Turkish revolution. An interview with Claudio Mutti

Natella Speranskaya:  The national revolution has started in Turkey. What are the forces behind it? Who is fighting whom?

Claudio Mutti:  The slogans about "human rights" and "democracy", the Femen's performances, the solidarity expressed by Madonna and other hollywoodian stars, the antifa rhetoric peppered with "Bella ciao" as its soundtrack are the symptoms of an "orange revolution" or a "Turkish spring", rather than of a national revolution. At present it is impossible to know if the troubles have broken out in a spontaneous way, or if really foreign agents have provoked the troubles, as pretended by Erdogan. But we must consider that US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone has repeated twice in two days his message in favour of protesters and that John Kerry has made a declaration about the right of protesting. Certainly, among the protesters there are also militants and activists of national, anti-Atlantist and also pro-Eurasian movements (as, for example, the Workers' Party, İşçi Partisi); but I don't think that they are in the position to direct a so heterogeneous mass towards the goal of a national revolution.

Natella Speranskaya:  How is the Turkish revolution related to the geopolitical opposition of Eurasianism (Russia, Iran, Syria) and atlantism (NATO, USA, EU)?

Claudio Mutti:  It is true that many people have been troubled by Turkey's envolvement in the Syrian conflict. Nevertheless, when the protesters claim "We are the children of Ataturk", they express a concern related to secularistic and laicistic beliefs, not to a Eurasianistic position. Unfortunately I don't see a significant anti-Atlantic trend in the present revolt.

Natella Speranskaya:  Your prognosis of the development of events in Turkey and how it will effect the situation in Syria?

Claudio Mutti:  It is probable that the Turkish revolt will induce Erdogan to think about the saying "sow the wind and reap the whirlwind" and to devote himself more to Turkish affairs than to Syrian ones; probably he will take note of the fact that Americans are always ready to oust their collaborators, after making use of them. Two months ago his Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has signed a protocol of agreement with the SCO. If the Turkish government wants to be consistent with this decision, it must drop that kind of "neo-Ottomanism" which conceals a subimperialistic role, useful to North American interests. Even better, if Turkey really wants to be a point of reference for muslim peoples of Mediterranean Sea and Middle East, it must break off its ties with NATO and with the Zionist regime. It is schizofrenic to destabilize Syria and at the same time to accuse Zionism and Israel of being, according Erdogan's words, "a crime against humanity" and "a threat to regional peace".