{"id":76393,"date":"2026-09-08T23:11:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T23:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/?p=76393"},"modified":"2026-09-08T23:11:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T23:11:28","slug":"we-stand-with-peace-against-the-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/we-stand-with-peace-against-the-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"We Stand With Peace, Against the Palace!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

When we lay out what has happened since October 7, 2023, one thing is clear: October 7 imposed this new peace process, and both sides of the table were compelled to carry it forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While armed organizations in the region are losing strength, central states are being strengthened with the financial and diplomatic support of imperialism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This process has reached its current point because Erdo\u011fan has either eliminated all centers of power within the state or made them dependent on himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Palace seeks to manage this entire process in Syria and Turkiye as a process of liquidation and integration, it is clear that what is taking place is \u201cPeace Without Democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The time has come to build a political line in which the working class, under heavy siege from the deep economic crisis and the interests of capital, becomes the subject and speaks in its own voice.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transformation that began in the Middle East after October 7, 2023 continues. In order to understand what is happening and connect the pieces, we must first lay out the stones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Construction of the New Middle East After October 7<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Palestinian Resistance Organizations\u2019 attempt to break the years-long siege on Gaza through an offensive shattered the status quo that had taken its final form in the Middle East following the Arab Spring. The new strategy targeting the Iran-led \u201cAxis of Resistance\u201d first saw Israel respond disproportionately to the attack originating from Gaza with genocide, followed by the assassinations carried out against Hezbollah in Lebanon in September 2024 and the Israeli invasion of Lebanese territory, causing the conflict to spread throughout the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On October 22, 2024, MHP leader Devlet Bah\u00e7eli initiated today\u2019s process by calling on PKK leader Abdullah \u00d6calan to speak in Parliament on the condition that he dissolve the organization and the isolation imposed on him be lifted. Meanwhile, on October 30, 2024, CHP\u2019s Esenyurt Mayor Ahmet \u00d6zer, who had been elected as part of the \u201cUrban Consensus\u201d (Local alliances established by the DEM Party and CHP during the 2023 municipal elections) was arrested on allegations of being a \u201cmember of an armed terrorist organization.\u201d On November 27, Syrian opposition forces launched a major and coordinated military operation and reached Damascus within 11 days. With the fall of the Assad regime on December 8, 2024, the connection stretching from Iran to Lebanon and Palestine was severed. Ahmed al-Sharaa, who left behind his period as an Al-Qaeda militant and the alias \u201cJolani,\u201d for whom a $10 million bounty had once been offered, moved into Assad\u2019s palace after Assad went into exile in Moscow and rapidly began rebuilding a centralized government in post-Assad Syria, backed by substantial international support. While the first signs emerged that the trajectory in Syria was toward centralization rather than fragmentation, and attacks against Arab Alawites continued along the Latakia-Tartus corridor, a first agreement initiating the integration process was signed on March 10, 2025, between Syria\u2019s new leader al-Sharaa and SDF leader Mazloum Abdi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 19, 2025, CHP Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu first had his university diploma revoked, effectively blocking the possibility of his presidential candidacy, and was subsequently detained on charges including corruption, forming an organization for the purpose of committing crimes, \u201cUrban Consensus,\u201d aggravated fraud and extortion. During days of protests, more than 1,000 demonstrators were injured by severe police violence, while more than 2,000 people were detained and 71 were arrested. The resistance that emerged in Sara\u00e7hane drew a political boundary against the Palace\u2019s moves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 12, 2025, the PKK\u2019s decision to dissolve itself was announced to the public. While the peace process continued at a slower pace, a \u201c12-Day War\u201d took place between Iran and the US-Israeli alliance in June 2025. Following this failed attack, a mutual stand-off emerged in the region. In October 2025, clashes first erupted in Aleppo, in neighborhoods with a predominantly Kurdish population under the control of Asayish, a component of the SDF. By January 2026, almost all of the territories that the SDF had taken under its control during the war against ISIS had come under the control of the new administration in Damascus. The SDF was once again largely reduced to its core YPG-YPJ forces and the predominantly Kurdish-populated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On January 3, 2026, after the US kidnapped Venezuelan President Maduro, brought its backyard into line and secured the flow of oil, it turned its eyes toward the Middle East once again. Despite the failure of the first attack, the US-Israeli alliance launched the Iran War on February 28, 2026. Despite months of bombardments, assassinations and crimes against humanity, they failed. Following the April 2026 ceasefire, signed without achieving any concrete result through the attacks, the Strait of Hormuz remains entirely under Iranian control. Despite their years-long alliance and investments with the US and Israel, the Gulf Emirates once again saw that they were completely defenseless against Iran\u2019s counterattacks. In response to Iran\u2019s counterattacks, the only response the US could offer was to attempt to move its military bases beyond the range of Iranian drones and missiles, while Trump, attending the NATO summit held in Ankara on July 7\u20138, 2026, announced that he would violate the ceasefire and continue the attacks. August has ended, and the Strait of Hormuz remains closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 21, 2026, ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara scheduled for July 7\u20138, the expected \u201cabsolute nullity\u201d ruling against the CHP was announced. Following a police raid, the CHP headquarters under \u00d6zg\u00fcr \u00d6zel put up limited resistance and surrendered the headquarters to those seeking to have the party\u2019s congress declared null and void. None of these developments was even raised at the NATO Summit. After weeks of uncertainty, the New Party was established under the leadership of \u00d6zg\u00fcr \u00d6zel on July 24, 2026. Behind-the-scenes negotiations that had been taking place for some time along the \u0130mral\u0131 (Turkish prison island of the Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the PKK)\u2013Qandil Mountain (Camps and leadership of PKK)\u2013Ankara line reached a conclusion, and the long-awaited \u201cFramework Law\u201d was submitted to Parliament. It rapidly passed the votes and was approved by the Grand National Assembly of Turkiye on August 10. Following approval from the Palace on August 18, 2026, it was published in the Official Gazette and became law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest development following the \u201cFramework Law\u201d was the agreement signed between Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi on August 20, 2026, providing for the termination of Rojava\u2019s autonomy, its integration into the Syrian transitional government, and the integration of the Syrian Democratic Forces into the Syrian Armed Forces. Following the military, security, and administrative integration finalized between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Damascus administration and the subsequent dissolution decision on August 25, the Kurdish population and regional administration secured critical constitutional and administrative legal gains. Under the agreement, Kurdish has been constitutionally guaranteed alongside Arabic as an official language for education and administrative correspondence in the region, while cultural institutions and media outlets have attained legal status.Administratively, comprehensive local autonomy has been granted to the region within the framework of the Expanded Local Governance Law and civil servants and institutions of the autonomous administration have been transferred to the Syrian state apparatus with their personal and financial rights preserved. On the security front, brigades affiliated with the SDF joined the Syrian Army, largely maintaining their command structures and remaining deployed within their respective regions; moreover, fighters have been granted official military status, salaries, and retirement benefits, while local Asayish forces have retained their existence by assuming the status of a local police force under the Ministry of Interior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New Peace Process Imposed by October 7<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When we lay out what has happened since October 7, 2023, the picture is clear: October 7 imposed this new peace process, and both sides of the table were compelled to carry it forward. Turkiye, as a country that had exhausted all of its internal political dynamics and undergone a regime transformation following the Gezi Resistance\/June Uprising of June 2013, is now experiencing a process in which external factors are dominant and decisive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have entered a period in which organizations in the Middle East have been defeated and are gradually transforming into disarmed political actors. At a time when Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq and Hamas in Gaza are facing pressure toward dissolution\/disarmament, discussions over the PKK\u2019s disarmament cannot be considered independently of this. While armed organizations in the region are losing strength, central states are being strengthened with the financial and diplomatic support of imperialism. As the new Damascus-centered regime is strengthened in Syria, the aim in Lebanon is to dismantle its fragmented structure and once again concentrate state authority in a single center, beginning with the army. The clearest indication of this direction came when US Ambassador to Ankara and Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack, who operates like the US governor of the region, stated that the most functional model of governance in the Middle East was a \u201cbenevolent monarchy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the development of military technologies and the clear superiority of regular armies over armed organizations in the post-Cold War world, armed organizations accelerated peace negotiations beginning in the mid-1990s. Although peace processes came onto the agenda in Turkiye while the conflict was still continuing during the 1990s, the first ceasefire was declared unilaterally in 1999 following \u00d6calan\u2019s capture in Kenya. Amid the great transformation that began in the Middle East following the US invasion of Iraq, conflict resumed in 2004. After YPG-YPJ forces gained territorial control in northern Syria against the Assad government in Damascus during the Syrian Civil War in the summer of 2012, another ceasefire period began in December 2012, and negotiations known as the First Peace Process began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The developments up to this point show that the Kurdish armed movement has been militarily unsuccessful, but that the Kurdish political movement has found a social base and has not surrendered. The conflicts that have continued for nearly half a century in fact demonstrate a state of stalemate between the state and the Kurdish Movement. Neither a total annihilation and liquidation nor a change in sovereignty has taken place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the conflicts that resumed in 2015 to the present, two factors have been decisive. One was the construction of the new Bonapartist Palace regime in Ankara and the power struggles surrounding it; the other was the Rojava process in northern Syria. Independently of the Turkiye backed rebel forces along the Idlib\u2013Aleppo axis, the SDF, which acted independently, established autonomous relations with the US and EU, became an actor in its own right, and whose YPG-YPJ forces formed its core through their role in the struggle against ISIS, continually provoked Ankara\u2019s anger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the very beginning, the Kurdish movement along \u00d6calan\u2019s political line sought to establish territorial control along the border between Ankara and Damascus in its relations with both. This was also a factor in the failure of negotiations during the First Peace Process and the resumption of conflict. It has likewise played a role in the dissolution of the SDF and the autonomous structure in Rojava through integration into Syria under al-Sharaa in post-Assad Syria. The decisive factor shaping the process was, to a large extent, developments in Syria. The transfer of power in the US from the Democrats to a new Republican line centered on Trump, together with its new strategic priorities, created an opportunity to construct a new status quo in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process has reached this point because Erdo\u011fan has either eliminated all centers of power within the state or made them dependent on himself. A Bonapartist regime centered on the Palace and legitimized by the US and EU was constructed. Once all this had taken place, the Palace\u2019s desire to prolong its own lifespan became the elephant in the room in this new peace process. The chain of events listed above demonstrates that the Erdo\u011fan regime is not the decisive force or architect here, but rather a center of power attempting to steer developing events to its own advantage. Through Trump, it seeks to exploit the power vacuums and opportunities created by the US-Israeli alliance in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kurdish Movement, on the other hand, also seeks to act in accordance with this new conjuncture, while aiming to manage the situation until Trump leaves office, with two years remaining until the 2028 elections, when Trump will not be eligible to run and the presidency will most likely return to the Democrats. After the heavy loss of life experienced during nearly half a century of conflict, it is entirely understandable that the Kurdish movement wants to halt its losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Palace seeks to manage this entire process in Syria and Turkiye as a process of liquidation and integration, it is clear that what is taking place is \u201cPeace Without Democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A New Regional Order as the US Withdraws<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

US imperialism, increasingly a declining power, seeks to shift its strength toward the Asia-Pacific against China, which it regards as its principal threat, while shifting responsibility for Russia onto Europe. In the Middle East, it is preparing to rapidly complete its plan to reshape the region, eliminate the remaining threats, reduce its own weight and transfer responsibility elsewhere. In the Eastern Mediterranean, the US is showing a tendency to transfer its supervisory role to the Israel\u2013Greece\u2013Southern Cyprus axis, while competition has emerged over who will assume the post-US supervisory role in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel wants a new regional order in which, after the US, no major actor poses a threat to Israel in its small and confined geography, with the region fragmented and no major actor becoming the dominant force. Yet US moves in the region contradict this. The US wants a distribution of power in which central states are strengthened and countries such as Turkiye and Saudi Arabia, alongside Israel, possess spheres of influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the risk of a direct war between these two countries\u2014which are both integral parts of the Western Bloc\u2019s political-economic networks and allies of the US\u2014is relatively low and remote, the possibility of a serious power struggle between Israel and Turkiye is emerging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mecca Agreement emerged as an alliance bringing together Turkish military capabilities as a NATO army, Pakistan\u2019s nuclear capabilities and Saudi capital. It is an alliance that, in the spirit of \u201cmake the rabbit run while the greyhound catches it,\u201d emphasizes to the US that Iran is being encircled, while telling Iran that Israel is the real focus. The alliance of these three geographically disconnected Sunni Muslim countries, whose political-economic dynamics differ from one another, is in a sense a call to the US in the new period: \u201cChoose us, not Israel.\u201d Yet considering the role these countries have played in the region over the past 20 years, the resulting alignment can be summarized as \u201cfor Israel, despite Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Russia, which lost all its regional initiative in exchange for its two military bases in Syria and became bogged down in Ukraine, and China, whose economic lifeline is the oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, were left outside the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peace Without Democracy and the Voice of the Working Class<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A new realignment is taking place in Turkiye. Following 2023, the Palace made another move and completed the construction of the Bonapartist regime in Turkiye. In this new period, which has taken the form of a \u201cregime of the sword\u201d the final remaining \u201cKemalist\u201d bastion among the institutions inherited from the first century of the Republic was handed over through those seeking the annulment of the CHP congress in May 2026, bringing an era in Turkiye to an end. With the New Party established in July 2026 and the CHP operating under the annulment decision, the Palace drew boundaries for everyone and assigned them a place within the new regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The debates surrounding the \u201cFramework Law\u201d demonstrated that the political crises of the past 20 years, the narrowing of the political sphere, and processes such as the \u201cYes, But Not Enough trauma\u201d (The popular slogan of those who side with the government, which caused divisions within the left of 2010 Turkish constitutional referendum.) have produced a profound process of depoliticization within the social opposition. Socialist politics is being pushed entirely outside the existing political sphere and condemned to silence through repression and counterattacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the face of all this, it is necessary to adopt a revolutionary and constructive attitude. Supporting the ongoing peace process, or for political organizations that remain outside the process because they are not represented in Parliament to remain neutral while criticizing the law, are understandable political positions. But it is necessary to respect the end of a conflict that has lasted half a century, the cessation of deaths, and the Kurdish people\u2019s will to lay down arms. In this context, our working class must take a position in favor of peace and fraternity and continue the struggle to expand the democratic framework of the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is clear that what is taking place is \u201cPeace Without Democracy.\u201d We must turn this into an opportunity to expand the democratic sphere and freedoms against the Palace\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our task is to struggle for the renewed unity of the working people of the region along the axis of peace and for the democratic rights of all peoples. The Palace and capital seek to transform society, within the new regime they are constructing, into a thornless garden of roses where people are silent, without agency and without representation. The greatest threat to this project is the power of the working class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The time has come to build a political line in which the working class, under heavy siege from the deep economic crisis and the interests of capital, becomes the subject and the working class itself speaks in its own voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First published here<\/a> by Marksizm \u015eimdi!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While armed organizations in the region are losing strength, central states are being strengthened with the financial and diplomatic support of imperialism.<\/p>\n

This process has reached its current point because Erdo\u011fan has either eliminated all centers of power within the state or made them dependent on himself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":76395,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"litci_post_political_author":"Marksizm \u015eimdi! Editorial Board","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3714],"tags":[1159,6993,6992,3722,6991,4131,4580,6173,4006],"class_list":["post-76393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east","tag-israel-2","tag-mdp","tag-ocalan","tag-palestine","tag-pkk","tag-syria","tag-turkey","tag-turkiye","tag-war"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/litci.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Barisin-Yaninda-Sarayin-Karsisindayiz-Kopya-1.png?fit=1080%2C1018&ssl=1","fimg_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/litci.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Barisin-Yaninda-Sarayin-Karsisindayiz-Kopya-1.png?fit=1080%2C1018&ssl=1","categories_names":["Middle East"],"author_info":{"name":"Cris","pic":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8be19d9542307ef9e5c90edceee6bf8064823a89e1c6319d77e8c5798fc2b7ed?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"political_author":"Marksizm \u015eimdi! Editorial Board","tagline":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76393"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76406,"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76393\/revisions\/76406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/litci.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}