The Anti-NATO and Anti-Imperialist War Union and the Istanbul Labor, Peace and Democracy Forces organized the protest against what they described as the US-Israeli imperialist and Zionist attack on Iran in Kadıköy.
DEM Party MP Özgül Saki attended the demonstration together with representatives of trade unions, political parties, and democratic mass organizations. The protest demanded that Turkey leave NATO and that US bases be shut down immediately.
A banner reading “We stand with the Iranian people against imperialist-Zionist attacks” was displayed, slogans were frequently chanted such as: “Imperialists, collaborators, remember the 6th Fleet,” “Down with US imperialism,” and “Imperialists will lose, resisting peoples will win.”
A joint statement read at the demonstration recalled that US imperialism, together with Zionist Israel, described as being embedded in the region like a dagger, launched an attack on Iran on Saturday morning. It was noted that, similar to the 12-day war in June 2025, this attack took place while the parties were at the “negotiating table.” The statement said that by attacking Iran, the US and Israel have ignited the fuse of a regional war.
The statement continued: “Since the occupation of Afghanistan, US imperialism has been attacking in order to reshape the Middle East and reestablish its hegemony. After Afghanistan came Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria, now it is Iran’s turn. The genocidal Zionist state of Israel acts as a battering ram in implementing these US plans. The rhetoric of ‘Israel’s security,’ frequently voiced by US officials, is directly related to this.”
The statement emphasized that presenting the claim “Iran is on the verge of building an atomic bomb” as a justification for the attack is outright deception. It recalled that the only aggressive power in the Middle East possessing nuclear weapons is Zionist Israel, adding: “Those who see the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons as a threat should first eliminate the nuclear weapons in their own hands.”
The statement also drew attention to the Kürecik radar base in Turkey, which it said provides intelligence to Israel, and warned that all US and NATO bases could potentially be used in the attack against Iran. It continued: “We stand firmly against these lands being used against the working people of brotherly Iran; we will not allow complicity in this crime. Imperialists, Zionists, and collaborating reactionary states have no right to attack or occupy countries, regardless of the pretext. It is an internal matter for the workers, laborers, and oppressed of each country to settle accounts with their own bourgeoisie.
We know what US imperialism and genocidal Israel have brought to peoples—from Afghanistan to Iraq, from Libya to Yemen, from Syria to Lebanon and Palestine. Imperialism does not bring freedom or democracy to peoples. The only things imperialism brings are exploitation, oppression, massacres, plunder of nature, hopelessness, the exploitation of women’s labor and bodies, and slavery.
Standing in solidarity with Iranian workers and laborers against this imperialist-Zionist aggression and opposing imperialist aggression is the responsibility and duty of all workers, peoples, women, young people, and all oppressed.”