“Developments speak for themselves and shatter the complacency you have fostered for so long, while confirming the persistent warnings of the KKE”, said Dimitris Koutsoumbas, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), at the start of his speech in Parliament on 4 March. Addressing the Prime Minister, he refuted the propaganda that “as long as US forces are here, no one will bother us”, at a time when US bases across the region are coming under attack.
The recent alert in Cyprus following threats of Iranian drone and retaliatory missile strikes once again exposes a dangerous reality that governments in Athens and Nicosia persistently attempt to obscure: the presence of U.S., NATO and British military bases turns both Greece and Cyprus into potential targets in an expanding imperialist war.
For days now, the wider region has been moving ever closer to the possibility of a generalized confrontation in the Middle East. The escalation triggered by the aggressive policies of the United States and Israel against Iran has already created a climate of extreme tension across the entire Eastern Mediterranean.
The recent attack on the British bases on our island confirms the dangers that their presence poses to Cyprus and our people. We call on the government to convey to the British government that Cyprus and its people oppose any kind of military involvement of the bases in any conflicts in the region.
Cyprus is dangerously being turned into a target for retaliation through the British bases. The drone attack on the NATO base in Akrotiri, combined with the official authorization granted by Britain to the United States shortly beforehand for the use of the British bases in operations against Iran, dramatically confirm the dangers created by deeper involvement.
"The twin crimes of 1974, the treacherous coup and the Turkish invasion during Black July 1974 did not come out of nowhere. The Athens Junta and EOKA II opened the back door to Attila by carrying out the crime against Cyprus and the Cypriot people. A crime that was the result of a long-lasting process by the darkest circles of the USA and NATO that led to the culmination of the treason of the Junta and EOKA II that handed over half of Cyprus to Turkey.
The statement reads:
The escalating conflict in the Middle East with the US attack on Iran entails nightmarish dangers to the peace and security not only of the region but also of the entire world.
"AKEL honors the heroism and struggle of the children of Cyprus who fought against the British colonial yoke and gave their lives on the battlefields, in torture and on the scaffold, for the freedom and self-determination of our homeland.
More specifically, the statement (here in Greek) reads:
In a statement, the Communist Initiative of Cyprus (Κομμουνιστική Πρωτοβουλία Κύπρου - Kıbrıs Komünist İnisiyatifi) stresses out:
Quite frequently, Omonia supporters have been seen waving flags with the sickle and hammer, banners with Che Guevara and other symbols of left-wing characteristics. Most recently, on 28 November, during a football match with Legia Warsaw for the UEFA Conference League in Nicosia, Omonia fans did it again!
"Telling the truth is one of the greatest human values. But in this country and in this era, the truth is forbidden, so when we tell the truth, the bourgeois and their parties will discredit the truth, they will vilify us, but we will not take a single step back.
Israel's former ambassador to Cyprus, Mr Harari, stated recently that “Cyprus is being dragged into the regional conflict” due to the strategic relations it has developed with Israel. The Medium which hosted the former ambassador's interview reveals that, among other things, special forces of the Israeli army perform drills in Cypriot territory.
In an interview to "Kathimerini" (4 August 2024), Kourtellaris stressed that we are fighting for the goal of a society of socialism-communism in which the working class will have the power.
