Joint Position of the KKE and the TKP

On 18^th March 2011 a meeting of delegations of the KKE and TKP was held in Istanbul, where the situation in the two countries and in our wider area was discussed in detail. At the conclusion of this meeting, the two CPs formulated the following text with certain basic conclusions.

1. Concerning the developments in the region of North Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf.

1.1.  The two CPs salute the mass popular mobilizations in North Africa and the Middle East, the struggles of the working class and the popular strata for their social, trade union and democratic rights. They note the significance of the participation of hundreds of thousands of workers in the popular mobilizations, which have challenged bourgeois legality, and come into conflict with the bourgeois mechanisms of repressions.

1.2.  At the same time, from the global experience of the revolutionary movement, it is clear that the yearnings of the workers cannot be vindicated as long as they only highlight the question of the replacement of the political staff of the bourgeois class (Ben Ali, Mubarak etc.) and do not pose in its entirety the transfer of power into the hands of the working class, the socialization of the basic and concentrated means of production, the central planning of the economy, which is a prerequisite for the satisfaction of the needs of the peoples.

1.3.  In parallel, This region is very important for the imperialists because of its natural resources, and that it is the crossing-point from Africa and Europe to Asia (and vice versa), as well as from Europe and Eurasia to Africa. Intense inter-imperialist contradictions have manifested themselves. Alongside the older imperialist powers (USA, Germany, France, Italy etc), new ones, as China and Russia, are active. The imperialist unions of NATO and the EU show their interest in the region, and are elaborating plans for direct and even military involvement in the region. The KKE and the TKP denounce the plan concerning the so-called “Greater Middle East” and note that this, like the other imperialist plans, will find the communists and the other anti-imperialist forces of the region at the side of the region’s struggling peoples.  We will militantly defend the right of every people to choose its own future, without a gun to its head, without imperialist interventions. Consequently, based on this principle, we condemn also the imperialist intervention against Libya after the decision of the Security Council of the UN, where European and American forces participate.

1.4.  Another serious matter is imperialist aggression against Iran, under the pretext of the nuclear issue. The two CPs take a position against the imperialist war, which is being planned using Iran’s nuclear programme as a pretext,    (just as a few years ago they had as an excuse the weapons of mass which Iraq allegedly possessed). The goal of the imperialists is place under their control the natural wealth of Iran. We will fight to overturn these plans; we will struggle so that our two countries have no involvement in the imperialist plans against Iran.

1.5.  At the same time, we struggle against the continuing imperialist occupation of Iraq, which has caused so much suffering to the people of Iraq, even endangering its territorial integrity.

1.6.  We declare our solidarity with the Palestinian people who are fighting against the imperialist aggression of Israel. We denounce the inhuman treatment of the Palestinians, the construction of the wall, the exertion of pressure by the USA and NATO on the Palestinian leadership, with the goal of creating a “ghost” state, without borders, an army or security forces. We are in favour of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and with the 1967 borders. At the same time, we will continue to support the struggle for the liberation of all the territories, which Israel has occupied in Syria and Lebanon.

1.7.  The bourgeois classes in the region are creating axes and anti-axes, to benefit from their participation in the imperialist unions and alliances. Amongst others the bourgeois class of Turkey is seeking to play an active role with the tool of “Neo-Ottomanism”, which confronts Israel within the framework of regional competition, using the religious feelings and so-called “moderate Islam” it attempts to play the role of the so-called “protector” of the people of Palestine and other Arab peoples. In reality the bourgeois class of Turkey is simply trying to strengthen its position in the capitalist exploitation of the region’s peoples, as well as for the promotion of the more general imperialist designs. Those anti-imperialist forces in our region, which “detect” in the initiatives of the Turkish AKP government an allegedly “anti-imperialist” role, are making a serious mistake. We warn the peoples of the region that this is a huge fallacy!

1.8.  In opposition to the efforts of the Turkish bourgeois class to play an active role in alliance with Syria, Hamas, Hezbullah, the bourgeois class of Greece sought the revival of its relations with Israel, proceeding to joint military exercises with the state which commits criminal acts against the Palestinian people and is preparing to attack Iran. These developments, the rivalry of the two bourgeois classes and their involvement in the imperialist plans in the region, will not benefit the peoples of the two countries or the peoples of the region in general and will increase the danger of military conflicts.

1.9.  The claims that with the accession of Cyprus to the EU would solve the Cyprus problem, have not been borne out and could not have been borne out. The reason for this is related to the imperialist character of the EU itself. This imperialist union is not interested in the just resolution of problems but the expansion and strengthening of its market, the more systematic exploitation of the workers, in favour of the monopolies which it represents. The two parties condemn the efforts to assimilate Cyprus into the imperialist organization of NATO, the precursor of which is the so-called “Partnership for Peace” and support the attempts for a peaceful, just and viable solution to the Cypriot question: federal, bizonal, bi-communal solution with a single sovereignty and international identity. For a united, independent Cyprus without foreign bases and armies, a common homeland for both Turkish-Cypriots and Greek-Cypriots, without protectors and guarantors.

2. Concerning the developments in the Balkans

2.1.  The Balkan region, over the last 20 years, has found itself at the epicentre of inter-imperialist rivalries, as it is crossing point for various energy pipelines, and a transport crossroads. There is a struggle taking place for the control of the markets between the monopolies, as well as amongst older and new imperialist powers for the control of the share of the markets.

2.2.  NATO in order to promote its plans has proceeded in recent years to assimilate new countries, as well as through the accession of other countries in the so-called “Partnership for Peace”. The expansion of NATO in the regions is a factor which is detrimental to the peoples and peace. The two CPs will continue our activity for the disengagement of our countries from the designs of NATO, the freeing of our countries from the imperialist organization of NATO, for the weakening and dissolution of NATO. We stress, nevertheless, that as long as the struggle for the dissolution of NATO is not linked to the struggle for the warding off of the plans of the imperialists, for the withdrawal of our countries from it, the demand for the “dissolution” of NATO will end up as merely a pacifist wish.

2.3.  The EU, in order to promote the interests of the European monopolies and their strategic goals for the acquisition and control of new markets, natural resources and energy routes promote the well-researched plan of expansion in the wider region.  A general characteristic element of the accession process is the promotion of policies for the modernization of the bourgeois states and adjustment of their economies to the contemporary needs of capital for the reinforcement of its competitiveness and profitability, through a plan of harsh capitalist restructurings which concern the liberalization of sectors and branches of the economy, privatizations, the overturning of labour and social-security rights, cutbacks of state expenditure on social services and anti-people changes in Health, Welfare and Education.  The two CPs maintain that the EU is an interstate imperialist union which has as its motor force the interests of big capital and will become even more dangerous for the interests of the people. The two CPs take a position against the accession of new countries, such as Turkey, to the EU and support the right of every people to fight for its disentanglement and withdrawal from this imperialist union. A right which is consistently defended in Greece by the KKE.

2.4.  The two CPs are of the estimation that the declaration of independence of Kosovo which was scheduled after the NATO intervention in Yugoslavia in 1999, with the support of the USA and the European Union and was “legitimised” by the decision of the International Tribunal in the Hague July 2010, has opened a “Pandora’s box” and created a very dangerous situation concerning border changes, with consequences that are not limited to our region, as is demonstrated by the declaration of independence of Southern Ossetia and Abkhazia which were recognised by the Russian government.

2.5.   The imperialists, in order to promote their plans, seek to exploit, by using or creating various minority issues. Such intentions are apparent in the interventions of NATO, the USA, the EU, and are described in the book of the Turkish Foreign minister, Davoutoglou “Strategic Depth”, The two CPs, which defend the rights of minorities, against every discriminatory policy, consider that the minorities must constitute “bridges” of friendship for the peoples of the Balkans, and not a “tool” for the promotion of imperialist plans, which may lead to the massacre of the region’s peoples.

2.6.  The two CPs take a position against the incitement of real and non-existent minority problems, the revival of irredentism, border changes in our region, which the various imperialist plans and nationalist circles promote. In recent years especially the scenario of the so-called “Greater Albania” has been in development, which threatens to entangle the peoples of the region into a serious sequence of hazards. We call on the communists of the region to play the leading role in warding off nationalist propaganda and chauvinism.

2.7.  The two CPs are of the estimation that the Kurdish issue is a serious issue for the region, which is involved with various imperialistic designs in the Middle East, Balkans and Eurasia.   Although for the working class the Kurdish issue is a matter of equality, justice and freedom, for the imperialists is a matter of promoting various economic interests, geopolitical balances, competitions and equilibriums, control of energy resources and their transportation routes. For us it is obvious that the Kurdish issue cannot be solved in favour of the peoples of the region the contributions of USA, NATO and EU, based on their goals. The Kurdish issue cannot be solved through the allegedly “democratic opening” of AKP, which is promoted with view to establish in reality the bourgeois power itself, to facilitate capital’s profitability through religious feelings. The Kurdish issue will be solved in the interest of the peoples of the region, only in connection with consistent anti-imperialist activity, the struggle for the victory and the establishment of workers’ power, the struggle for socialism. The Kurdish issue will be solved within revolutionary processes, with revolutionary ideals, and not through the imperialists’ plans and “guarantees”.

3. Concerning the Developments in Greek-Turkish relations

3.1.  We are of the assessment that the policy of Greco-Turkish cooperation goes hand in hand with the competition between the bourgeois classes over the role which they contest in the region, over the promotion of their interests and this dialectical relationship of cooperation and competition is in development.

3.2.   The two CPs consider that the peoples of the two countries have nothing to gain from the formation of the “Supreme Council of Cooperation” and the 21 memoranda and declarations which have been signed by the two governments. They all aim at the exploitation of Greek and Turkish workers and not at the mutual satisfaction of their social needs.

3.3.  We believe that the participation of the two countries in NATO is detrimental to the two peoples and their peaceful co-existence, as NATO does not recognise the borders and sovereign rights of the two countries and seeks to play the role of arbitrator in the relations between the two countries.

3.4.  The efforts of the Turkish bourgeois class, from positions of economic and military strength, to shape developments in the Aegean (with the threat of the casus belli, the “grey zones”, the overflights in the Aegean etc”), as well as the exorbitant military expenditure of the two countries, the dog fights in the Aegean, create a background for military conflict, despite the declarations about a peaceful settlement.

3.5.  On the other hand the plans for the joint exploitation of hydrocarbons in the Aegean, by the bourgeois classes of the two countries, have as their aim the acquisition of the control of energy resources by foreign and domestic monopolies, in order to increase their profitability. The working classes, the peoples of the two countries have nothing to gain from these plans.

3.6.  The two CPs taking into consideration the disastrous consequences of the earthquake in Japan, are also against the construction of the nuclear station in Akuyu, which Turkish prime minister Regep Tayip Erdogan reaffirmed. Anuclear station’s construction in an earthquake region will be a permanent nuclear threat of terror for both peoples, Turkish and Greek.

3.7.  The two CPs have a stable orientation for the development of the friendship, the international solidarity between the working classes and the peoples of the two countries. We call on the workers to see beyond the whitewashing of reality, which is sought by the accession course of Turkey into the EU, the transformation of the Aegean into a NATO “mire”. The two CPs will intensify their joint actions against imperialism and its unions, against nationalism, military spending, for the respect of the borders of the two countries. At the same time they do not hide the fact that the solution for the two peoples can only be found in the overthrow of the toot-cause of the contradictions, conflicts, and military clashes. And this root-cause is none other than capitalist super profits.

4. Concerning the situation in the communist movement and the joint initiatives of the two CPs.

4.1.  The two CPs will continue their joint activity against anti-communism, the unacceptable equation of communism with fascism, the attempt to blacken the socialism which we knew, especially the period when the foundations of socialist construction were laid and strengthened and when the battle was fought which led to the anti-fascist victory, and when J. Stalin was at the head of the USSR and the CPSU. They will continue their struggle for the legalization of all CPs, the lifting of the ban on communist symbols, the abolition of every obstacle to the activity of the CPs.

4.2.  The two CPs are of the estimation that an important element, not only for the joint activity of the communists, but also of the anti-imperialist forces, is the consistent stance in relation to every imperialist union, above all against NATO, the EU, the IMF, which are active in our region. There can be no retreat on the question of the struggle against the imperialist unions!

4.3.  They note the negative role, which the so-called European Left Party (ELP) plays in the “de-communistification” of the CPs and their assimilation into the bourgeois system. The struggle against the ELP, which constitutes the political “tool” of the imperialist EU, has become a central element of the ideological-political work of the two CPs. The two CPs will develop analogous activity against nationalism and social-democracy.

4.4.  The two CPs will continue their efforts to contribute to the regional meetings of the CPs in the Balkans, in the region of the Eastern Mediterranean, of Europe, as well as the International Meetings of the Communist and Workers Parties. These meetings must continue to be held, with the aim of coordinating the activity of the CPs and so that they are not dissolved into broader formations.

4.5.  The two CPs are committed to the Declaration of Istanbul, on which the journal “International Communist review” was created, with the aim of disseminating and developing Marxist-Leninist theory through an ideological analysis and political positions on the contemporary developments of Capitalism and the problems of class struggle. Within the framework of the ICR and jointly the two CPS will seek to contribute to the theoretical and ideological regrouping of the international communist movement on a solid Marxist-Leninist basis, in opposition to opportunism, so that the crisis in the international communist movement can be overcome and the strategic goal of socialism be revived.

4.6.  The KKE and the TKP will contribute even more to the strengthening of the class oriented movement, WFTU, the WFDY, the WPC, and the WFDW, as well as of the communist youth in our region.

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The communist parties of Turkey and Greece address the peoples of the two countries, the peoples of the regions and call on them to strengthen then anti-monopoly, anti-imperialist struggle, the struggle for the overthrow of capitalist barbarity which gives birth to crises, unemployment, poverty, the downgrading of education and culture, interventions and wars. To strengthen the efforts for the class unity of the working class, the social alliance with the popular strata which are oppressed by the monopolies, to strengthen the class struggle, the struggle for working class power, for socialism, which in our era is more timely and necessary than ever.