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/greece-semi-colony/, pp. 16-17)
Concerning the relationship of Turkey and the HTS: naturally, one can not exclude any splits and developments in the future. But we should base our assessment not on speculation about the future but on the reality in the past and present. And this reality is that HTS has not been part of the Turkish-dominated projects (Euphrates Shield, Olive Branch, Syrian Interim Government, National Army, etc.) Turkey agreed to the Astana deal which explicitly calls for the elimination of the HTS. The pro-AQ wing of HTS has split away and is organized now in Hurass Al-Deen. They are very much against Turkey’s invasion. And is the Jolani-led HTS now on the side of Turkey? Obviously not as the pro-Turkish Zenki and Ahrar al-Sham (JTS) are waging a desperate war against HTS.
YPG relation with US imperialism has been much more closer than HTS’ relationship with Turkey ever has been!
I fear comrade Chris with all this phantasy about Turkish imperialism and an imagined joint Turkish/HTS/AQ/ISIS attack on Afrin wants to deflect attention from the fact that the PYD/YPG/SDF acted for years as US imperialism’s foot soldiers and still is doing this job in eastern Syria.
Concerning Michael Karadjis observation on the RCIT’s assessment of the HTS’s role in Idlib:
It is certainly correct that HTS alienated important sector of the population with its reactionary social-conservative agenda. People should be supported when they resist against such attempts. I only warn against believing the Assadist propaganda of the “AQ theocracy in Idlib city”. There are numerous videos which show demonstrations in Idlib city which are obviously not organized by HTS.
Furthermore, it is also clear to me that HTS has popular roots. In footnote 5 of my latest article on the civil war in Idlib I provided links to a number of videos welcoming HTS entry in the past weeks. (https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/syria-idlib-the-attack-of-the-astana-conspirators-could-be-repelled-thus-far/)
Michael Pröbsting -- Revolutionär-Kommunistische Organisation BEFREIUNG (Österreichische Sektion der RCIT,www.thecommunists.net) www.rkob.net ak...@rkob.net Tel./SMS/WhatsApp/Telegram: +43-650-4068314 --- Diese E-Mail wurde von Avast Antivirus-Software auf Viren geprüft. https://www.avast.com/antivirus _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
