Statement of the Political Bureau of the CC of the KKE “To strengthen the class struggle and anti-imperialist action in the face of the dangerous developments in the Eastern Mediterranean and in our wider region.”

1. The developments in the South Eastern Mediterranean are explosive and are shaping a very dangerous situation, with enormous consequences for the lives of the workers

After the imperialist intervention in Libya, which passes on the baton for the division of the loot, Turkey’s threats against Cyprus are strengthening, the relations between Turkey and Israel are sharpening, the aggressiveness of Israel against the Palestinian people, Lebanon, Egypt is being reinforced, while the imperialist plan for intervention in Syria is underway, which also aims at an offensive against Iran, using its nuclear programme as a pretext. These developments are related to more general realignments in region which are connected with the imperialist plan for the “new Middle East”, with the changes taking place in North Africa and in the Middle East after the overthrow of the anti-people governments in Egypt and Tunisia, with the attempts to reorganise the bourgeois political system, so that it corresponds with capitalist profitability’s current needs. This reality is distorted by the position concerning the “Arab Spring”, which the bourgeois and opportunist forces are reproducing.

2. This situation is unfolding in conditions of a deep synchronised capitalist crisis of over-accumulated capital which seeks pathways of high profitability. It is characterised by the sharpening of the inter-imperialist contradictions which intensify in conditions of capitalist crisis, for the control of natural resources and the energy routes and can lead to generalised military confrontations, as a continuation of the imperialist wars, which the USA-NATO-EU unleashed in the previous period against Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. The danger of new military conflicts is growing particularly in this key region, in accordance with the realignment of powers in the imperialist pyramid. The USA, the EU, China, Russia etc have entered the arena of the sharpening competition with agreements-alliances for the division of the loot of the enormous wealth and energy reserves in the region.

The conflict could “embrace” the entire region, to a lesser or greater extent (Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa, Persian Gulf, the Balkans, the Caspian Sea).

3. The KKE holds the position that the developments highlight the necessity of the utilisation of the natural resources in the interests of the workers, via the mutual cooperation of the peoples. A precondition for this perspective is the power to pass into the hands of the peoples, to pave the way for the socialisation of the natural wealth, of the concentrated means of production, which must become the property of the people, and the economy must be developed with central planning and people’s control.

Otherwise, this natural wealth will continue to be source of discord between the monopolies and between the capitalist states, which are jostling for the control and exploitation of the natural resources, without hesitating to butcher the peoples in order to safeguard their profits, without hesitating to destroy the environment, at the same time when the people are paying very high prices for petrol, natural gas and energy in general.

4. Reality demonstrates that the governments which manage the system are incorporated into the imperialist unions, such as NATO and the EU, and are involved in the inter-imperialist competition. NATO and the EU do not only not constitute a “shield” from the dangers of tensions and war, as the Euro-Atlanticists claim, but as “protectors” of profitability are “vehicles” of imperialist war, interventions, the exploitation of the workers. The Greek people’s long years of experience bear witness to this, from the accession to NATO and the EU, which not only did not assist the safeguarding of the country’s sovereign rights, but constituted a tool, which aided the Turkish ruling class in disputing them, with the “grey zones” in the Aegean Sea, and the regime of “joint-management” within the framework of NATO etc.

On the other hand, China and in particular Russia, are intervening in the region sharply, in some places in an antagonistic relationship with the USA (e.g. Syria) and elsewhere in cooperation with it (e.g. concerning the utilisation of Cyprus’s deposits). It is also worth noting that the discrete, in relation to the USA, activity of Britain (e.g. exploitation of the deposits in Northern Iraq in cooperation with Turkish monopoly groups) and its participation in Cyprus’ energy agreement.

5. Turkey, utilising its economic and military strength, is seeking a strategic role in the region, a role as a strong regional power and promotes its monopoly interests in the Balkans, Caucasus, in the Black sea, in the Mediterranean and in the Middle East, in order to extract the largest possible share of the natural resources and markets of the wider region, utilising in addition religious sentiments. It is presented as an alleged “protector of the Palestinians”, at the same time when it maintains the Turkish occupation of 37% of Cyprus and with provocations and threats takes a position against the Republic of Cyprus, against the sovereign rights of Cyprus.

Turkey is developing contradictory relations of competition and cooperation both with Egypt {determination of the EEZ(Exclusive Economic Zone), energy cooperation} as well as with Iran (Kurdish question, anti-missile shield of the USA-NATO). It utilises the “Palestinian issue” to dispute the Israel-Cyprus EEZ. Lebanon is also moving in the direction of disputing the EEZ with Israel. Turkey is attempting a complex negotiation on many issues, in order to safeguard its main interests, giving priority at this juncture to the Kurdish issue and the EEZ in the Mediterranean.

6. For its part, the bourgeois class of Greece has joined in political-military agreements with Israel. Agreements which constitute the basis for joint military exercises and prepare the field for aggressive military acts against Iran, which are directed against the peoples of the region, against the Palestinian people.

The KKE has condemned both the aggressiveness of Turkey and the Greek-Turkish agreements which serve the interests of the bourgeois classes, as well as the political-military agreements of the Greek government with Israel and warns the people that the incorporation into the one or the other alliance, which operate on the basis of the monopoly interests, holds great dangers, and may lead not only to tough inter-imperialist conflicts, and but also to “hot incidents” and more generalised military confrontations, which will bring about large-scale catastrophes and facilitate the intervention and the “arbitration” of the USA, NATO and the EU, under whatever umbrella this may emerge. This also concerns both the promotion of the compromise “ package” concerning the Aegean Sea which provides for the concession of sovereign rights and the joint exploitation of the natural resources, as well as the promotion of a plan ( like the Annan plan) which will not ensure the rights of Cyprus, of the Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots.

7. Under these conditions we condemn the threats that the Turkish government unleashes against Cyprus. We are in a state of readiness to deal with any aggressive activity and we support the struggle of the Cypriot people for a unified, independent Cyprus, for a federal, bi-zonal, bi-communal solution with a single sovereignty and international identity, without foreign bases and troops, a common homeland for both Turkish-Cypriots and Greek-Cypriots, without foreign protectors and guarantors.

Cyprus, Palestine, Lebanon, Greece and all the other countries in the region have the right to utilise, to exploit their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) according to the international Convention on the law of the sea. It is a matter of the people to utilise the wealth for their own interests.

At the same time, we note that the rapprochement with Israel, as well as the processes for the formation of an Israel-Greece-Cyprus axis include the danger of a greater involvement of Cyprus and Greece in the web of the inter-imperialist contradictions.

Israel and of course the USA do not constitute any “supports” for the sovereign rights of Cyprus. They utilise the energy investments as a lever to impose the new “Annan plan” as is demonstrated by the position for the “distribution of the energy resources of the island equally in the framework of a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus question”.

8. In addition, we warn the peoples of the region that the bourgeois class of Turkey, which now appears with the “clothing” of the “defender” of the Palestinians, plays a particularly aggressive role in the region where, besides the illegal occupation of a large part of Cyprus, it participates actively in the anti-missile shield of USA-NATO, in the imperialist intervention in Syria, in the war against Libya, arranges activities against Iran etc.

The pursuit of protection under the “umbrella” of the Turkish bourgeois class not only does not guarantee the people’s rights but it reinforces a power which is an opponent of the people’s interests, connected with the promotion of the American-NATO interests in the region while this concerns the Palestinian problem as well.

The KKE supports the just cause and the struggle of the Palestinian people, it takes multifaceted initiatives promoting the demand for the recognition of the Palestinian state as a full member of the UN, with the borders of 1967, with east Jerusalem as its capital.

9. Under the conditions of the capitalist crisis and in view of the developments in the region which might develop very rapidly in the next period the KKE calls the working people to strengthen the class struggle and the anti-imperialist activity.

Our people should not at all trust the bourgeois powers and their representatives, their governments, it should not accept to make sacrifices in the interests of the plutocracy and be crushed in the rivalries of the monopoly groups, the bourgeois governments and the imperialist axes and anti-axes. Our people has the historical obligation to struggle against the exploitative system, against war, and demand the disentanglement from the imperialist plans, with a people’s alliance, for another workers’-people’s power, to disengage the country from the imperialist organizations, the EU and NATO. The defence of the borders, of the sovereign rights of our country in favour of the working class and the popular strata has nothing to do with the defence of the one or the other imperialist pole, of the profitability of the one or the other monopoly group; it is inextricably linked with the struggle for radical changes, for the overthrow of the power of the capital.

10. The KKE calls on the Communist and Workers’ Parties and the anti-imperialist movements in the region to strengthen their struggle against all imperialist powers, against the imperialist war; to call the people’s not to choose the one or the other imperialist power, not to align themselves with the bourgeois class; to develop decisively the class struggle, trusting in their own forces, the coordinated anti-imperialist struggle and struggle for a society free from the exploitation of man by man.

Athens 21/9/2011

THE PB OF THE CC OF THE KKE