Ulaş Sevinç, chairman of the Sosyalist Eşitlik Partisi – Dördüncü Enternasyonal (Socialist Equality Party – Fourth International), the Turkish section of the International Committee of the Fourth International, released a video statement on Thursday opposing the US-Israeli war against Iran, drawing attention to the collaborationist position of Türkiye’s ruling elite and calling for the building of an anti-war socialist movement based on the working class.

We publish the text of the speech below. You can watch and share the video on X/Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.

The war launched by the United States and Israel against our neighbour Iran is a war of imperialist aggression. The Sosyalist Eşitlik Partisi – Dördüncü Enternasyonal calls on workers and youth to take a stand and demand the immediate halt to the imperialist barbarism being inflicted upon Iran, an oppressed nation.

The aim of this war is to bring Iran’s vast resources and strategically critical position under full imperialist domination and to install a puppet regime in the country. This is part of the preparations for war against China. Imperialism and colonialism stand before us in all their naked brutality.

You are expected to believe the lie that US imperialism—which has devastated the Middle East for 35 years in pursuit of total hegemony—and Zionist Israel—which is carrying out a genocide against the Palestinians—will bring democracy and freedom to Iran. In truth, almost no one believes these lies. According to a recent poll, the overwhelming majority of the population in Türkiye is opposed to the war.

As demonstrated by the ballistic missile incident that occurred on the southern border on Wednesday, Türkiye could quickly be drawn into this war. The reason is that the ruling class is bound umbilically to NATO and to imperialism, and is prepared to endanger millions of workers and youth for the sake of its own interests.

The Sosyalist Eşitlik Partisi opposes both Turkish and Kurdish nationalism. They both collaborate with imperialism. Imperialist aggression in Iraq and Syria, and collaboration with it, has brought nothing but disaster to all the peoples of the Middle East—including the Kurds—and not peace, democracy or freedom. It is impossible to fight bourgeois reactionary regimes without opposing imperialist aggression.

In Türkiye, neither the government nor the so-called opposition parties—despite expressing concern about the manifest illegality of the attack on Iran—are taking, or proposing, any concrete steps to end their ongoing collaboration with the United States, NATO or Israel.

While bombs rain down on the Iranian population, while more than a thousand Iranians are being slaughtered—including over 150 schoolgirls—is it not perfectly clear what purpose the bases in Türkiye available to the United States and NATO serve? Who does it benefit that oil flowing from Azerbaijan continues to transit through Türkiye on its way to Israel? These are policies that the overwhelming majority of the population sharply oppose, and they constitute complicity in imperialist-Zionist criminality.

Despite all the claims of “independence” and a “strong Türkiye,” why does this alignment with a Trump administration that is reprising the war crimes of the Nazis persist? Why, far from taking measures to protect the Iranian people, are the eastern border crossings between Türkiye and Iran being closed in coordination with the European Union? Why aren’t the US forces, which have surrounded the Middle East, including Türkiye, being told to leave the country and the region?

The US-NATO bases in Türkiye protect imperialist interests, not the people. Türkiye’s ruling class is subordinate to those very interests. Above all, it fears the working class — the class it ruthlessly exploits and oppresses alongside the imperialist powers. Neither the government nor the capitalist opposition parties, equally bound to NATO, are capable of pursuing a consistent anti-imperialist policy.

Only the working class can do this. The workers who seized control of the Polyak mine in İzmir have demonstrated the social force that must be mobilised. The only way forward is for workers—both here and in the imperialist centers—to build their own independent rank-and-file committees and take control not only of their workplaces but of the entire country. The lesson to be drawn from recent experiences is unambiguous: imperialism cannot be negotiated with; it must be overthrown through socialist revolution.

The Sosyalist Eşitlik Partisi, together with its sister parties in the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) in the United States, Europe and across the world, is fighting to build an international anti-war movement based on the working class and advances the following demands:

• The war waged by the US and Israel against Iran must be stopped immediately and unconditionally.
• All US armed forces in the Middle East must be withdrawn, and military bases, including in Türkiye, that serve as the infrastructure of imperialist domination must be closed.
• The NATO summit to be held in Ankara in July must be cancelled, Türkiye must leave NATO, NATO must be dissolved, and all resources spent on militarism and war must be reallocated in line with the needs of society.
• All sanctions and economic warfare against Iran and all other countries must end.
• All war criminals must be held accountable.

Take action against the war. Contact us at sosyalistesitlikpartisi.org and join us in the struggle against imperialist war and for socialism.