A delegation of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), comprising Yannis Protoulis, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the KKE, and Aris Evangelidis, member of the Central Committee of the KKE, visited Istanbul, where, an International Meeting of Communist Parties from NATO member states was held on Saturday, 4 July.

The meeting was organized by the Communist Party of Turkey ahead of the imperialist alliance’s summit in Ankara.

The KKE delegation also took part in a mass anti-NATO demonstration organized by the Communist Party of Turkey on Sunday, 5 July, in Istanbul.

You can read the full text of the speech below:

Dear comrades,

We would like to thank the Communist Party of Turkey for inviting us to this meeting of Communist Parties and anti-imperialist movements. Despite the bans, this meeting sends a message of the common struggle of our peoples against NATO’s murderous machine.

From this very podium, we strongly condemn the Turkish government’s decision to ban demonstrations and protests against the NATO Summit and to place the city of Ankara under a state of siege. We express our solidarity with the Communist Party of Turkey and fully support its struggle and the campaign it is leading against the NATO Summit.

We also express our internationalist solidarity with all peoples suffering from imperialist barbarity. We stand with the people of Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran, and with the people of Cuba, who continue to suffer the harsh consequences of the criminal blockade imposed by US imperialism.

Comrades,

From the very beginning —even during the difficult years of illegality, executions, imprisonment, and exile— the KKE fought with determination against our country’s participation in this predatory alliance. From the day NATO was founded in 1949, it has served as the military arm of imperialism against the peoples. It was created as an anti-communist force directed against the Soviet Union, and as an enemy of socialist construction and the revolutionary movement.

The accession of Greece, as well as Turkey, to NATO in 1952 served only the interests of the bourgeoisie in our countries. The same is true today. It has harmed the peoples of Greece, Turkey, and other countries, who have suffered the consequences of NATO’s bloody history, marked by dozens of imperialist wars, killings, interventions, and coups led by the US and powerful European states.

Of course, each country’s participation in imperialist coalitions is not simply a foreign policy choice made by bourgeois governments, whether liberal or social democratic. It is a strategic decision by the bourgeois classes to protect their power and promote their own interests, which are in direct opposition to the interests of the peoples.

The Greek bourgeoisie aims to strengthen its position in the broader region of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans. To achieve this, it relies on alliances with NATO and the EU, takes part in imperialist rivalries and wars, and seeks a share of the spoils from the division of markets, energy sources, and their transport routes.

Dear comrades,

This year’s Summit brings new and serious dangers for the peoples. It is taking place at a time when the risk of a wider imperialist war is growing. The contradictions among the imperialist powers have already led to the outbreak of two imperialist wars —in Ukraine and the Middle East— and even reaching temporary compromises has become increasingly difficult.

At the same time, we are witnessing growing tensions within the Euro-Atlantic camp, between the US and EU member states. There are discussions about reducing the number of US troops in Europe, plans for European countries to shoulder greater financial burdens and take on more operational responsibilities under the name of “European Security”. We also see the implementation of plans to expand the war economy and a rapid military buildup, as well as further debate and measures to promote the EU’s goal of “strategic autonomy” as a transnational imperialist alliance. We make it clear that, whatever form NATO may take —whether it is presented as “global” or “European,” or described as NATO 2.0 or 3.0— it will remain equally dangerous for the peoples. At the Summit in Ankara, preparations are being made for a new arms race and for the deployment and mobilization of military forces for a generalized imperialist war.

This military build-up —without precedent in human history— will be paid for by the peoples. It means enormous economic sacrifice of the people, the destruction of entire regions through the ruthless exploitation of natural resources, new waves of refugees, and irreversible environmental damage. For decades, the Greek people have carried the heavy burden of spending tens of billions of euros on NATO military equipment, which serves dangerous imperialist plans against the peoples of Europe, the Middle East, and other regions. The huge sums spent on NATO’s military needs are draining public resources and depriving people of critical resources needed for healthcare, education, social security, and infrastructure to protect them from natural disasters. This year alone, the Greek government plans to spend 600 million euros to support the Zelenskyy regime in Ukraine and 7 billion euros on NATO-related military equipment. At the same time, the New Democracy government, with the support of the other bourgeois parties, is implementing the “Agenda 2030” at a cost of more than 28 billion euros.

Greece is consistently among the NATO members that spend the highest percentage of their GDP on military spending. Our Party makes it clear that these enormous expenditures —including the purchase of Rafale fighter jets, F-35s, and Belharra frigates— are not made to defend the country or protect its borders. They are designed to meet NATO’s specifications, interoperability requirements, and offensive needs.

The price of these plans is the transformation of our country into a vast war base for the advancement of imperialist plans. Under the responsibility of all governments —both liberal and social democratic— our country has been filled with US–NATO bases, from which operations are launched against other peoples. At the same time, our country has become a magnet for dangers and reprisals that could cost our people their lives.

In particular

• They have extended the Greece–US Agreement on Military Bases, which provides the legal framework for the expansion and modernization of US–NATO military facilities in Greece.
• The Souda Base in Crete is being upgraded to become the main support hub for US–NATO military operations in the Middle East and North Africa.
• A new base and supporting infrastructure for drones and aerial refuelling aircraft has been established in the city of Larissa, covering operations from the Black Sea to the Persian Gulf.
• The port of Alexandroupoli has been turned into a hub for transporting military equipment, ammunition, and NATO troops to Eastern Europe, Romania, and Bulgaria, bypassing the Bosporus Strait and deepening Greece’s involvement in the imperialist war in Ukraine.
• The Greek Navy is taking part in NATO and EU naval operations in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea, including Operation “Prosperity Guardian” and the EU’s Operation “Aspides”.
• Comrades,

The Greek people, with their long tradition of anti-imperialist struggle, will not accept our country becoming a launching pad for the massacre of other peoples, as happened in the past in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and as is happening today in Palestine, Iran, and Lebanon. We reject Greece’s role in NATO’s murderous machine and its position as a strategic ally of Israel, which acts as the US’s main ally in the region.

Today, the KKE and KNE are at the forefront of organizing the struggle of the people and the youth to prevent our country from taking part in NATO’s wars and interventions. We condemn the gangster-like attack by the US and Israel against Iran, and we denounce Greece’s deep involvement in these developments, for which the New Democracy government and the other bourgeois parties bear responsibility.

We have organized mass demonstrations involving thousands of people outside the US Embassy. We have also organized mass popular protests against the arrival of US and NATO warships at the port of Piraeus and other ports across the country. We have blocked trains transporting NATO military equipment and personnel. We have clashed with the forces of repression, and many of our comrades are now being prosecuted because of their actions.

We continue our struggle for the closure of US–NATO bases and for the return home of all units of the Greek armed forces that have been sent on imperialist missions abroad.

We firmly reject the myth that NATO and the EU guarantee the security of the peoples. Every imperialist alliance expresses and protects the interests of the monopolies.

Our struggle continues at a time when imperialist rivalries are becoming sharper, marked by the US–China confrontation over dominance within the capitalist system, which is creating the conditions for new, widespread wars.

Hope lies only in the independent struggle of the peoples organized by the communists, in defence of their own interests. Our struggle against NATO and its bases is linked to the broader effort to develop the class struggle, with the aim of overthrowing capitalism —the system of exploitation that constantly gives rise to new wars and interventions, the uprooting of peoples, and refugees and migration. Disengagement from NATO is a matter of survival for the people and the working class.

The KKE raises the slogan “No sacrifices for the imperialists’ profits and imperialist wars”. It works consistently to help the working class, the popular strata, and the youth understand the real causes of imperialist competition and wars. It seeks to rally more working-class and popular forces into the collective struggle, and to strengthen understanding of the necessity and timeliness of building a new, socialist–communist society. Only in such a society can the exploitation of man by man be abolished, the needs of the people be met, and a genuine and definitive break be made with NATO, the EU, and every imperialist alliance. Only then can new international relations be built on the basis of mutual benefit for the peoples.

Thank you very much.

inter.kke.gr

From In Defense of Communism via This RSS Feed.