(The following comments are relayed from Erke Behcet, Red Fire’s correspondent based in Türkiye, in relation to the protests which began in Istanbul on March 19, 2025).

 

I think both the protests and what the government is doing are suspicious.  I cannot know what is happening for certain. The protests started after Erdoğan decided to release Abdullah Öcalan (the founder of the PKK, the misnamed Kurdistan Workers Party) from prison and start a new “peace process” with the PKK joining the government coalition. Subsequently, the (HTS/Al Qaeda) regime in Syria also recognized the SDF (the misnamed “Syrian Democratic Forces”) and officially made them a part of the new Syrian “state”. The direction is that the American proxies are leaving aside their quarrels and uniting against Iran as a single power. The trade between Türkiye and Iran collapsing is also a sign of this, as well as the so-called operations against Iranian intelligence units in Türkiye. It seems to me that there is a split in imperialism, and Türkiye decided to walk along with America.

İmamoğlu is a very pro-EU person, so are the protesters. Most protesters are young students led by several European-funded NGOs (so-called Non-Government Organisations) or political organizations. Protests have been weak so far, not weak in numbers but weak in spirit and quality. They shall certainly fail.

The government is for war with Iran (?) and the protestors are for war with Russia (that is for certain). I support neither side.

Either this or there is a kind of psyop going on. The “split” in imperialism seems so fishy and can be a trick to divide and conquer BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, United Arab Emirates plus eight partner states) countries. China does not seem to fall for this trick. Erdoğan is an untrustworthy person, although it is remarkable that the protests in the Balkans coincide with the protests in Türkiye. If these protests are orchestrated by the government, it is hard to figure out what they are trying to do with all this.

 

In retrospect, I think that they may be trying to create a strong leader figure to succeed Erdoğan. Erdoğan is now old and he is in no shape to continue his presidency. So perhaps the Turkish bourgeoisie is trying to manufacture another popular leader to assume power in the authoritarian framework Erdoğan has established?

 

Why am I considering this as a possibility? Well, simply because Erdoğan was also the mayor of Istanbul and he also got arrested unlawfully, finally leading to his election in 2002. Two stories too similar to not raise suspicion. Erdoğan would only empower his opponents with such moves, and it is inconceivable that he did not know this. Perhaps he did know this and did it deliberately to manufacture the popular leader who shall succeed him. He is just too old, his time for retirement may have come.

Also how come Türkiye can prefer the US (United States of America) over the EU (European Union)? Turkish industry and exports are heavily dependent on the EU. The EU is the prime trade partner of Türkiye, and such relationships are growing, not fading. It is a high possibility that a psyop is in process. This operation has three fundamental objectives:

1. To create a popular leader to succeed Erdoğan, either Ekrem İmamoğlu or Mansur Yavaş.
2. To push possible elements of genuine opposition against the system, right to the side of the system, i.e. “the (pseudo-)opposition is with the West and the government is not, so we have to critically support the government.” WRONG! Both are with the West and this is just a play to restrict democratic rights further.
3. To further support the false narrative of split in the Western imperialism. There is not a political split but rather a division of labour. It is the EU against Russia and the US against Iran. Not the US against the EU!

A supporting element to my theory is the course of the protests: They are too peaceful to be genuine. There are no violent clashes taking place etc. This is not characteristic of the colour revolutions. This seems staged to me. Indeed, the general atmosphere is very playful. The protesters are completely unserious people, and the police are not intervening fiercely.

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