The Peoples' United Revolutionary Movement (HBDH) Executive Committee made a written statement on the anniversary of the 6-7 September Pogrom against Greek, Armenian, Assyrian and Jewish citizens 69 years ago.

“The history of the establishment of the Republic of Turkey is the history of massacres. The republic, which does not recognise the right to live for any thought that opposes it, has implemented a policy of assimilation by ignoring the peoples who have lived together for centuries. It suppressed all uprisings against assimilation and oppression in the harshest way,” said the statement and continued:

“There has been continuity in the policies of massacre and oppression since the foundation of the Republic. As the continuation of this tradition of massacre, the AKP-MHP fascism has applied all kinds of methods to increase assimilation to the highest level.

There are many examples of massacre policies dating back to the foundation of the Republic. The most prominent example of these policies is the 6-7 September 1955 Pogrom. Organised by the state, many non-Turkish and non-Muslim people were the targets of this massacre. The pogrom started with a bomb thrown by Turkish intelligence at Mustafa Kemal's house in Thessaloniki. The masses, stunned by the poison of chauvinism, were taken to Beyoğlu by the Turkish Cypriot organisations from all over Istanbul and many provinces of Anatolia.

Accompanied by Turkish flags, pictures of Mustafa Kemal and slogans such as ‘Cyprus is Turkish, Cyprus will remain Turkish’, the crowd attacked the houses and workplaces of mainly Greek, Armenian and Jewish people. According to the records of the time, one tenth of the population of Istanbul participated in this lynch demonstration in which 12 people were murdered, hundreds of people were wounded, and 400 women were raped. And the houses and workplaces of non-Muslim peoples were burnt down, destroyed and plundered. For exactly two days, starting from Beyoğlu, the practice of plunder and massacre was carried out by chauvinist crowds in many neighbourhoods of Istanbul.

Sabri Yirmibeşoğlu, the then head of the Special Warfare Department, said in a later interview: ‘September 6 and 7 were the work of the Special Warfare Department. It was a magnificent organisation. It achieved its goal’ is a confession that the massacre was carried out by the state.

Just like in 6-7 September, the pogrom attempt organised in Kayseri in recent months targeted Syrian refugees and manifested itself in the form of looting and burning of their workplaces and lynchings on the streets. These attacks were directly supported by the AKP-MHP government. The economic problems and poverty in the country are blamed on Syrian refugees and the consciousness of the working classes is blurred. The government, which creates a perception that Syrian refugees are the cause of the poverty and the cost of living, thus relieves itself of its responsibility. At the same time, the fascist government, which does not want the working masses to hold it to account, directs them to the refugees, who have no responsibility in the events.

Today, AKP-MHP fascism exhibits the same looting and massacring mentality in the occupied regions of Rojava, in Assyrian and Kurdish villages in Southern Kurdistan (Northern Iraq). People kidnapped, patriots killed, villages looted in the occupied regions are part of the state massacre tradition.  The only force that stands against the massacres of fascism and holds fascism to account is our United Revolutionary Movement. As HBDH, we are fighting against fascism and putting up resistance against massacres in the Medya Defense Zones, Rojava and Turkey’s cities.

We call on our oppressed peoples to raise the united revolutionary struggle and to call fascism to account in order to put a stop to the new 6-7 September, new massacres and persecutions.”