The President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has attacked a petition signed by over 1,200 academics criticising the ongoing police and military operations in many Kurdish towns ordered by the government. Among many things he also said he would like foreign academics to come to Turkey and see for themselves what was really happening. He specifically referred to Professor Noam Chomsky, renowned linguist and social critic, among those he wished to be invited for this purpose. This is what he said:
“I leave aside those who have signed the so-called academics’ petition. I invite foreign academics to Turkey. It will not do to sign a petition only. Come and see what is happening in the east and the southeast; we are ready to explain. Is it a violation of the law or is it the usurpation of the rights of the citizens by the terrorist organisation? Let them come and see. For instance, let the US ambassador invite Chomsky so that he receives a truthful report rather than the information provided by employees of the fifth column.”
It turns out that Professor Chomsky had signed another petition, this one circulated internationally, condemning the policies of the Turkish government vis-a-vis ISIS and regarding the Kurdish question, in particular the police and military operations that the other domestic petition also criticised. Chomsky had signed that petition before Erdoğan’s invitation, but the petition was made public after that invitation was extended to him. A strange coincidence thus led to an unintended duel of words between the Turkish president of the republic and the renowned linguist.
We present below the text of the petition signed by Chomsky and many other eminent academics, public intellectuals and political leaders from around the world and the full list of those who signed.
Stop aiding and abetting ISIS!
Stop repressing and killing the Kurds!
The Turkish government is pursuing a criminal policy in the Kurdish region of the country, in Syria and in the Middle East at large.
Despite pretensions to the contrary, all evidence suggests that it continues to aid and abet the murderous warlords of ISIS by permitting ISIS oil to be marketed via Turkey, allowing its own territory as a transit route for militants from all over the world to join the ranks of the organisation, providing safe haven and medical care when necessary to ISIS combatants, and supplying weapons to ISIS and an assortment of other sectarian-takfiri groups. If true, all this adds up to complicity with a political movement that poses a threat to the future of the peoples of the Middle East or, even, of the world at large.
Turkey is also conducting a vicious campaign of repression against its own Kurds whereas only until spring 2015 it was engaged in a process of negotiations with the multi-pronged Kurdish movement of that country. Since late July, many Kurdish cities have been under the siege of the Special Forces of the police and, lately, of tens of thousands of army troops, which, under conditions of the imposition of a round-the-clock curfew lasting a week, ten days or even longer each time, accompanied by power cuts and cessation of all communications possibilities, attack densely populated neighbourhoods, carry out search operations from house to house, and kill civilians ranging from infants to the elderly as well as some very young militants who have dug trenches in order to defend these neighbourhoods. Reports suggest that the situation is already tragic, with scores of casualties since the beginning of a new and stepped up campaign only several days ago. At this rate and given that there is even talk of this round of repressive action lasting up to one month, the figure of casualties may reach into the thousands.
All this needs to come to an end. The Turkish government is playing with fire. Its policies of aiding and abetting ISIS and of denial of the elementary rights of the Kurdish people not only on its own territory but also in so-called Rojava, i.e. Syrian Kurdistan, are unacceptable. There is ample evidence pointing to Turkish assistance under different forms to ISIS, ranging from satellite picture supported evidence provided by the Defence Ministry of the Russian Federation to repeated warnings and affirmations by different spokespersons of the US Administration although Turkey is a major ally and fellow NATO member.
We call on the Turkish government to stop all assistance to the murderous band called ISIS and to cease repressing and massacring its Kurdish citizens.
We recommend that an independent international commission of inquiry composed of noted intellectuals, jurists, and defenders of democratic rights be set up in order to investigate the allegations regarding the practice of the Turkish government in these areas.
Name Affiliation
Noam Chomsky, Professor, MIT, Cambrigde, MA, USA
Michael Löwy, Professor Emeritus , CNRS, France
Tariq Ali, Editor, New Left Review, London, UK
Bertell Ollman, Professor of Political Science, New York University, NYC, US
Prabhat Patnaik, Professor Emeritus, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
Nestor Pitrola, Member of Parliament, Frente de Izquierda y de los Tarabajadores, Argentina
Robert Brenner, History Department, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA., USA
Nancy Holmstrom, Professor Emerita, Rutgers University, USA
Aijaz Ahmad, Professor Comparative Literature & Critical Theory, University of California, Irvine, USA
Michael Lebowitz, Professor Emeritus of Economics, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Greg Albo, York University, Canada
Joan Cocks, Mount Holyoke College, USA
Suzi Weismann, Politics Department, St. Mary’s College, Moraga, CA., USA
Fred Moseley, Department of Economics, Mount Holyoke College, MA, USA
Eleni Varikas, Professor Emeritus, University Paris VIII, France
Guglielmo Carchedi, University of Amsterdam (Retired), Holland
Raquel Varela, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
David Laibman, Editor, Science and Society, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Jorge Altamira, Partido Obrero, Argentina
Savas Michael-Matsas, General Secretary of the EEK, on behalf of the EEK, Greece
Katerina Matsa, psychiatrist, on behalf of the self-organized free social medical services in Nea Smyrni and Aharnon- Kato Patissia, Athens, Greece
Dimtris Dessylas, former member of the European Parliament
Pantelis Vainas, member of the Executive Committee of ADEDY( National Federation of Civil Servants)
Iosif Abramson, the member of Executive Committee of RPK (Russian Party of Communists), the co-chairman of AMO (Association of Marxiist Units) St.Petersburg Department, Dr. of Techn. Sci., Russian Federation
Soledad Sosa, Member of Parliament, Frente de Izquierda y de los Tarabajadores, Argentina
Pablo Lopez, Member of Parliament, Frente de Izquierda y de los Tarabajadores, Argentina
Vijay Prashad, Trinity College, Hartford, Conn, USA
Ewa Groszewska, Socialist Agreement, Poland
Gerassimos Makris, Professor of Social Anthropology, Panteion University, Athens, Greece
August Nimtz, Professor of Political Science and African American and African Studies, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, US
Mindi Schneider, Assistant Professor, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus University Rotterdam
Osvaldo Coggiola, Professor of History, University of Sao Paolo, Brazil
Tatiana I. Filimonova, Association of Marxist Organizations(AMO), St peetrsburg, Russian Federation
Piotr Lewandowski, Socialist Agreement, Poland
Monika Karbowska, Social Forum of Central-Eastern Europe, Poland
Doug Henwood, Left Business Observer, New York, NY, USA
Neil Faulkner FSA, Research Fellow, University of Bristol, UK
Betto della Santa, Postdoctoral Researcher and Fellow Lecturer at the Fluminense Federal University, Campus Niteroi, Brazil
Michael Letwin, Co-founder of Labor for Palestine, New York, USA
Joel Andreas, Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Sociology, USA
Alvaro Augusto Comin, Professor, University of Sao Paulo, Department of Sociology, Brazil
Theodoros Koutsoumbos, editor of the newspaper NEA PROOPTIKI, Greece
Yannis Aggelis, elected member of the leadership of the Union of Journalists (ESHEA), Athens , Greece
Nikos Pelekoudas, trade unionist, Special Education, Greece
Nikos Tziris, secretary of the youth organization OEN, Greece
Kostas Apostolopoulos, Balkan Information Bulletin, Greece
Sotiris Papadimitriou, member of the leadership of the Union of Workers in Alliminum HELLAS, Aspra Spitia, Greece.
Despina Koutsoumba, Regional Councillor fo the Regional Local Government of Attica
Maria Benetou, member of the Popular Assembly of Aghia Pareaskevi-Athens
Afroditi Tziatzi, journalist, Efimerida twn Syntaktwn( Efsyn)
Ioanna Kurtovic, lawyer
Kostas Papadakis, lawyer, former member of the Executive Committee of the Lawyers Association of Athens (DSA)
Konstantina Gouliou, Chairperson of the Diagoras Union of disabled persons.
Alessandra Mecozzi, President of the Association Cultura è Libertà (Culture is freedom), Italy
Francesca Koch, International House of Women, Rome, Italy
Alessandro Portelli, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
Teresa Lapis, Democratic Jurists, Italy
Sue George, Pisa University (Retired), Italy
Effiong L. Ntuk, Lawyer, Turin, Italy
Barbara Spinelli, Lawyer, Member of Eurıpean Parliament, Italy
Robert Sabata Gripekoven Lawyer, Barcelona, Spain
Stefano Mannironi, Arci-Nuoro, Italy
Mario Angelelli, Lawyer, Rome, Italy
Arturo Salerni, Lawyer, Rome, Italy
Maurizio Acerbo, Secretary Partito Rifondazione Comunista Italy
Giorgio Barbarini, Professor Medical faculty Pavia University, Italy
Fabio de Nardis, Sapienza University of Rome, Associate Professor of Political Sociology, Italy
Raul Mordenti, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata', Italy
Paolo Ferrero-National Secretary of Partito della Rifondazione Comunista, Italy
Maria Grazia Campari, Lawyer, Firenze, Italy
Antonio Caputo, Chair of Movimento d'Azione Giustizia, Italy
Maria Immacolata Macioti, Former Ordinary Professor, Sapienza University Roma, Italy
Gérard Lutte, Professor. Emeritus, University "La Sapienza" di Roma, Italy
Collectivities
Associazione Senza Paura, Genoa, Italy
Centro Sociale intifada, Empoli, Italy
Associazione Azad, Italy
Associazione Verso il Kurdistan, Alessandria, Italy
Confederazione Cobas, Italy
Cooperazione Rebelde Napoli, Italy
Associazione Jambo, Parma, Italy
Associazione Senza Confine, Roma, Italy
Circolo Libertario Emiliano Zapata di Pordenone, Italy
Associazione Trama di Terre/Centro Interculturale delle donne, Italy
Associazione Alkemia Lab.Multimediali, Modena, Italy
Ciac-Parma, Italy
Donne in Nero, Italy
Movimento d'Azione Giustizia e Liberta, Italy
CSAO Cartella, Reggio Calabria, Italy
CSC Nuvola Rossa, Villa S. Giovanni, Italy
Cobas Confederation, Bologna, Italy
Cobas Confederation, Empoli Valdelsa, Italy
Zeroviolenza.it
Comunità in Resistenza/Csa Intifada, Italy