The u.$. occupation of Afghanistan and especially Iraq changed the whole region's geopolitical chess game. On May 5th, according to Iran's government, Turkey announced publicly that it does not differ with Iran on nuclear energy: "Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday, 'Iran and Turkey's viewpoints on nuclear activities are not different.'"(1) Turkey's stance is significant, because the world's imperialist powers are trying to isolate Iran politically to force it to stop its nuclear energy program.

There was no decisive rebuttal from Turkey about Iran's claims. The United $tates had asked Turkey to honor its previous statements to Uncle $am about Iran. Thus, Uncle $am also claimed it had a deal with Turkey. The Asia Times has published an especially insightful article about the imperialist view of the situation.(2) Iran is also courting Turkey by bombing Kurdish people.

With dominant religious sects in Iraq hostile to the united $tates, the united $tates is continuing with its policy of playing protector to the Kurds--an on-again-off-again policy since the days of the First Gulf War by Bush Sr., who initially supported the Kurds and then let Saddam Hussein slaughter them at the end of the Gulf War.

The original conflict that needs explanation is the fight by Kurds for their self-determination in a region overlapping Iran, Iraq and Turkey. The Kurdish political leaders of the struggle have included Hoxhaites, Maoists, bourgeois democrats and others. One progressive organization called the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) lost its leader Ocalan to prison in Turkey in 1999 where he faced a potential death penalty. The united $tates and European Union have pretended to be a restraining force by trying to get Turkey to give Ocalan imprisonment and not death and to work on rights for Kurdish people. Nonetheless, to please Turkey and Iran, the united $tates has long named the PKK one of the few officially "terrorist" groups in the world. The Amerikan public hears that the PKK might be communist or Middle Eastern, and that riles up u.$. public opinion to support wasteful warmongering and pseudo-security budgets, because there is no real Euro-Amerikan proletariat to think otherwise.

Before the u.$. occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, Turkey and other u.$. puppet regimes in the region repressed the Kurds. Little known to most people, Turkey also moved in about 250,000 troops into Iraq to fight Kurds in the hills during the u.$. occupation. The united $tates gave approval to this while also giving approval to Kurdish participation and rights in the colonial Iraq regime. When Kurds inside Iraq's borders feel threatened by Turkey, they have to run to the u.$. puppet in Baghdad, who then makes obligatory noises about Iraq's territorial integrity. This is all fine by u.$. imperialism.

To some extent, the u.$. imperialists try to model Iraq on themselves. Being a liberal democracy however, does not solve the national question. The Blacks and Kurds are not the same, because to some extent u.$. imperialism succeeds in buying off Blacks into a civil rights framework by re-distributing super-profits. The Black national struggle against u.$. imperialism is most revolutionary. However, the Kurdish national struggle against Turkey, Iraq and Iran is not the same, because those are not imperialist countries. True, Iraq offers oil profits to Kurds, but the occupation of Kirkuk and the oil there serves as a true material basis for Kurdish nationalism, not just a share of oil profits via the civil rights model.

Smaller nations can make the mistake of thinking that all larger nations are oppressor nations. The logic of such thinking is that war must go on until all nations are reduced in population to zero. Armenia's choice to break up the Soviet Union was an example of utter small nation stupidity. Armenia knew it would end up in a hostile situation with Azerbaijan and Turkey; yet it was first in line to break up the Soviet Union. Now Armenia has become a country of refugees blockaded by neighbors. Armenia, Azerbaijan and all the countries of the region have the most to gain from forming a Soviet republic jointly.

Proletarian infighting is common before the proletariat has reached adequate class consciousness. The Europeans of World War I are still the ultimate example. Germany and France were not "oppressor" or "oppressed" nations toward each other in World War I, but their peoples managed a huge slaughter of each other. Germany and France were both imperialist countries. Kurdistan and Turkey are both oppressed nations that do not control the levers of international finance. Together they share the common interest of freeing themselves from the economic exploitation of the imperialists. However, the peoples of Turkey and Kurdistan do not know it yet, so there is intra-proletarian bloodshed, when the only justified bloodshed in the region is against the imperialists and their lackeys.

It is MIM's analytical opinion that elements of the Turkish military could live without the European Union, seek an Asian orientation and might even be happy taking up a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist line to accomplish it. On the one hand, the Turkish military with ties to the u.$. military can support pretend revolutionaries as with the Iranian Mujahedin. This becomes an extension of neo-conservative U.$. politics and a chess game the proletariat cannot win. On the other hand, if we see any Turkish military leaders calling for and carrying out actual strikes on u.$. military forces, that will be the real deal, potentially the real Maoist. The people attacking u.$. military forces are the real uniters of the region, the real peace-makers. The proof is what happens to countries and regions that allow the united $tates to play off one people against another.

The Soviet system is ideal for handling imperialists. Only when oppressed peoples recognize each other and unite can they drive out their real oppressors. Those who fight the imperialists deserve citizenship in a Soviet-wide system of all the peoples involved.

The conservatives of Turkey will see no reason to go Maoist, if they cannot think into the future. All they see is stability at risk with the rise of a Kurdistan. If conservatives could envision what has happened to Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries destroyed by U.$. divide-and-conquer, they would see that their concerns about stability can only be accomplished by removing the major irritant to the region's peoples, u.$. imperialism. Otherwise, Turkey can end up like the others who fall for U.$. schemes-- a wreck of a country begging for more green cards. Turkish conservatives need to realize quickly that being part of a Soviet region can preserve Turkey from the fate of an Iraq or Afghanistan or Armenia.

Turkish conservatives have a class basis for realizing that socialism is the only way out, unlike conservatives in the united $tates, who have spoils from the whole world. If Turkish conservatives believe their country has accomplishments worth preserving, they should also realize who has the power to degrade Turkey's conditions: it is not really the Kurds or even Kurds plus Armenians.

At the moment, the political pressures the reactionary Turkish compradors face are coming out into the open and revealing why a scenario of Maoist revolution coming from the Turkish people and maybe even the Turkish military is not completely far-fetched. The political forces at work in Turkey are constantly there for revolution, because Turkey and other countries have "no way out" but socialism as Mao said.

Perhaps most astonishing is the hostile tone toward the united $tates emanating from Turkey in veiled comments--more veiled than Putin's comments about "hungry wolves" at Russia's doors--but nonetheless significant. First puppet Kurds ran tattle-tale to the united $tates and England about Turkey in northern Iraq. That was to be expected. Next though, Turkey did respond publicly, a few times. MIM is surprised by that. It's an indication of how super-charged the situation is that the united $tates has unleashed a civil war in Iraq with immediate implications for Turkey and Iran as well. One factor may be that the civilian prime minister Erdogan must contend for influence with his military with its own u.$. ties.

Now Turkey is referring to its long-time Kurdish foes as armed by Iraq, which means of course, armed by the united $tates. It can even mean armed by Turkey's own military given the links to the united $tates. Iranian diplomats in Turkey have gone so far as to name details of U.$. military meetings with the PKK.

On May 10th, the Turkish Foreign Ministry had to deny that it had proof of u.$. military meetings with PKK "terrorists" in Iraq.(3) The open admission that Turkey knows about u.$. meetings with the PKK would be a virtual declaration of war against the united $tates within the logic of bourgeois diplomacy. Nonetheless, the position Turkey is in right now could hardly be clearer for those who need to learn about divide-and-conquer. The united $tates created the operating room for the Kurds and also supplied the Kurds and the Turkish military both. Obvious benefactors of supplying both sides of any conflicts are the u.$. arms manufacturers paid for with money from the u.$. exploiter public riled up about communists, Muslims and oppressed peoples. Overall, the fighting among oppressed peoples decreases their ability to run their own economies. This guarantees that Kurds and Turks will both end up cheap labor in Europe and elsewhere.

So here are the Turkish compradors. What they are saying is, "look, Turkey is not part of the EU yet and nor are we the 51st state of the united $tates yet. So Kurds still count to us."

When Iran met with Turkey May 5, the response of the U.S. State Department was to remind Turkey of its privilege of being inside Iraq's borders, granted by the united $tates. Iran likewise sought to curry favor with Turkey by arresting PKK people in Iran and also by bombing those PKK people supposedly along Iran's border with Iraq. (Translate: the Turks and Iranians feel free to attack civilians they think are Kurdish.) Following these moves in synch is Syria.

Thus there is a situation very similar to the one with the Iranian Mujahedin. An organization is on the edge, but the united $tates names it "terrorist." However, supposedly "terrorist" PKK is off-the-radar in Amerikan public opinion--the same way the Iranian Mujahedin are except for their recent promotion by the neo-conservatives and the usual State Department lackeys. The united $tates is not hunting down everyone it calls "terrorist." Instead, u.$. imperialism plays a geopolitical game.

Playing all its tactical geopolitical, military and oil cards with genius, Iran's otherwise backward regime told Turkey not to side with the united $tates over Iran's nuclear program, because the united $tates is allowing PKK infiltration of Turkey. Bombing alleged PKK people is Iran's way of currying Turkey's favor.

MIM's line on oppressed nations is always that they should not fight except against imperialism. Turkey and Iran are not imperialists. They are also oppressed peoples. The united $tates plays divide-and-conquer. The United $tates is thus responsible for Iran's bombing of the PKK at the moment.

Once the united $tates toppled Saddam Hussein and allowed a civil war to develop, it became unpredictable how Iran and Turkey would react. At the moment, they are saying the united $tates must attack the PKK.(4) On May 12th, Bloomberg financial news took to chiding Turkey about its endangering its EU prospects with the anti-Kurdish attacks,(5) but that may not mean much if Turkey's own regime feels that it could fall apart, because of spill-over from Iraq's civil war.

In the midst of this, even Iraq's president Talabani expresses his resentment against the transparent operation of Turkish troops inside Iraqi borders. So Iraqi stooges are also pulling for the Kurds in a strange way, as dictated by the united $tates. On May 11th, both the Foreign Ministry and the Turkish military put out comments about Turkey's defending its own interests without question, and as it sees fit.(6) This is all way-below-the-radar in U.$. public opinion. It will be considered "one more piece of the mess" Amerikans made in Iraq.

The Turkish regime claims that the PKK "terrorists" are responsible for war that left 30,000 dead in Turkey. If Turkey's regime were in open warfare with the u.$. forces in Iraq, Turkey's credibility would be pretty high right now. If Erdogan ordered his military to attack u.$. interests, Erdogan's credibility would increase.

As it is, the regime in Turkey bolsters its internal nationalist support by swiping at both the Kurds and Amerikans screwing up bourgeois interests in Iraq at the same time. Estimates of Turkish troops in Iraq range from 200,000 to 290,000, but this is a war that both the united $tates and Turkey have yet to call a war.

The Kurdish question could end up inflaming Turkey against the West. War against the united $tates is not hard to see, and the possibility of Maoist revolution in Turkey by an unanticipated route is not far behind.

The credibility of the PKK is also in question at the moment. Accuser Turkey has mixed credentials. Nonetheless, the political logic of the situation is clear. Even if PKK were busy fighting u.$. troops, Iran would have an interest in saying PKK is receiving aid from u.$. troops in order to court Turkey. Among all the actors--Turkey, Iran, the united $tates and the PKK--the PKK is most likely to be changing the social situation and have a direction forward. However, without attacks on u.$. troops by the PKK, and the obvious possibility of benefits via the united $tates, PKK endangers its political support in the region. The PKK can become another wannabe comprador organization.

At the moment, MIM sees global communist confusion about who the world's principal enemy is--u.$. imperialism. The confusion stems from the corrupting influence of u.$. power creating wannabe compradors, narrow nationalists and fans of the integrated u.$. labor aristocracy in our ranks.

Geopolitical chess players from oppressed nations who cannot see how they could be painted as stooges of u.$. imperialism are useless to their peoples. As MIM said about bourgeois democratic Kurds before, it is not in the interests of the Kurdish people to cross the other oppressed nations of the region, nations that have super-exploited toilers and unemployed people with a real interest in fighting u.$. imperialism. Allowing oneself to become a stooge of u.$ imperialism will contribute to long term national friction in the Middle East and Central Asia for economic reasons that do not go away. When the united $tates gets kicked out of Iraq, there will be popular nationalist legends about how that happened. The Kurds should be a part.

Neighboring Armenia can become a bad example for the region. The youth of Armenia now lives in the suburbs of Los Angeles, thanks to wars, including with Azerbaijan after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The u.$. imperialists and EU could care less if the region falls into massive civil war of sectarian and ethnic strife. It would just mean more refugees and cheap labor to stream into the European Union, in circumstances that most people (even the labor aristocracy of Europe) will regard sympathetically. The combined Turkish and Kurdish moves at the moment are suitable for getting everyone in Turkey EU visas and U.$. green cards.

Far better than Turkey's fighting the Kurds is joining them. It's not just that the lives lost in past struggles will prove futile given what applecarts the united $tates turns over, but also the kind of infrastructure loss we see in Iraq now with u.$.-instigated wars among Third World peoples. If Turkey wants to end up a bombed out country like Iraq or Afghanistan, then it should continue on its path. True Turkish patriots will see the light on the path of Marxism-Leninism- Maoism. The TKP/ML and groups like the PKK light up a road that Turkey can follow together with the Kurdish people.

The theocratic regime in Iran is correct about one thing. The Third World peoples do share a concrete interest in not letting the united $tates destroy their countries. Iran's offer to Turkey to share nuclear technology is one clear attempt to bring about Third World solidarity against imperialism. Sharing nuclear technology is one sort of solidarity. Another glaring question is the presence of u.$. troops in Iraq, which should spur all exploited and super-exploited people to join together against the principal enemy of the world's people. There are no real Maoists that do not implement a line opposing the world's principal enemy as priority number one.

Notes:
1. http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-17/0605055100201303.htm
2. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HE13Ak03.html ; One imperialist analyst opposes dividing Iraq into Kurdish, Shia and Sunni zones.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/3860133.html
3. http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=43074
4. http://www.zaman.com/?bl=international&alt=&hn=32831
5. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aKhtai2ILsME&refer=europe
6. http://www.thenewanatolian.com/tna-6544.html
7. For one discussion of how the cookie crumbles in the whole region, http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Apr06/Stanton24.htm