Stop the Repression Against TKP and Anti-NATO Protesters in Turkey

Image via the TKP

Stop the Repression Against TKP and Anti-NATO Protesters in Turkey

We, the undersigned Communist and Workers' Parties, strongly condemn the repression carried out by the Turkish authorities against the demonstration organized by the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) in Ankara in protest of the NATO Summit. 

The violent police intervention, the injuries inflicted on demonstrators, and the detention of 145 communists including one member of the Central Committee of  TKP and 8 members of the Party Council, constitute an unacceptable attack on the  right to organize and protest. The sweeping bans imposed on demonstrations and public gatherings, which effectively turned the Turkish capital into a closed city ahead of the NATO Summit, reveal once again that NATO's war agenda goes hand in hand with the restriction of political rights and freedoms. 

The attempt to silence the communists cannot conceal the truth: NATO is an aggressive imperialist alliance that has brought war, occupation, destruction and suffering to peoples across the world. Those who raise their voices against militarization, imperialist interventions and wars cannot be intimidated by repression. 

We express our full solidarity with the Communist Party of Turkey, with all detained TKP members, and with everyone who stood up against the NATO Summit. We demand the immediate release of all communists in custody, the dropping of all charges, and an end to every measure restricting all anti-NATO political activity. 

Hands off TKP! Hands off all communist and anti-imperialist militants!

(The text is open for further signatures)

Undersigned communist and workers' parties:

Parties of the SolidNet list: 

1. Communist Party of Albania

2. Algerian Party for Democracy and Socialism

3. Party of Labour of Austria

4. Communist Party of Brazil

5. Communist Party of Bohemia & Moravia

6. German Communist Party

7. Communist Party of Greece

8. Hungarian Workers’ Party

9. Tudeh Party of Iran

10. Communist Party of Luxembourg

11. Communist Party of Mexico

12. New Communist Party of Netherlands

13. Communist Party of Norway

14. Palestinian Communist Party

15. Communist Party of Poland

16. Portuguese Communist Party

17. Communist Party of Russian Federation

18. Communists of Serbia

19. Communists of Catalonia

20. Communist Party of the Workers of Spain

21. Syrian Communist Party

22. Communist Party of Ukraine

23. Communist Party USA

Other parties:

1. The Revolutionary Communist Party of France

2. Communist Workers’ Platform USA

3. Party for Socialism and Liberation – USA