In These New Times

Voltairenet

9th October, 2012

For several months, impressive demonstrations against the war with Syria have taken place in Turkey, but only in the Arabic or Kurdish regions. On Thursday, 4 October 2012, for the first time, a massive demonstration streamed through Istanbul shouting “This war is not ours!”

The choice of the Erdogan government to join NATO’s operations against Libya, and to support the covert war against Syria has brutally Turkey’s stunted its economic growth.

Quite apart from the economic difficulties flogging the whole of society, certain sectors of the population feel particularly sympathetic towards the Syrian people and the regime in Damascus. This applies especially to one million Arabs, 15 million Kurds and an equal number of Alevis.