The European Left is deeply concerned that the current deployment of NATO troops and Patriot missile systems to the Turkish – Syrian border could further escalate the conflicts in the whole region and is a part of the overall interventionist strategy of NATO. Like in many wars before, the deployment of NATO troops and missiles to Turkey started with a lie. There is no concrete threat of a Syrian attack on Turkey. It is rather the other way round: Turkey continuously intervenes in the Syrian civil war and it assaults the Kurdish population on both sides of the border. The Erdogan government in Ankara even got the parliament to approve of an invasion to Syria. Therefore the deployment of NATO troops in the region has to be stopped immediately.

We are convinced that a NATO intervention will bring no solution to the Syrian civil war but instead will reinforce NATO’s role in the area. The disastrous situation inside Syria with a death toll of more than 60.000 and widespread destruction of civil infrastructure can only be resolved through a political process. The civil and peaceful movement in Syria has been marginalized between the atrocities of the Assad troops and on the one side and the sectarian violence of oppositional militias on the other side. The European Left urges the international community to stop deliveries of weapons to both sides, to support a ceasefire, to supply humanitarian help to the refugees in neighbouring countries and to aid the initiation of a real political dialogue.

EL Executive Board meeting,
Berlin, 11.-12.01.2013