From the Revolutionary Worker newspaper:
A Revolutionary Salute to the
Political Prisoners of TurkeyRevolutionary Worker #1082, December 10, 2000, posted at http://rwor.org
The Revolutionary Worker, the voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, salutes the political prisoners in Turkey and their just and courageous struggle against the imperialist-backed regime. Several months ago, our newspaper published the statement from the Committee of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement--"Support the Heroic Resistance of Turkey's Political Prisoners"--to inform our readers about this important struggle. Since then, we have learned that the confrontation has sharpened further--and that on October 20, hundreds of political prisoners began a hunger strike to oppose the isolation cells and F-type prisons that the government is attempting to impose.
The struggles in the prisons of Turkey is a powerful front of the overall revolutionary struggle in Turkey. It draws support from the oppressed people of Turkey and, in turn, gives strength to the overall struggle there. Maoist revolutionaries of the Communist Party of Turkey (Marxist-Leninist) (TKP (ML)) are among those in the front ranks of the struggle in the prisons--fighting on that front while their comrades among the peasants in the countryside continue to wage a revolutionary armed struggle against the Turkish state.
Behind the criminal regime in Turkey stands U.S. imperialism. The U.S. sees the Turkish rulers as a crucial part of its plans in this part of the world. So the U.S. sends huge amounts of military aid to back up the murderous Turkish regime and its military. And in recent years, the U.S. government has fostered growing relations between Israel, the imperialist fortress in the Middle East, and the Turkish government. Because of these ties between the U.S. imperialists and the reactionary Turkish rulers, it is especially important for proletarians, oppressed people, and all progressive-minded people in the U.S. to support the struggle of the oppressed people of Turkey, including the resistance in the prisons.
As Maoist revolutionaries in the belly of the U.S. imperialist beast, we stand firmly with the oppressed people of Turkey and with the revolutionary sisters and brothers of TKP (ML). Our struggles may be on opposite sides of the earth--but we are comrades in the world proletarian revolution.
We know that the political prisoners in Turkey are in a dangerous battle. The Turkish regime is vicious and bloody--they have learned well from their imperialist masters--and they have launched many cowardly assaults on the political prisoners.
But people around the world have seen and have been inspired by the determined and heroic resistance of Turkey's political prisoners. As they face the latest attacks from the oppressors, the revolutionary brothers and sisters in Turkey's dungeons have the support of people around the world.
This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Online
rwor.org
Write: Box 3486, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 60654
Phone: 773-227-4066 Fax: 773-227-4497
(The RW Online does not currently communicate via email.)