Tucson, AZ – Nearly a dozen anti-war activists answered the call for an emergency rally Friday afternoon, October 11, to make the demand that the U.S. and NATO member Turkey leave Syria. Amid rush hour traffic moving through downtown, there were several honks of solidarity with the message on posters saying: “U.S.-NATO out of Syria” and “U.S. hands off Syria.”

Earlier in the week, President Trump announced that U.S. troops would be leaving northern Syria. This created an uproar in the corporate mainstream media that the U.S. would be “abandoning an ally” in regional Kurdish forces. A few days later, Turkey, a U.S. ally and NATO member, began an aerial bombing campaign aimed at targets just across the Turkish border into northern Syria, its most oil-rich region. While Turkey’s recent actions need to be condemned strongly, U.S. attempts to destroy Syria set the stage for recent events.

“The Tucson Anti War Committee wanted to demonstrate our anger at the continued U.S. meddling in other countries’ affairs that have disastrous consequences for those people. We know the U.S. was only using the Kurds to try to balkanize Syria because the Syrian Arab Army, with help from Iran, Russia and others, have successfully defeated the coalition of terrorist groups backed by the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Israel. We must oppose the most violent regime on the planet: U.S. imperialism currently led by billionaire president Donald Trump,” stated co-organizer Brian Dutz.

“Turkey has long been a junior partner of U.S. imperialism through NATO, but we know that calls for continued U.S. intervention in Syria to help the Kurds is not the solution. We uphold the right of self-determination for Syria, and the U.S., with its 12 military bases in northern Syria, violate that right,” Dutz continued.

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