The Turkish President Erdogan and his party the AKP, are meddling with their neighbours again with the aim of extending their time in government.
A few years ago Erdogan used the Assad regime as a pretext for two major military operations targeting the Kurds in Northern Syria and occupying the area. In recent days the regime has its sights on the East Mediterranean and Greece because of the natural wealth of the area.
The relationship between Turkey and Greece has come to breaking point with warships in a standoff. It is likely that NATO, particularly the USA, will prevent further escalation into a war between these two allies but we may yet hear gunshots. The Turkish Navy has said that it plans to hold live-fire exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean in the coming days, which will no doubt stoke tensions further.
Erdogan is also increasing tensions further using chauvinistic propaganda against Greece to rally the Turkish public around this issue.
Even as starvation becomes even more widespread, the economy hits rock bottom and Erdogan’s popularity falls, racist nationalist propaganda reaches new heights. The government has gone into a phase of labelling anybody who is not a nationalist as a “traitor”.
Everyday Syrians are killed on the streets and the government is encouraging racism. There is only one reason for these policies and that is to keep Erdogan in the 1100 room palace built with taxpayers and siphon off the country’s wealth.
Erdogan has used the state’s resources to make his family, friends and contacts rich, and one of the biggest supporters of his racist nationalism and war mongering has been the UK.
We call on the UK government to stop working with the Turkish government and review its relationship. The UK government should know that in supporting Erdogan and the AKP, it is emboldening a regime that is oppressing and trampling over the human rights of its people.