Balkan Meeting of Communist Parties: Joint Statement

Representatives of communist and workers’ parties from Balkan countries, namely from Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, FYROM, Greece, Serbia and Turkey meet in Thessaloniki on 15 September 2006. Messages of support and written contributions have also been sent by parties from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Romania.

The meeting provided an opportunity for the strengthening of the fraternal relations among the communist and workers’ parties of the Balkans.

During the proceedings the participants exchanged views regarding the further reinforcement of the labor and communist movements in the region, and discussed their experiences in the struggles against the imperialist offensive, against NATO and US bases, against the sharpening of the capitalist exploitation.

The participants saluted the resistance and struggle of the Palestinian and Lebanese people, as well as the significant mobilizations in some of Balkan countries against the sending of troops to Lebanon, against the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, against the deployment of new NATO and US bases in the Balkans.

It was underscored that in the current conditions it is imperative to intensify their struggles and coordination in order to defeat the plans of the imperialist powers in the Balkans. These powers pursue to obtain full control over the Balkan Peninsula, a region strategically significant for the US and the EU and their ambitions in the Middle East, the Black Sea the Caucasus and the Eurasia.

It was asserted that it’s an urgent duty for the peoples to reject and oppose the policy of “divide and rule” which aims at the emergence of new and weak states, in fact protectorates, as it is the case in face of the situation emerging in the Kosovo. The participants expressed their resolute rejection of any changes of the borders in the region. The participants expressed their concern that the imperialist plans and rivalry may cause again bloodshed in the region. The policy promoted by the imperialist powers aims not only to the intensification of the foreign interventions but also to the establishment of governments servile to the imperialist dictates, of regimes that will further deepen the capitalist exploitation and bind their countries to the imperialist organizations of NATO and EU.

It was expressed the common desire of the participant parties to strengthen and intensify their joint initiatives, as well as broader anti-imperialist actions like the reactivation of the Balkan Anti-NATO Center [BAN-c].

The communist and workers’ parties call upon the people of the region to strengthen the struggle:

• Against the imperialist military presence in the Balkans; against the foreign bases and troops
• Against the so-called “Balkan Brigade” and the participation of troops from the Balkan countries in NATO and EU missions to other countries, like Afghanistan, Iraq etc
• For the withdrawal of all troops from Balkan countries stationed abroad
• Against the involvement of the Balkan countries in the imperialist plans preparing new threats and wars against the people of Cuba, of Venezuela, of DPR Korea, of Iran, of Syria and others.
• To reject any request regarding the so called “formal obligations” that engage directly or indirectly the Balkan countries to the imperialist plans

The participants also concluded:

• To work for the further strengthening among the Balkan parties and to continue the discussion on the issues debated in the meeting.
• To intensify the solidarity actions with the people of Lebanon and Palestine
• To express solidarity with the people of Cuba and its leader, Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro. To strengthen the struggle for the release of the 5 Cuban patriots from the US prisons.
• To support actively the anti-NATO initiatives and mobilizations that are being prepared on the occasion of the NATO summit to be held in November 2006 in Riga.
• To encourage bilateral and multilateral initiatives of the parties’ youth organizations as well as of Balkan mass movements like women’s, peace and workers’ organizations.
• To meet again at the International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties that will take place in Lisbon on 10-12 of November 2006.

The participant parties

• Communist Party of Albania
• Communist Party of Bulgaria
• Party of Bulgarian Communists
• Socialist Workers’ Party of Croatia
• Communist Party of Macedonia
• Communist Party of Greece
• New Communist Party of Yugoslavia
• Communist Party of Turkey
• Party of Labour, Turkey (EMEP)