Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council Member Riza Altun talked to ANF about the Turkey-US crisis, dimensions and background of the crisis and, Syria and Iran in the context of the regional developments.

Drawing attention to the crisis between Turkey and America, Altun pointed out that this crisis is linked to the Middle East and world system. Therefore either Turkey would become a reliable party in the resulting new world system (as it was before), or it would be faced with a very serious period ahead.

A new crisis has shaken Turkish-American relations. This crisis is brought down to Pastor Brunson crisis. But can it really be limited to that?

Turkey-US relations, and subsequent crisis, have to be read in the wider context of the capitalist modernity. We are talking about a general crisis of capitalist modernity and its reflections in the region. We need to look at the crisis between Turkey and the US as part of the the worldwide capitalist modernity crisis. In addition, there is a crisis in the Middle East.

All of these elements cannot be properly assessed if they are not considered together. It is not right to consider the arrest of Priest Brunson or Hakan Atilla as the cause of the crisis. They are actually caused by the system crisis.

The root is the problems of the two parties that make themselves felt in the Middle East policy in the body of the mentioned incidents. If there were not such contradictions in US-Turkey policy, then the Brunson and Hakan Atilla cases would be solved easily. But as the contradictions deepen, even smaller problems can turn into big crises.

Capitalism is in a crisis. America is not outside this crisis nor is Turkey. Therefore, we have to look at the world system first in order to address this crisis. However, as this system reviews itself, the parts of the world system are shaped accordingly. This is the state of things. Especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the situation became more active. How will capitalist modernity be able to sustain itself, how and in what form will it reconcile itself? These are the questions that need to be answered.

What is it that America really wants from Turkey, what is the matter of negotiation?

Turkey and the United States are reciprocally asking each other contradictory things. If the US were to accept the demands of Turkey, they would be forced to give up on their Middle East policies.

Because Turkey wants from the US the preservation of the status quo in the Middle East. Turkey is seeking acceptance of its dismantling of the Kurdish Freedom Movement. This means that Iran will not be touched, Syria will go back to what it was before, and the Kurds who play a role in the transformation of the Middle East at the cost of a great price will be liquidated. Should the United States accept this, it will become a tool of Turkey, while the hegemonic power intervening in the region is actually the US.

The United States, on the other hand, urges Turkey to be consistent with their policies. This means to form policies parallel to the US policies on Iran, Russia and Syria.

Of course there is also this dimension to the crisis: Turkey has developed a kind of anti-Western and anti-US relation with Russia and Iran and used these relations as a blackmail.

But initially, Turkey had entered this relation in order to use it as a blackmail and has been forced to further deepen the relationship to achieve a result. In the end this has turned out more costly. Turkey in the end can neither act easily and independently from its relation with Russia and Iran, nor can it establish a partnership with its allies United States and the EU.

Turkey is in a wounded state and is bleeding out every day. It serves the purpose of neither the United States nor Russia and Iran to heal the wounds of Turkey. The Turkish state has no mindset, foresight and politics to heal its wounds itself.