Sosyalist Eşitlik (the Socialist Equality Group), in political solidarity with the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) in Turkey, unequivocally condemns the attack and threats on lawyer Şiar Rişvanoğlu’s office in the southern city of Adana. Carried out by unidentified person(s) on July 13, this attack is part of a drive by the state or paramilitary forces to suppress and intimidate all expressions of opposition, as the Turkish government escalates wars across the region and attacks on democratic rights at home.

Şiar Rişvanoğlu is a leading member of the Revolutionary Workers Party (DİP) and of the Contemporary Lawyers’ Association (ÇHD). The attackers, who broke through the door of his office while it was empty, left a threatening message that cannot be misunderstood: “If you continue to pester the security forces of our glorious state, many other things will be shattered and scattered. Watch your step, you odious traitor!!!!!”

Sosyalist Eşitlik has extensively documented its political differences with the DİP. These differences do not lessen our opposition to this attack, however. This threat, made by reactionary forces, is an obvious attack on basic democratic rights, aiming to silence all opposition to the state.

In 2009 local elections, Rişvanoğlu, as a member of DİP, was nominated as a candidate for the Adana Metropolitan Municipality mayor from the Democratic Society Party (DTP), a predecessor of the Kurdish-nationalist Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

According to a report on the Gerçek website, the organ of the DİP, this latest attack came after Rişvanoğlu “criticized acts of torture, proposals to serve as agents, informants or secret witnesses, and other illegal practices of the police and especially of the Anti-Terrorism Unit.”

While a criminal complaint has been filed, the fascistic attackers who broke into Rişvanoğlu’s office to defend the “security forces” and the state have not been caught yet. Moreover, many experiences to date demonstrate that if police catch and briefly imprison those who carry out such attacks, it will be only for show. Such attackers, who enjoy support from within the state, would soon be released.

The only force that can take up the struggle to defend democratic rights is the working class, mobilized on a socialist program.