26.06.2025

Khamenei with Erdoğan in 2018: now everything has changed

Order of the day

There is much common ground on the revolutionary left in Turkey when it comes to Israel’s attack on Iran. However, Esen Uslu shows that there are distinguishing fault lines too

Israel’s attack on Iran at the instigation of the Trump administration has put the ruling circles of Turkey into a topsy-turvy of indecision. It is not only president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his men in the government who were shaken, but also the loyal opposition. Consequently, left organisations, albeit uninfluential but keen to protest, also fell into disarray.

If we look at the government and a substantial portion of the state security apparatus, they felt the approaching shock earlier than most of the population. Their recent moves to bring the Kurdish freedom movement into the fold of anti-Iran as well as anti-Israel politics in Turkey, as well as in Syria and Iraq, required quite a substantial manoeuvre in domestic politics. However, the regime is timid in following up the new line with concrete steps: it is trying to delay taking decisions, such as forming a parliamentary special commission, until September, after the parliamentary recess.

Relinquishing Israel-friendly policies is also proving difficult. We must not forget that just before October 7 2023, Erdoğan welcomed Netanyahu in the Turkish House in New York. They held a joint press conference under Israeli and Turkish flags, where current foreign minister Hakan Fidan and the head of the National Intelligence Agency, İbrahim Kalın, were sitting next to them. A week later, Erdoğan, on his way back from a meeting in Azerbaijan, was happily declaring to the journalists accompanying him in his plane that Netanyahu would visit Turkey soon. It is quite difficult to change course so speedily!

While in Erdoğan’s recent speeches there is anger against Israel and Netanyahu’s policies, Turkey still exports substantial amount of goods to “Palestinians through Israeli ports” - a fig leaf to conceal the real destination. Azerbaijan continues to export fuel to Israel through a jointly operated pipeline to a Turkish port, where it is loaded onto tankers to be shipped to Israeli ports. International shipping companies continue to use Turkish ports as a stop-over for exporting armaments to Israel. While pro-government bodies are making a show of condemning Israel, independent gatherings demanding action on all the above have been brutally supressed.

The Israeli and US attacks on Iran are merely condemned in diplomatic words by Erdoğan. However, those words remain empty gestures, as they are not backed by any concrete action in the international arena. As a tentative ceasefire is declared before the Nato summit, let us see what Turkey’s government comes out with.

Meanwhile, the loyal opposition in the shape of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) is busy trying to save its skin from Erdoğan’s legal guard-dogs who are threatening the party by overruling its congress decisions on the grounds of an infraction of rules, and reinstating the old guard as caretakers - or else appointing a party ‘administrator’. That is on top of keeping its elected mayors (including of Istanbul) and an ever growing number of their trusted lieutenants in jail. Despite that the CHP is expressing support for Erdoğan’s newly adopted policy on Israel - provided he is upholding the ‘national interest’, of course!

There is a small but vocal circle within the state security apparatus that criticises Erdoğan on the grounds of letting down national defence. According to them, because of his commitment to pro-Islamist and pro-American policies, Erdoğan failed to check American influence over defence procurement and took some wrong steps that pushed the airforce into an inferior status in the region. In the navy, the construction of the ‘much-needed’ air-independent propulsion submarine fleet, equipped with domestic torpedoes and cruise missiles, slowed down, as the funds were diverted to flashy, grandiose projects, such as building a helicopter landing ship and an aircraft carrier. The procurement of an S-400 anti-aircraft missile system from Russia left Turkey out of the F-35 programme and also put an end to the modernisation of the existing F-16 fleet.

It is claimed that the Israeli-Iranian conflict showed once more the importance of anti-aircraft defence. Turkey should spend more money and effort to develop its own “steel dome” project and ape the Israeli iron-dome. And Turkey must develop intermediate-range ballistic missiles with the new hypersonic missile technology. Those who make such remarks do not utter the word yet, but their ultimate goal is to acquire ‘nuclear’ weapons as the ‘top rung’ of the ladder of defence.

This line of thought is supported by the usual nationalist jingo. However, the question, ‘How could such things be achieved in the current crippled economic situation?’, is answered by returning to Turkey’s Kemalist roots and calling for more ‘sacrifice from the people’ for national defence. In the absence of a military dictatorship that seems impossible. I think Erdoğan knows that better than them, since those economic failures have put him on a downward slope, leading towards eventual electoral failure.

Left segment

The joint statement of the Communist Party of Israel and the Tudeh Party of Iran sets the tone for a large segment of the left:

We call upon on all progressive and freedom-loving forces in Israel, Iran and the world to unite in condemning this blatant and brutal violation of international law and to focus all efforts on prevention of a far-reaching, destructive military conflict and the establishment of peace in the Middle East.

The global public must go beyond mere concern expressed by the UN secretary-general over Israel’s attack on Iran. All international mechanisms available through the United Nations and its security council must be used to stop the region from plunging into a catastrophic, far-reaching war.¹

The Council of Cooperation of Left and Communist Forces of Iran (including the Communist Fedayeen Union Organisation, Socialist Workers Union, Communist Party of Iran, Hekmatist Communist Workers Party of Iran, Workers Path Organisation and Fedayeen (Minority) issued a joint statement:

The fascist Israeli government, the interventionist American regime, and its ruling elite must know that Iran’s deeply class-based society, with millions of conscious and organised workers, whose revolutionary and justice-seeking thoughts are rooted in their very fabric, will not allow the destructive scenarios of Syria, Libya, Afghanistan or Iraq to be repeated.²

These statements set the tone for their counterparts in Turkey. I see no reason for quoting various left organisations thinking in parallel with Tudeh, which stood by the mullah regime. I think it is sufficient to quote from an article published in the SolTV written by Kemal Okuyan, the president of the (legal) Communist Party of Turkey:

The communist position on Iran today is, first and foremost, to work for a more resistant Iran in the face of US and Israeli aggression. As soon as you say, ‘I am against both Israel and the mullahs’ regime’, even if what you say is true, you are not taking an independent stand and you are playing into the hands of Israel, an external power.

Of course, this attitude is not easy under the ruthless mullahs’ regime. However, the policy of ‘while Israel is beating up the mullahs, let’s take advantage of the opportunity’ ends either in treason or in being a lapdog for the occupiers or a collaborative government.³

However, those with genuine revolutionary credentials, such as comrade Mehmet Güneş, writing in the Komün journal, which is in close contact with Fedayeen, say something different:

Iran is under the open and naked attack of imperialism and Zionism, and we stand with the Iranian peoples, revolutionaries and communists against this attack. In addition, this attack is a continuation of the massacres committed in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria and is an imperialist attack to crush not only the countries targeted by the war, but also the peoples and revolutionary forces of the whole region. The war in Iran is our war and, if imperialism wins in Iran and realises exactly what it wants, it means that we lose. Just as we are politically and morally opposed to Zionist Israel and western imperialism - all enemies of humanity, who razed Gaza to the ground and committed genocide against the Palestinian people - we are politically and morally opposed to the Iranian attack, which is a continuation of the Gaza attack. At the same time, we unhesitatingly see this attack as a stage of the class war that is going on worldwide …

In Turkey and Iran all these contradictions are at the most extreme level and, as the entire history of the revolution shows, our path is to make a revolution out of wars under all circumstances.⁴

DEM speech

The co-chair of the People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), Tülay Hatimoğlu, spoke at the DEM parliamentary group meeting on June 24. In her speech she dealt with the Israeli attack on Iran:

The true face of war is precisely this picture. The routes drawn by arrogant leaders are painted with the blood of civilians. The solution does not lie in the false security policies of the nation-state. The Iran-Israel war has shown us this once again. They call it national security - this is a trap. Nation-states that are unable to offer freedom to their own people are, by creating an absolute enemy from outside, trying to legitimise their own anti-democratic practices ... Regarding the anti-democratic practices, despotic approach and form of government in Iran, we state this very clearly. Iran must democratise, yes, but the antidote to this is not Israel’s attack. We also say no to Israel’s attack on Iran, and a clear no to an Iran-Israel war ...

In the face of this dark picture, in the face of all these developments that have brought us to the brink of the third world war, of course we have a lot to do as the peoples of the whole world. We can see the light at the end of this dark tunnel, but how do we see it? The antidote is strong resistance against imperialism. It is through a common struggle against those who covet our freedoms, bread, brotherhood and peace, especially our right to life.⁵

The Turkish Workers Party in its recent communique says:

While the countries that want to establish sovereignty over the region turn the Middle East into their own playground by sending messages to each other through bombs, the people who are oppressed under the power struggles are the peoples who have to live with the threat of war.

Against the interventions of US imperialism and the Zionist regime that will lead the world to disaster, we stand by the struggle of the peoples of the Middle East for peace and freedom.

The Revolutionary Workers Party, known for its Trotskyite association, says in its statement:

Iran has the right to legitimate defence against the United States, as it does against Israel. No‑one is obliged to give political support to the Iranian regime. However, there cannot be an anti-imperialist position that does not recognise Iran’s right to legitimate defence against imperialist/Zionist terror and does not support Iran’s legitimate defence against the US. The US and Israel have not the slightest interest in the struggle for freedom of the working people or oppressed women of Iran. A new collaborator shah regime cannot have the slightest interest in the Iranian peoples’ yearning for freedom. The road to freedom - not only in Iran, but also in west Asia [Middle East] and Turkey - passes through the defeat of imperialism.⁶

There is also a joint statement signed by eight smaller organisations. It is apparently a compromise, since each organisation’s own statement differs from the middle-of-the-road text. However, it ends with the following call:

We warn the government:

There is the blood of peoples in the capital you are gaining! Put an end to this hypocrisy as soon as possible and immediately stop giving war support to Israel!

We appeal to the international community:

Everyone must do all they can to stop this aggression before more blood is shed, before our planet is further destroyed, before peoples from all countries suffer more. This war escalated by the imperialist-Zionist alliance and the ruling powers can only be stopped by the peoples’ growing solidarity and struggle for independent, equal, peaceful and democratic coexistence!⁷

As readers will see, there is much common ground on the revolutionary left in response to Israel’s attack on Iran. However, there are quite distinct fault lines. The prickliest question is whether to stand by Iran despite its regime in the face of the most brutal attack of US imperialism and its war-dog, Israel. All ifs and buts emanate from this. However, unless there is also support for Iran and the wish for a defeat or at least a setback for its imperialist attackers, any critique of the Iranian regime will not mean much - apart from expressing blatant or sheepish support for the aggressors.