Category: Cyprus
AKEL condemns attack on “Afrika” newspaper: “The moral perpetrator is President Erdogan himself”
worker | January 23, 2018 | 7:36 pm | AKEL (Cyprus), Cyprus, Turkey | Comments closed

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

AKEL condemns attack on “Afrika” newspaper: “The moral perpetrator is President Erdogan himself”

http://www.idcommunism.com/2018/01/akel-condemns-attack-on-afrika_23.html

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 22nd January 2018, Nicosia.

 
AKEL denounces today’s attacks by extreme nationalist forces against the “Afrika” newspaper in the occupied areas. The moral perpetrator of the attacks is the Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan himself, whose recent references in Bursa bluntly targeted the newspaper “Afrika”.
 
As AKEL, we express our solidarity with Sener Levent and the newspaper “Afrika”, which is once again being targeted because it dared to refer to Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus on the occasion of Turkey’s ongoing invasion of Syria’s Arfin region.
Behind the demonstrations with an aggressive character appear to be mainly settlers who are aligned to the Justice and Development Party (AKP), as well as several ultra-right elements. We express our solidarity with the Turkish Cypriot progressive forces that oppose these attacks, but also stand against the invasion of Syria.
 
In general, these events further highlight yet another way by which Ankara is trying to further impose itself on the Turkish Cypriot community and transfer its internal problems to Cyprus and in doing so consequently reaffirming that only the solution of the Cyprus problem can free the Cypriot people as a whole from every kind of intervention by Turkey in Cyprus.
Statement by the KKE on the 43 years since the 1974 Turkish invasion in Cyprus
worker | July 20, 2017 | 8:36 pm | class struggle, Communist Party Greece (KKE), Cyprus, Imperialism, political struggle, Turkey | Comments closed

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Statement by the KKE on the 43 years since the 1974 Turkish invasion in Cyprus

https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/07/statement-by-kke-on-43-years-since-1974.html
On the occassion of the 43 years since the invasion of the Turkish military forces in Cyprus (20 July 1974), the Press Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) issued the following statement:
 
Source: 902.gr / Translation: In Defense of Communism.
 
“43 years have been passed since the Turkish invasion and the continuous occupation of the 37% of Cyprus, since the crime against the Cypriot people which took place within the framework of NATO, with the support of the American and British imperialism.
The coup d’ etat of the Greek Junta and EOKA ‘B against the government of Makarios, which pulled the trigger for the Turkish invasion, consists proof of how far can go the forces and governments which have committed themselves in implementing NATO’s imperialist plans.
 
In the conditions which are formed today for the control of the energy sources by the monopoly groups, Cyprus becomes again the “apple of discord” in the geopolitical antagonisms of the capitalist states. All these pose serious dangers for Cyprus and for the people of the region.
 
The dichotomous and unjust for the Cypriot people confederal settlement of the two “constituent states” which is being promoted – and the cancellation of the fact that the Cyprus Issue is an international problem of invasion and occupation of the northern part of Cyprus by Turkey- does not consist a solution.
The KKE firmly remains in solidarity with the Cypriot people, in their struggle against the occupation and any dichotomous plan. The just request for a Cyprus United, Independent, in one and not two states, with One and Only Sovereignty, one Citizenship and International Personality, free of foreign bases and military forces, without foreign guarantors and protectors, a common fatherland of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, is not cancelled by the difficulties of today’s negative correlation of forces. On the contrary, it (this request) responds exactly to today’s emergency problems and gives perspective to the struggle of the Cypriot people, of all the people of our broader region”.
Cyprus Issue: The KKE warns about the dangerous partition “solution” that is being promoted

Friday, July 14, 2017

Cyprus Issue: The KKE warns about the dangerous partition “solution” that is being promoted

https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/07/cyprus-issue-kke-warns-about-dangerous.html
Source: inter.kke.gr.
On July 11, 2017 a discussion of the leaders of the political parties was held in the Greek parliament regarding the developments in the Cyprus issue and the outcome of the negotiations in Geneva.
During the discussion, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, GS of the CC of KKE, underlined that the Cyprus issue is an international problem of invasion and occupation of the northern part of Cyprus by Turkey. It is a problem that bears the stamp of NATO intervention, of the general imperialist plans for the region.
He reminded that the KKE combatively opposed the partitionist “Anan” plan, that was neither just nor viable and would engage the peoples of Cyprus, Greece and Turkey in new adventures.
He highlighted that in the recent period, the “solution” being “cooked” under the pretext of “Bicommunal Bizonal Federation” is a partition of Cyprus; it is a partitionist and dangerous solution, and he went on adding: “We fear that this is the objective of the various propositions elaborated by the staffs of USA, Great Britain, and also of the United Nations, with the co-responsibility of the Cypriot and the Greek government, such as for example the propositions for an international police-military force with the participation of Turkish forces, looking for a mechanism of observation for a solution, before this solution has been found.
“In effect, the systematic interventions of the USA, of Great Britain, France and the EU as a whole, in order for the talks to be sped up and for a deal to be struck, aim at closing up the deal quickly so that the road for the exploitation of the energy resources of the island opens in favor of the interests of sections of the capitalist classes of the implicated states and of the various euroatlantic plans.
“At the same time, they aim at utilizing the geostrategic position of Cyprus, where NATO and British military bases have been installed, in the competition with Russia, in conditions of sharpening of the already acute contradictions internationally.”
Simultaneously, D. Koutsoumbas highlighted the responsibilities of the bourgeois political forces for the dangerous developments, noting: “The responsibilities of the government of SYRIZA-ANEL, as well as of the ND and of the other parties that support the one-way of the euroNATOist “prison” for our country are immense.
“On the one hand you praise the participation of Greece and Turkey in NATO as a factor of “peace and security” and when the Turkish provocations become outrageous and when the air and sea borders of our country suffer multiple violations, then you “draw from the sleeve”, as a new “lifejacket”, the so-called “tripartite alliance” of our country with Israel, Cyprus, Egypt.
“You cultivate that way, in both circumstances, hollow hopes, either by sweet-talking Turkey, or by calling the “police” of the USA in Eastern Mediterranean, trying to convince that both in Greece and in Cyprus we will be able to use the energy resources for the so-called “development” and for exiting the crisis.
“You lie, you lie consciously! Because you know very well that these resources and the profits that will come of them will go directly into the pockets of the megatheriums of energy, the monopolies of this sector of economy.
“These deposits, in conditions of monopoly capitalism, of imperialism, attract as honey attracts bees, the powerful competitions, the imperialist wars.”
In the end, referring to the proposition of KKE, he underlined:
“That is why our position, the grounds upon KKE’s position is founded, is a great distance away of the positions that you serve, of the space that you open so that the plans foreign to the real interests of the cypriot people – Greekcypriots and Turkishcypriots – come to pass, plans foreign to the Greek people’s interests, which struggles in a tornado of cross purposes, and of the Turkish people that bleeds under an authoritarian regime and sheds its blood for the interests of the Turkish capitalist class.
KKE Sec. General D.Koutsoumbas during his
speech at the Parliament.
“We struggle for the unitary interests of the whole of the working people of Cyprus, not in favor of the energy monopolies, of the USA, of NATO, of the rest of your allies!
“We underline the necessity of coordinating the struggle of the working class and of the popular strata of Cyprus, of Turkey, of Greece, for the abolition of the consequences of the occupation in the perspective of total emancipation from the chains of exploitation.
“We stand in favor of the immediate retreat of the occupation forces and all the rest of the foreign military troops from Cyprus.
“Generally, we support the abolition of the consequences of the Turkish occupation, the end of colonization and dealing with this problem considering social, humanitarian criteria, we support the right of the refuges to return to their hearths and homes.
“We support the closing down of the NATO-British military bases and the abolition of the favorable status in effect since many years ago, we continue the struggle so that the military base of Suda in Crete and the rest of the US-NATO bases in Greece also close down.
“The KKE believes that the struggle of the working class, of the popular strata, must be aimed at the objective of a Cyprus where its people, Greekcypriots and Turkishcypriots, Armenians, Maronites and Latinos, will be real masters of their fates.
“A Cyprus United, Independent, with One and Only Sovereignty, one Citizenship and International Personality, without foreign bases and troops, without foreign guarantors and patrons.”
14.07.2017.
KKE: People’s struggle for a united Cyprus without guarantors and protectors

Monday, February 20, 2017

KKE: People’s struggle for a united Cyprus without guarantors and protectors

https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/02/kke-peoples-struggle-for-united-cyprus.html
Source: inter.kke.gr.
 
The Party Organization of the KKE in Cyprus held on Saturday the 11th of February a meeting in Lefkosia (Nicosia), Cyprus with as its theme the positions of the KKE on the Cyprus issue. Giorgos Marinos, member of the PB of the CC of the KKE, spoke at the meeting.
His speech was as follows:
“The KKE is preparing for the 20th Congress which will be held between 30th of March and 2nd of April and there is an ongoing creative dialogue- on the basis of the theses of the CC- in which members and friends are participating, a large number of working people.
The major objective of the Theses of the CC and the final decisions of the Congress is the all-round ideological-political-organizational steeling of the KKE and its Youth, as a Party of revolutionary overthrow. This steeling is a necessary precondition in order to carry out the complex tasks of the labour movement’s recasting, the struggle against imperialist war, the building of social alliance towards an anticapitalist, antimonopoly direction aimed at workers’ power.
The positions of the CC for the 20th Congress pay great attention to the international developments and processes in our region, analyze the contradictions that permeate the imperialist system, highlight the characteristics of the military confrontations and flashpoints, in Syria, Libya, Iraq, in Ukraine and other regions of the globe, which create the conditions for even a generalized imperialist war.
In the text of the CC, there is reference to the developments around the Cyprus Issue, the relations between Turkey and Greece, the dangers which are evident e.g. in the Aegean and Thrace, within the framework of the contradictions between the bourgeois classes and the inter-imperialist antagonisms.
Dear Comrades,
We salute the members of AKEL and EDON and we honour the many years of our common struggles. The KKE looks the Cypriot people in the eye, with a clear consciousness, because all these years, in difficult conditions full of challenges and diverse interventions of powerful imperialist states, our Party stood by the side of Cyprus’ working people, Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots, and expressed its internationalist solidarity by addressing the Cyprus Issue as an international problem of invasion and occupation.
The Theses of the CC of the KKE for the CYPRUS ISSUE which were published on 30th October 2016 found wide resonance in Greece and Cyprus:
Because, they address the heart of the problem of the elimination of Occupation and are based on the working peoples’ struggle and not on expectations derived from the intervention of the US, the EU and other imperialist centers.
Because, they reveal the dangerous character of the solution promoted by the Cypriot government, which is a dichotomous-confederal solution similar to the one of the Annan Plan that legitimizes the consequences of the invasion-occupation.
Because, the KKE’s proposal sets the basic axes for a truly pro-people, viable and fair solution which can unify the island, the Cypriot people, Greek-Cypriots, Turkish-Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians and Latins, on the basis of one- and not two- states,-with a single sovereignty, a single citizenship and a single international personality, which is the position that the KKE defends all these years with consistency.
Lately, there is an organized attack aiming to reduce the significance of the positions of our Party on the Cyprus Issue or to distort their content. The claims used for that are malicious and contribute to the deception of the Cypriot and Greek people- by cultivating in practice the submission to the dominant forces.
Our Party insists and considers as necessary the existence of substantial debate for such complex-difficult issues, it considers as legitimate the documented struggle between different positions. “Clever” jokes on the internet and slanders show weakness and prejudice. We have experience, forces which fight against the KKE today have been tested again, they have supported the antipeople political line of the social democratic SYRIZA regurgitating known positions about “left-progressive governments” which actually serve the interests of the big capital and work for the perpetuation of capitalist barbarity.
The Communists, the friends of the KKE in Cyprus and Greece, move forwards, defending a very just cause and will continue to struggle having as a guide the workers-peoples’ interests.
We insist on the discussion on the discussion, on the struggle on a political basis and in this direction we will respond to certain allegations which have been heard these days and are presented with a “progressive” mantle.
Firstly, some say: The KKE talks about the Cyprus Issue, violating the communist principle of internationalist solidarity, thus interfering in the internal affairs of another state or, they say that the KKE could only talk about the issues of security and guarantees.
We will repeat that proletarian internationalism is the soul of the KKE and this has been proved in its almost 100-year history, in even more difficult situations, and continues to be demonstrated daily in the principled stance that the KKE maintains in its relations with dozens of communist parties, by supporting the peoples’ struggle everywhere in the world.
KKE’s positioning on the Cyprus Issue is an obligation, because the problem is international and affects the developments in the region, the developments in Greece and the Greek people. The KKE exercises its right to defend its opinion and we would say to the devotees of this unfounded view to reconsider its implications and take into account that members of Greek political parties visit Cyprus and take positions, while members of the Cypriot parties have been visiting Athens and discussing with the governments all these years, they discuss with the political parties, organize events and many times the support of the KKE has been requested- and still is- for the Cyprus Issue.
Let us remember the 2002-2004 period, during the Annan Plan, and the militant contribution of the KKE to the plan’s rejection by the Cypriot people. The contribution of the KKE which then too, caught firmly the pulse of the developments, without wavering and while all the other Greek parties, PASOK, New Democracy, Synaspismos were supportive of the dichotomous plan.
Secondly, they say: The KKE entangles the Cyprus Issue with Greek-Turkish relations and that must not be done- Cyprus is an independent state.
This claim has no relation to any reasonable approach of the developments.
But, I will set some issues because the developments are very worrying and the myths invented for opportunistic reasons must be explained and refuted.
It is impossible to spherically, substantially examine the Cyprus Issue or the problems in Greek-Turkish relations detached from the developments in the broader region, from the course and intensity of the inter-imperialist contradictions, the intervention of the US, NATO, EU in competition, for example, with Russia for the natural resources and energy pipelines. These contradictions have led to the wars in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Ukraine.
You cannot examine the Cyprus Issue without taking into account the broader aggressiveness of Turkey’s bourgeoisie and state which maintains the occupation of 37% of the island for 43 years, has military forces, for example, in Syria, Iraq, military bases in the Balkans and elsewhere. While, at the same time, it talks about “grey zones”, indulging in daily violations of the borders, disputing the Greek islands, the sovereignty and the EEZ of Greece and Cyprus, raises the question of challenging the Lausanne Treaty and of border changes in the wider region.
These dangerous developments require responsible positions and fighting against perceptions which objectively lead to positions claiming that “no matter if the whole region is in flames, a fair solution to the Cyprus Issue can be ensured”.
Let us widen the issue. The KKE, for example, considers it necessary that the Cypriot parties take a position e.g. concerning the issue of the developments in the Aegean, also regarding the policies of the Greek parties and the policies of the SYRIZA-ANEL government which, alongside the implementation of the memorandums and the more general harsh antipeople policies, supports the NATO and EU “predatory alliances”, positions itself in line with the Common Security and Defense Policy and entangles our country in the imperialist antagonisms in the name of its geostrategic upgrading on behalf of the bourgeois interests.
Third, they say: the KKE misinterprets the statements made by Akinci or Turkish governmental-state officials regarding the “two states”.
KKE speaks on the basis of data and facts.
A basic issue which refutes the claim regarding an alleged misinterpretation is the initial agreement, the common statement of Mr.Anastasiadis and Mr.Eroglu on February 2014 which talks about “two constituent states”, with which Mr.Akinci agreed- thus fulfilling his own role in the enforcement of a dichotomous solution- two states.
But it is not only that.
Throughout the bicommunal talks there are interventions which show that the leadership of Turkey and the Turkish-Cypriot side insists on maintaining the so-called “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” which is a result of invasion-occupation.
A basic dogma of the Turkish and Turkish-Cypriot side is that the Turkish-Cypriot constituent state will be the continuation of the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” (TRNC) – On April 2015, Mr.Akinci spoke about “two equal states”.
Recently, addressing the Greek-Cypriot side, Mr. Erdogan provocatively stated: “without being ashamed they participate in the EU summits with a flag with includes the whole Cyprus. You cannot have such a flag there, there is also a TRNC. You are the Greek-Cypriot administration of South Cyprus. In the North there is a Turkish republic…”.
On January 12th, commenting the progress of talks in Geneva, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Cavusoglu said that the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” is a mature state with vision and that the views of Turkey are fully in line with the TRNC”….
They say to us that statements do not count, but what counts is what is submitted and what is being discussed on the table of negotiations, and we say that this is a simplification because what the KKE puts are actual facts which show intentions, plans of Turkey’s bourgeoisie and every effort to downgrade this poses the danger of projecting a false image, in order to create an environment of artificial euphoria; but this causes damage because it generates false expectations, blunts the militant reflexes and intensifies the people’s manipulation.
Fourthly, they say: The KKE cannot talk about the Establishment Treaty because it constitutes the basis for the creation of the Republic of Cyprus.
First of all, we must note that Turkey does not recognize the Republic of Cyprus, characterizing it as “defunct” and unfortunately this has become a habit that reaches the point of compromise and acceptance of such positions, as happened in the recent Geneva Conference on January 12th when the president of Cyprus was not addressed with his actual title, but as honorable Mr.Anastasiadis, just as Mr.Akinci was.
Indeed, the KKE criticizes all the three treaties; of the Establishment which provides for the status of the British bases, of the Alliance and of the Guarantees, and we consider that this stance is necessary and contributes to the struggle of the Cypriot people.
Besides, we are not saying anything new. We utilize the experience of the previous years and we reiterate the demand for the abolition the British bases which constitute a tool of NATO in Cyprus and, together with the US base in Suda, are being used in imperialist plans.
The sovereignty of Cyprus cannot be based on the problematic agreement of 1960 but on the struggles that the Cypriot people, who do not need imperialist “crutches”, have waged and must wage.
Comrade Ezekias Papaioannou, GS of AKEL for many years, with whom the KKE had comradely relations and honours him, raised important issues. In his book “Remembrances of my life” he writes that “the worst provisions of the Zurich-London Agreement which express the compromise with imperialism are the Treaties of Establishment, Guarantees and Alliance. Based on the Establishment Treaty, the British imperialists secured 99 square miles of Cypriot territory and 32 other points in various parts of Cyprus for the British sovereign bases”… and cde. Ezekias, talking about the necessary mutual confidence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, characteristically points out that these conditions actually “crippled the island’s independence”.
Fifth, they say: the KKE changed its position and today it does not support the Bicommunal Bizonal Federation, the issue is: “A Single state or a Federation?”.
The correct briefing of the Cypriot and Greek people regarding the history of the Bicommunal Bizonal Federation is necessary.
The Turkish bourgeoisie tried in a planned way to create faits accomplis for the creation of two states, by exploiting the problems of the Zurich-London Agreement, the position of the “Union (Enosis) of Cyprus with Greece”, the activity of extreme- nationalist forces from both sides.
The Turkish aspirations were advanced through the Turkish invasion and occupation on July 1974, after the coup organized in Cyprus with the responsibility of the Junta and the complicit stance of the US, NATO and Britain.
During the 1960s, the method of creating pockets and a number of Turkish-Cypriots were transferred to certain areas for the formation of a Turkish-Cypriot territorial zone.
Because the high level agreements between Makarios and Denktash in 1977 and Kyprianou-Denktash in 1979 are projected as the basis of the Bicommunal Bizonal Federation- but without presenting information about the discussions that took place, the relevant pressures and blackmails- we will refer to only one fact. In his interview in the Turkish-Cypriot magazine “Olay” (16/7/79), the Turkish-Cypriot leader Denktash, giving his own definition of the Bizonal Federation pointed out: “The concept of the Bizonal (Federation) is that I am a state with my own territory, like one of the two Federal States. I am sovereign regarding many issues, within my territory this sovereignty is absolute and no one can take it away from me”.
In 1983 the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” was declared and this was again utilized to create faits accomplis.
Dear comrades and friends,
In the main document of the bicommunal talks of this period, that means in the Common Statement of Anastasiadis-Eroglu on 11th February 2014, the promoted “solution plan for the Cyprus Issue” provisions the creation of “Two Constituent States” and despite the prettification efforts, this solution is dichotomous, dangerous.
In practice, as happened with the Annan Plan, partition goes through the so-called Bicommunal Bizonal Federation which from a “painful compromise”, as it was characterized by Cypriot and Greek parties, was later seen as a principled position.
The KKE, which had adopted the position of Bicommunal Bizonal Federation as a compromise, expressing its solidarity with AKEL, carefully examined the developments, studied the experience of the Annan Plan, the positions which were posed later and especially the position about “Two Constituent States” and decided to define its position on the basis for a new situation, retaining the basic framework for a “SINGLE STATE, a single sovereignty, a single citizenship, a single International Personality which acquire substance with the KKE’s proposal.
As is indicated in the Theses of the CC for our Party’s 20th Congress “the new processes lead to the finalization of the partition of Cyprus, substantially in the formation of two separate state entities which only formally and temporarily will establish a Federation”.
Thus, in practice it is a Confederation of two states, which will have their own territorial integrity, their own borders and therefore sovereignty, their own constitution, parliament and government, their domestic and foreign policy, their own policy for Education, Health, Social Security, labour relations, including wages- numerous discriminations which, apart from anything else, will be an obstacle to the common action of Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot workers who will continue suffering the consequences of a high degree of exploitation.
In practice, the principles for a single Sovereignty, a single Citizenship and a single International Personality are cancelled, thus negating the slogans which talk about the island’s unification.
The powers that the federal government will have do not reverse this situation. The major factor which is affected is the borders, the territorial sovereignty (territory) and the other issues mentioned above.
The effort to equate Cyprus, e.g. with the USA, Russia, Switzerland has no real basis, because the starting point and historical course are different and the effects of the occupation are intense. In the states mentioned there are no internal borders.
In practice, the Turkish-Cypriot constituent state will maintain strong ties with the Turkish bourgeois state, will implement its own foreign policy.
The problems which arise are very important, with geostrategic dimensions and implications of broader significance.
What is the stance that the Turkish-Cypriot Constituent State will have regarding the complex developments in our region, regarding the presence of Turkish forces in Syria and Iraq? What will happen in the relations with NATO? What is it going to do in relation to Greek-Turkish relations, the border violations, the provocations by president Erdogan and the challenging of the Lausanne Treaty, the EEZ, the Continental Shelf, the International Convention of the Law of the Sea of 1982?
The dichotomous solution contains many elements which in their development will have negative effects and may trigger even more the sharpening of the contradictions and the situation in Eastern Mediterranean with very painful consequences for the peoples in the region.
Because of its geostrategic position and role in a region which is a geographical crossroad, Cyprus – with natural resources in a region where powerful monopoly interests cross their swords – constitutes the terrain of inter-imperialist antagonisms and conflicts, with the involvement of the US, Britain, NATO, EU, of the bourgeois classes of Turkey, Greece, Cyprus.
This fact is connected with the birth and perpetuation of the Cyprus Issue and today it is obvious that the problem has passed into a new phase of sharpening, because of the imperialist military operations in the region and the antagonisms over the natural gas fields and the energy pipelines.
The systematic interventions of the US and the EU for the acceleration of the talks and the signing of an agreement “at any cost”, aim to create faits accomplis, in order to open the way for the exploitation of the island’s energy reserves to the benefit of the interests of the bourgeois classes and the euroatlantic plans.
We are talking about very big interests, opponents of the Cypriot people and must be understood that “they don’t give a damn” about a fair and viable solution, about the unity of Cyprus’ working people.
A glance is enough. The monopolies have taken their position. “Noble Energy”, “Delek”, “ENI/TOTAL”, “Exxon/Mobil”, “Qatar Petroleum”, “Statoil” and others.
It is not only that. The aim is also the utilization of Cyprus’ geostrategic position in the competition of the US, NATO and the EU with Russia in the conditions of the intensification of the overall inter-imperialist contradictions that have occurred in our region, where imperialist wars in Syria, Iraq and Libya are raging.
Dear comrades and friends,
Recently, members of SYRIZA in Greece, the known defenders of the Annan Plan as well as various other supporters of the new version of the dichotomous solution, persistently downgrade the international dimensions of the Cyprus Issue and try to impose an atmosphere that underestimates the invasion-occupation, by restricting the causes of the problem to developments and events of the 1960s, which of course have their own importance. But it is impermissible to use them in order to reduce the role of invasion-occupation which was a qualitative change and basic cause of the situation that has been formed in the island.
The same forces are also praising the role of the imperialist European Union and cultivate illusory expectations about its role, while they attempt to beautify the role of Turkey’s bourgeoisie – expecting benefits from its cooperation with the bourgeois classes of Greece and Cyprus.
The Cypriot and Greek people are required to be vigilant because such positions are not random but are in fact testing the waters, paving the way for very harmful developments, the acceptance of maintaining the occupation forces in Cyprus and the perpetuation of the status-quo regarding the guarantors, in the name of the realism of submission.
Dear comrades and friends,
From November until today, the talks in Switzerland were greatly promoted and especially cultivated false hopes for the Geneva Conference on January 12th, concealing the fact that the talks are undermined and their results are defined by the framework of “two constituent states”.
Regarding the interpretation of the talks in Switzerland, there is an effort to characterize them as positive, justifying their continuation on the same basis.
Under what criteria can they be evaluated as positive?
Let us look at some examples.
It is said that for the Territorial Issue the positive thing is that the two sides have submitted the maps held by the UN.
An agreement is sought concerning the territories which will remain under the control of the Turkish-Cypriot authorities, a percentage between 28.2% according to the proposal of the Greek-Cypriot side and 29.2% according to the Turkish-Cypriot one. We don’t know what will happen with the area of Morphou and Karpasia regarding which the Turkish side has reacted negatively. However, the positive assessment is not substantiated. In 1977, for example, the percentage in the proposal set by the Greek-Cypriot side was at 19.7% and afterwards gradually increased, up to the 28.7% of the Annan Plan.
What happens regarding the return of the refugees?
Due to the invasion-occupation some 200,000 refugees were uprooted.
In Mont Pelerin it was agreed, at first, the return of a minimum of 78,247 and maximum of 94,484 refugees, with a retreat by the Greek-Cypriot side to 92 thousand. The Turkish-Cypriot side did not abide by that and proposed the return of approximately 65,000 refugees. In previous period, the discussion included numbers about the return of about 120,000 refugees.
What happens in the property issue? After so many years of talks it has not been determined whether or not the legal owner will have priority over the user.
On the Settlers, Turkey does everything in order to legitimize a large number of settlers, even in discrepancy with the number of Turkish-Cypriots.
It has been said that an agreement for the Governance is being advanced but we believe  that it cannot be regarded as a positive outcome that the examined process for addressing deadlocks- by lot in the Cabinet, so that a four-member committee becomes a three-member one in order to take a majority- minority decision for potentially serious political problems.
Finally, what happens with the guarantees-  the security, the occupational military forces?
KKE has been criticized with the flimsy argument that it is not true that the replacement of the guarantor powers by an EU or NATO mechanism is being considered.
On March 2016 Mr.Akinci stated that “there can be no solution without the guarantees of Turkey”.
On 25 January 2017, Mr.Akinci stated that “The Turkish army will not fully withdraw after a solution…. and in case the constitutional order is under threat, the Turkish-Cypriots would be able to call Turkey after a decision of their parliament…”.
It is not a secret that the US Assistant Secretary of State Ms. Nuland has persistently raised the issue of maintaining the occupation forces thus favoring the solution of the establishment of a Turkish military base in Cyprus.
It is also not a secret that there is an effort to establish the EU as a guarantor power or that there are proposals to send an international police force- from Islamic or other countries.
It is necessary for all the occupational forces must immediately leave Cyprus, without the existence of guarantors and protectors- every retreat from this aim reproduces the problem.
As for the expectations being cultivated about a Friendship Agreement between Turkey, Greece and Cyprus or a Special (guarantee) decision of the UN Security Council, the answer is provided by the 43 -year o occupation under the responsibility of the UN too, the answer is provided by its role as a tool of the US and NATO in the imperialist wars, e.g. in Yugoslavia, Libya, while the Friendship Agreements and the Confidence measures have worked as a temporary relief valve without addressing the substance of the problems, they are not a  panacea.
Let me provide an example. Both the Dayton Agreement, as well as the relevant decision of the UN Security Council, supposedly guaranteed that Kosovo was an integral part of Serbia, but in practice that wasn’t respected- Kosovo became a protectorate.
The KKE says to the Cypriot and the Greek people to be cautious because there are positions and scenarios which do not have at the center of their attention the abolition of the occupation and guarantees, but their modernization.
Dear comrades and friends,
The KKE’s proposal provides a way out, it supports the immediate withdrawal of the occupation forces and all the foreign military forces and this is the proposal of popular struggle, of assertion, for immediate implementation- a clear one, without equivocations. The KKE proposal is firmly based on the unified interests of Cyprus’ working people, it respects the rights of Turkish-Cypriots, Greek-Cypriots, Maronites, Latins and Armenians.
It shows the way for an Independent Cyprus, a unified one, that means one and not two states, with the right to free, unrestricted movement, settlement and accommodation of working-popular families in all the  areas of the island, without conditions and commitments.
With the safeguarding of the labour, social security, social rights without discrimination, and this is very important. With respect for the right to language, education, religious choices and cultural traditions.
The working people, the people of toil have the right to live without the exploitation of man by man and those forces which incriminate the struggle for Socialism support the perpetuation of bourgeois power and capitalist barbarity.
Honouring, celebrating the 100 years of the Great October Socialist Revolution, the communists, men and women, in every country must consolidate their identity and trajectory, and strengthen the struggle for socialism.
The struggle of the working class and the popular strata everywhere, in Greece, Cyprus, Turkey and the other countries of the region will be strengthened as long as Proletarian Internationalism is intensified and the struggle is directed against the monopolies and the exploitative system, for workers power and the socialization of the wealth, for  the disengagement from the imperialist organizations, the EU, NATO; for the formation of the conditions for international relations based on mutual benefit.
We believe that this is the direction which corresponds to the working class-peoples interests and can lend impetus and great strength to the coordinated struggle, to allow us combat the offensive of capital, to meet the requirements of the struggle against the imperialist wars.
Dear comrades and friends,
We hear unacceptable slanders about nationalism but those who repeat or tolerate them are completely exposed. We say them only that such accusations do not touch us: “No rust can stain this marble”.
The KKE clashes with bourgeois nationalism and cosmopolitanism, both of which serve the partition of Cyprus, either openly or in disguise, and we want to point out that it can be understood that nationalism is dealt a blow by the KKE positions which cancel the policy of “two states” that entrenches, reproduces every sort of discrimination and impedes the common struggle of the Cypriot people- Turkish-Cypriots and Greek-Cypriots who have nothing to divide them.
In these complex situations, what is highlighted is the major significance of the necessity for the development of the working class-people’s struggle and the decisive response to illusions which have been cultivated about the role of the US, Britain and other powerful capitalist states. The expectation for a solution “from above” facilitates initiatives which position Cyprus on the chessboard of the inter-imperialist competition. It is especially necessary to struggle against positions that present Cyprus’ accession to the EU as a pro-people solution and regard as a panacea the so-called “acquis communautaire” which coincides with the promotion of capital’s strategy and interests, which are contrary to the interests of the working class, of the working people of Cyprus”.
SYRIZA: Capitalism’s social democratic servant
worker | January 28, 2017 | 9:19 pm | Analysis, class struggle, Communist Party Greece (KKE), Cyprus, Greece, Imperialism, political struggle, Syriza | Comments closed

Saturday, January 28, 2017

SYRIZA: Capitalism’s social democratic servant

https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/01/syriza-capitalisms-social-democratic.html
By Nikos Mottas*.
 
The 25th of January marked the two years since SYRIZA’s electoral victory. During these two years the political deception of SYRIZA and Alexis Tsipras was fully exposed. The promises of the “left-wing” SYRIZA- about the supposed “tearing” of the memorandums, the end of austerity, the abolition of unjust taxation, the incrase of wages and pensions- were proved a colossal piece of political knavery. During the last two years, the government of Alexis Tsipras was proved an excellent implementer of capital’s anti-people policy, thus walking on the steps of its predecessors, the governments of New Democracy and PASOK.
 
Since January 2015 and its electoral triumph, the “left-wing” SYRIZA, in governmental alliance with the right-wing, nationalist party “ANEL”, managed to sign and vote a 3rd memorandum of austerity with even harder measures than the previous two; to pass hundreds of harsh anti-people, anti-workers laws; to demolish pension rights; to impose additional heavy taxation to the popular strata; to proceed to further privatizations of state property; to attack social security rights through supposed “reforms” which demolishes whatever has remained from the workers’-people’s rights.
In foreign policy, the coalition government of Alexis Tsipras was proved the best “student” of the barbaric, imperialist NATO alliance. The SYRIZA-ANEL government, with great eagerness and with the agreement of New Democracy and the other bourgeois parties, has supported all the NATO decisions which constitute an escalation of the competition with Russia and resemble preparations for war. The Tsipras’ government supported the decisions of the NATO Defense Ministers Summit, provides Greek islands for the establishment of NATO bases, has legitimized NATO’s presence in the Aegean Sea under the pretext of confronting the refugee flows. While, at the same time, it has concealed the fact that the de facto partition of Cyprus is being promoted through the negotiations for a new “Annan” style Plan.
 
The above actions of the SYRIZA-ANEL government consist an example of the anti-people policies implemented by the administration of Alexis Tsipras. The experience of the 2 years of SYRIZA’s governance clearly demonstrates that this party had never actual orientation for resistance against the EU strategy and the demands of the capital and the monopolies, both Greek and European. Despite the “ultra-revolutionary” and “left-wing” rhetoric that Tsipras’ party used in the pre-electoral period, in practice, as a government, SYRIZA showed its real face by forming a social-democratic strategy, aiming in managing the capitalist system for the benefit of the profitability and competitiveness of the monopoly groups.
 
It is important to point out two basic pillars of SYRIZA’s governmental policy: The first one is that SYRIZA deceived large portions of the Greek working class about the role of the EU. More specifically, SYRIZA promoted the deception that a “left-wing” government could pave the way for positive, pro-people, pro-workers changes inside the European Union. The theory expressed by Tsipras and his party was that the EU can change its monopolist, anti-people character; that a supposed change in the correlation of governmental forces within the EU (e.g. left-wing or social democratic versus conservative or neoliberal governments) could alter the predatory, capitalist character of the EU. Of course, this theory was proved in practice a complete fraud.
 
The second pillar on which SYRIZA based its governmental policy, was the use of fake dilemmas and blackmails towards the Greek people. This is a usual tactic that New Democracy and PASOK had followed before SYRIZA in order to convince the people to accept harsh austerity measures. The government of Alexis Tsipras- with the vote of the rest bourgeois parliamentary parties- passed a 3rd memorandum of austerity on September 2015, by using the known method of blackmail which says: “Accept this harsh package of austerity measures, otherwise the country will face bankruptcy and will leave the Eurozone”.
 
The peak of the SYRIZA-ANEL government’s political deception was certainly the referendum of July 2015, when they trapped the Greek people between a YES or NO vote to the Troika’s proposal of anti-people, anti-workers measures. Either with “Yes” or “No”, the Tsipras government had condemned the Greek people to new harsh measures, as long as it had agreed, just a few days before the referendum, with the Troika for an alternative austerity package. 

The then position of the KKE about the fraudulent character of the referendum has been fully vindicated. A week before the day of the referendum, the KKE was pointing out: “The coalition government’s officials call on the people to say “no” and make it clear that this “no” in the referendum will be interpreted by the Greek government as approval for its own proposed agreement with the EU, IMF, ECB, which in its 47+8 pages also contains harsh antiworker-antipeople measures, with the aim of increasing the profitability of capital, capitalist “growth” and the country’s remaining in the euro. As the SYRIZA-ANEL government admits, which continues to extol the EU, “our common European home”, the “European achievement”, this proposal of theirs is 90% identical to the proposal of the EU, IMF, ECB and has very little relationship with what SYRIZA had promised before the elections” (29.6.2015).
 
 
A negative fact is that several communist and workers parties across Europe had then hailed the supposed “heroic stance” of SYRIZA and Tsipras against the creditors and the EU. The presentation of SYRIZA as a force of “resistance” had two major impacts: First, it promoted misinformation and confusion among Europe’s working class about the role of social democracy and secondly, it concealed the actual, anti-people character of SYRIZA as a servant of capitalism and monopolies. There is no excuse for that, especially when the KKE- with demonstrations, public statements, articles and other forms of action- had exposed the dirty role of SYRIZA’s social democracy.
 
SYRIZA, which began as a small opportunist party of the left, has been fully transformed into Greece’s social democratic pole, thus replacing the formerly powerful PASOK in this position. Today, SYRIZA competes with the conservative, neoliberal party of New Democracy in who is the best servant and implementer of the bourgeois policy. Both SYRIZA and New Democracy try to prove that they are capable managers of the bourgeois system.
 
Two years after the electoral victory of SYRIZA and the formation of Alexis Tsipras’ coalition government, one thing has been confirmed: that any government which operates within the framework of the power of capital, the EU and NATO is a priori an anti-people government, whatever name it bears and whatever its intentions may be. There can be no pro-people management of capitalism.
 
SYRIZA was proved in practice a servant of capitalism and its example vindicates the words of Gianni Agnelli, the italian magnate who, two decades ago, has said that “there is a certain kind of a left-wing which is more useful than the right-wing; it is the left-wing that can accomplish all those things that the right-wing wouldn’t dare to do”. 
 
*Nikos Mottas is the Editor-in-Chief of In Defense of Communism, a PhD candidate in Political Science, International Relations and Political History.
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNIST BULLETIN #1

Monday, January 23, 2017

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNIST BULLETIN #1

23 January 2017.
https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/01/international-communist-bulletin-1.html
THE COMMUNIST PARTY, ITALY HELDS ITS SECOND NATIONAL CONGRESS. 
(Source: ICP) 
 
ROME - Italian communists gathered in the capital city of Rome for the Second National Congress of the Communist Party, Italy (PC). Communist Party, Italy (PC)  was founded in 2009 with the aim to be a leading Marxist-Leninist organisation of the peninsula and since then has defined itself with the ideas of Italian partisan and communist leader Pietro Secchia. On Sunday 22nd January, Italian communists gathered in the capital city of Rome for the Second National Congress of the Communist Party, Italy (PC).
 
The congress was attended by hundreds of Italian communists, along with the representatives of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), the Workers’ Communist Party of Russia-Communist Party of the Soviet Union (RKRP-KPSS) and the Communist Party of Albania (PKS) as well as official delegations from the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba, the Embassy of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Communist Youth Front (Fronte della Gioventù Comunista). The congress thus opened with the commemoration of Fidel Castro, the founder and leader of the Cuban Revolution who passed away a couple of months ago, and the victims of the recent series of earthquakes in Central Italy. 
In his speech, the First Secretary (Segretario Nazionale) of the PC, Marco Rizzo pointed out the failures of the opportunist “left” across Europe, of which SYRIZA had already become an epitome. He also criticised the alliances forged by “eurocommunists” in Italy, as well as the “so-called anti-system forces” such as comedian Beppe Grillo’s “Five Star Movement” and reactionary rightists such as Matteo Salvini and Giorgia Meloni whose stance is “merely fluff, just to get a few more votes”. His criticism was picked up by the delegation of the KKE, who emphasised that the shortcomings of the “left-wing forces” that rose to power in Greece, Cyprus and Portugal showed that “the bourgeois state can’t be dismantled by electing a supposedly left-wing government in a capitalist framework” and that “such forces have thus executed policies which only served to save the capitalist system”.
Notably, both the present and former leaders of the Communist Youth Front spoke at the Congress. The former leader of the Communist Youth Front and member of the Central Committee of the PC, Alessandro Mustillo, underlined the “practical” needs of the party, whereas the current leader, Lorenzo Lang, emphasised on the cooperation between the PC and the Communist Youth Front.
The Communist Party (Turkey), along with the Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE), the New Communist Party of Yugoslavia (NKPJ), the Union of Revolutionary Communists of France (URCF), the Pole of the Communist Rebirth in France (PRCF), the Socialist Labour Party of Croatia (SRP), the Algerian Party for Democracy and Socialism (PADS) and the Communist Party of Sweden (SKP), has hailed the Congress of the PC. 
* * * 
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF TURKEY COMES BACK TO POLITICAL SCENE.
ISTANBUL- After a three-year break, today, the Communist Party of Turkey, or TKP is back to the political scene through a historical assembly in İstanbul with the participation of thousands of communists from all over Turkey and central committee members of several communist and worker’s parties of the World.
The political crisis in 2014 that led to division and suspension of the TKP came to the conclusion today through the will of thousands of communists. Following the appeal of the seven members of the TKP on December 27, 2016, and the declaration of the committee responsible for the continuity of the TKP, which was formed in 2014, thousands of communists from all over the country gathered in İstanbul. The historical assembly started with the speech of Yaşar Çelik, one of the seven members of the TKP who made the appeal for today’s assembly. 
 
Giorgos Marinos, the member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), read the congratulatory statement of the KKE.
 
“In April 2016, while saluting you, we had stated that your party should take over the name that it deserves and it was the time to struggle as the Communist Party of Turkey, as the TKP, among its own people, and within the International Communist Movement. We salute this decision of the communists of Turkey and congratulate them,” said the statement. Marinos, underlining the strong relation between the TKP and the KKE that has been lasting for several years, also stated that ‘The relation between the TKP and the KKE is an example of an internationalist relation that is built up under very complicated conditions.  This relation is experienced by the guidance of the class interests, the union of the working classes of the two countries, the struggle for overthrowing the capitalism and building socialism-communism. The same thing is valid for our youth organizations the KG [Communist Youth] and KNE [Communist Youth of Greece].’
 
After the speech of Marinos, Alberto Gonzalez Casals took the floor on behalf of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC). Casals mentioned the importance of the return of the TKP to the political scene. Following the speech of Casals, İbrahim Bulut, the member of the committee responsible for the continuity of the TKP made a speech on behalf of the committee. He stated that, despite several problems, the committee has carried on the mission that it had undertaken with patience and honor.
 
“The committee, with the sense of responsibility, made an appeal in July 2016, considering the need for the Communist Party of Turkey of our country and the struggle for socialism, for the return of the TKP to the political scene. This appeal is welcome enthusiastically and supported by numerous comrades,” Bulut said.  Bulut explained and summarized the process since then and stated that the people who gather today show the will for the return of the TKP to the political scene. He said that the committee would be happy to delegate its responsibilities and powers that it has been shouldering for more than two and a half years to the council formed in the assembly.
 
Kaya Güvenç, another member of the council, following the speech of Bulut, stated that, along with the testimony of the committee, it is possible and legitimate for the assembly to take decisions.
 
Güvenç submitted the proposal to the TKP members in the assembly that the central committee members of the Communist Party (KP), Turkey form the central will of the TKP and these comrades take on the task of the Central Committee of the TKP until a congress to be organized in 2017. Following the approval of the proposal by the members of the TKP, Kemal Okuyan, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the KP,  was invited to take the floor on behalf of the Central Committee of the TKP.
 
Okuyan started his speech by the question of ‘What is the use of a communist party?’ and underlined the irreconcilability of the interests of the working class and the bourgeoisie, stating that the TKP has always abstained from that. Kemal Okuyan mentioned that a communist party ‘is the party that focuses on overthrowing the capitalist rule; the wise woman, the vanguard, the facilitator of this process’.
 
Drawing from the Soviet  and Cuban revolutions, which started with the leadership of parties and movements with limited number of people and overthrew the capitalist rule,  and contrasting them with the German Social Democratic Party at the beginning of the 20th century, which then attained high election scores but was no more a threat for the capitalist system,  Kemal Okuyan underlined the importance of sticking with the ultimate target of overthrowing capitalism.
 
34 communist and worker’s parties of the World sent support messages to the TKP.
 
* * * 
POLISH COMMUNIST LEADER MARIAN INDELAK DIED AT 90.
 
WARSAW- One of the founders and activist of the Communist Party of Poland, Marian Indelak passed away at the age of 90.
On 16th of January, Marian Indelak – one of the founders and activist of the Communist Party of Poland, persecuted for his political beliefs, passed away.
Marian Indelak was born on 25th of January 1927 in Dąbrowa Górnicza. Indelak started his political activism as a teenager, during the Second World War. He was working in F. Dzierzynski Foundry (now Bank Foundry) in Dąbrowa Górnicza. Marian Indelak was a member of the Combat Youth Movement, Polish Workers’ Party and Polish United Workers’ Party.
In 1990 he was among the founders of the Union of Polish Communists “Proletariat” and in 2002 of the Communist Party of Poland. For many years he was the secretary and treasurer of the CC and member of the editorial board of “Brzask” periodical.
Persecuted for communist activity. He was among four activists sentenced on 31st of March 2016 for his work in the periodical. He died several days before his 90th birthday and next court hearing on further proceedings during his trial.
The funeral for Marian Indelak took place on 20th of January in Dąbrowa Górnicza.
* * * 

WFTU FOR THE PLUNDERING OF THE EMPLOYEES PROVIDENT FUND IN SRI LANKA.

 
COLOMBO- On 19th January, 2017 , the Inter Company Employees Union held a giant Protest in Colombo, the Capital city of Sri Lanka, against the Ranil- Mithree bourgeois government for putting the Employees Provident Fund, the largest Social Security Fund in Sri Lanka, to danger and allowing the culprits to loot the money from the Fund. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka is the Trustee of this Fund but it has neglected its duty to protect the Money belong to People.
During last several months, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has directed to buy treasury bonds from third party and the lost made by this irrational investment was nearly Rs. 15 000 millions. The EPF money had used to buy Treasury Bonds from the secondary market even there are provisions to buy bonds directly from the Central Bank.
The Union urged the government to take immediate steps to recover the lost from the culprits.
The World Federation of Trade Unions, representing 92 million workers, supports the struggles for the protection of the right of Social Security and the safeguarding of the Employees Provident Fund in order to be utilized in favor of the workers.
Statement of the GS of the KKE Dimitris Koutsoumbas on the developments regarding the Cyprus Issue
worker | January 9, 2017 | 7:45 pm | Announcements, class struggle, Communist Party Greece (KKE), Cyprus, Greece, Imperialism, political struggle, Syriza, Turkey | Comments closed

Monday, January 9, 2017

Statement of the GS of the KKE Dimitris Koutsoumbas on the developments regarding the Cyprus Issue

https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/01/statement-of-gs-of-kke-dimitris.html
On Monday 9th of December, within the framework of informational meetings of Greece’s Prime Minister with the Parties’ leaders regarding the Cyprus negotations, the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Dimitris Koutsoumbas met with Alexis Tsipras. After the meeting, the General Secretary made the following statement:
“The Cyprus Issue is an problem of invasion and occupation.
If we want to talk about a negotiation which will lead to a solution, that means first of all the immediate withdrawal of all the occupational forces. That means the abolition of the state of guarantor powers.
Solution means one state and not two states. A single, viable state, with one sovereignty, one nationality, one international personality, a common homeland of Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots, without foreign bases, guarantors and protectors.
Today, the negotiation is actually undermined first and foremost by the Turkish leadership, as well by the Turkish-Cypriot one, with the involvement of other powers and big interests, such as the USA, as long as it is a negotiation that in fact takes place under the terms of a dichotomous solution. 
What is needed today is the biggest possible vigilance from the people of Greece and Cyprus”.
Source: 902.gr / Translation: In Defense of Communism.