Protest in front of the US Consulate in Istanbul

In front of the US Consulate in Istanbul a protest action took place in protest at the assassination of George Floyd in Minneapolis. "This fire will engulf the entire world," said a joint statement by political parties and organizations.

Various political parties and organizations have protested in front of the US Consulate in Istanbul against the murder of the African American George Floyd in Minneapolis. The activists displayed images of George Floyd and the twenty-year-old Kurdish youngster Barış Çakan, who was murdered by racists in Ankara last Sunday.

Burcugül Çubuk read a joint statement in which the killing of George Floyd by a policeman was described as a continuation of the bloody conquest of the American continent by Europeans. Çubuk said that the incident was the straw that broke the camel's back, remarking that the resulting anti-racist uprisings were increasingly directed against the racism-producing capitalist system.

The same repressive mechanisms exist in Turkey, Çubuk said and continued: "The AKP/MHP government is attacking the peoples, the labourers and the women with an army of policemen and guards and leaves us no air to breathe. During the curfews over the Coronavirus pandemic, there have been dozens of serious and sometimes fatal attacks by the security forces.”

As an example, Çubuk cited the killing by police of Syrian refugee Ali Hemdan in Adana and the shooting of a 16-year-old Kurd in Batman. The torture photographs from the police headquarters in Amed (Diyarbakir) and the murder of Barış Çakan in Ankara are also manifestations of the state policy, said Çubuk.

“When Kurds, Arabs, those living in the suburbs, workers and women are murdered, the murderer remains unpunished. During the pandemic, working people have the choice between starvation and the threat of death, while the security forces enjoy the comfort of capital. While shopping malls are reopened, people sitting in parks are fined or beaten up."

Çubuk also condemned the police violence against a youth demonstration in Kadikoy and said: "As revolutionary people, we are fighting against inequality and oppression around the world. We welcome the struggle in the USA that started against racism and is now directed against the lifelines of capitalism. May the imperialists and capitalists fear the uprising of the peoples, because this fire will spread to the whole world.”

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Revolutionary Party, Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) and other organisations participated in the rally, which was besieged by a large police force.