Defend Şiar Rişvanoğlu!

Last month Şiar Rişvanoğlu, a socialist lawyer and supporter of the Turkish Revolutionary Workers Party (DIP), was ominously threatened by fascist thugs. A few days after he gave a speech at the General Assembly of the Adana Bar Association, his car was vandalised and a note was left threatening his life. This outrageous attack must be vigorously opposed and protested.

Şiar Rişvanoğlu is a well-known fighter for the rights of those in the crosshairs of the Turkish state. He has been particularly active in taking up the cause of the brutally oppressed Kurdish minority as well as workers fighting to unionise, such as at the Polonez meat products plant in Istanbul. At the October Adana Bar Association meeting, he also spoke out in opposition to the genocide in Gaza, urging the conference to express its solidarity with the Palestinian people and demand the closure of military bases and halting oil transports to Israel. It is vital for the working class in Türkiye to take up the defence of the Palestinian people as part of their own fight against western imperialism and Erdoğan.

This is not the first time that Şiar Rişvanoğlu’s life has been threatened. Four years ago, his office in Adana was vandalised and a similarly threatening message left because of his opposition to the repressive “anti-terrorism” security forces. At other times, he has faced prosecution for expressing pro-Kurdish sentiments on TV.

These acts of repression, along with the intimidation by fascist forces, are not just aimed at Şiar Rişvanoğlu and the DIP but pose a direct threat to the entire workers movement, the Kurdish minority in Türkiye as well as the socialist movement. The brutal oppression of the Kurdish people by the Turkish ruling class fosters poisonous divisions within the working class. This strengthens the government’s hand against all defenders of democratic rights and emboldens the fascist forces who target prominent defenders of the Kurdish people.

What is urgently needed is united-front defence of Şiar Rişvanoğlu, bringing together fighters for workers’ and women’s rights, Kurdish liberation activists and crucially the trade-union movement. This would strengthen the hand of the working class, which can beat back the fascist threat by bringing to bear its social power in defence of all the oppressed.

Hands off Şiar Rişvanoğlu!

Defend the Polonez workers!

Recognition of national rights for the Kurdish people!

—14 November 2024

The Partisan Defence Committee is a class-struggle, non-sectarian legal and social defence organisation which champions cases and causes in the interest of the whole of the working people. This purpose is in accordance with the political views of the Spartacist League.