Joint statement by the DIP and the EEK: 50 years from the Cyprus tragedy and division are enough! Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, unite and fight together against division, occupation and imperialism! For an Independent United Socialist Cyprus!
Photo: 16th March 1964, Cypriot children demonstrating and shouting anti-British slogans in Nicosia.
July 20 marks the 50th anniversary of the Cyprus tragedy. It is the 50th anniversary of the division of Cyprus, primarily driven by the interests of the capitalists and militarists of Turkey, Greece, and most importantly, of US and British imperialists. While the ruling classes of both countries use this anniversary to fuel reactionary and chauvinistic sentiments, as revolutionary Marxists from both sides of the Aegean, the EEK from Greece and DIP from Turkey, we once again raise the banner of internationalism, declare our resolve to fight for the self-determination of Cypriot people!
Until 1960, Cyprus was a British colony. Only a short while after the Zurich-London Agreements under imperialist tutelage, the declaration of independence in 1960 and the establishment the Republic of Cyprus, the Turkish Armed Forces initiated a military operation on July 20, 1974.
The “justification” for the operation was the coup carried out by the CIA imposed Greek Colonels' Junta, following the infamous ‘Kissinger Plan” resulting in the to overthrow of the elected President of the Republic of Cyprus, Makarios, a leading figure of the Non Aligned Movement. The Turkish Armed Forces invaded part of the island, displacing the Greek Cypriot population living in the northern part of the island to the South, while the Turkish Cypriots living on the other side gathered in the North. This effectively divided the island. The coup that overthrew Makarios lasted only a few days, but the division of the island has continued for 50 years.
The Cyprus question is not just a question for the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. It is not merely a source of constant and dangerous tensions between Turkey and Greece, manipulated by US and NATO imperialism. It is insolubly tied to the US, British and European imperialist control of Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East.
The Cyprus question pertains to safeguarding the presence of British imperialism on the island as they lost their colonies one by one. Britain, as one of the so-called “guarantor states” on the island along with Turkey and Greece, secured the existence of their bases, following the division of the Republic of Cyprus upon the Greek Junta coup and the Turkish military invasion of the North. The only entities guaranteed on the island today are the bases of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. Both are used by the British imperialism in its attacks on the peoples of the Middle East. Today, these two bases are used to assist the Zionist genocide in Palestine. Additionally, France and the US are using some military bases in the island in their attacks to the region. This is why Cyprus is known as the "unsinkable aircraft carrier". Moreover, Palestinian factions, Hezbollah or the Syrian Arab Army do have the right to attack these bases in retaliation for any assault targeting them. This for sure, makes the Greek and Turkish Cypriots human shields for imperialists, at least put all the Cypriots in a great risk. Therefore, the Cyprus question is a problem that concerns all working class and the oppressed people in the entire Mediterranean and the Middle East. Hence, securing the future of Turkish and Greek Cypriots as well as the people of the Middle East and the Mediterranean lies in the colonizers and imperialists leaving the island and closing the Akrotiri and Dhekelia bases!
DİP and EEK also oppose the transformation of the island into a haven of money laundering and casinos, the exploitation of its resources by the ruling classes of Turkey and Greece and making the island a center for their colonial interests. We consider the struggle to get imperialists out of the Eastern Mediterranean and to end Cyprus being the unsinkable aircraft carrier of imperialism as an integral part of this fight. We combine it with the struggle for Turkey and Greece’s exit from NATO and the closure of the imperialist bases in both countries.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Cyprus tragedy, DİP and EEK once again emphasize that the interests of Turkish, Greek, Cypriot, and all other peoples of the Middle East and the Mediterranean are common.
Our call to the toiler masses of the region is: Let's break the reactionary, chauvinistic, and militaristic blockade! Let's fight against the ruling classes in our own countries who collaborate with exploiters and imperialist-Zionists! Let’s pull all Turkish and Greek military forces out of the island! Let's kick out the imperialist bases and war fleets! Let's stop Cyprus from being an aircraft carrier of imperialists and the Mediterranean from being the sea of the struggle for dominance of regional countries and imperialism!
Let's raise the banner of proletarian internationalism against nationalism, racism, and chauvinism!
For the national self-determination of the Cypriot people!
For an Independent United Socialist Cyprus!
Shut down Incirlik and Kürecik, Souda, Aktion, Araxos, and Andravida, Akrotiri and Dhekelia, and all other imperialist military bases and installations in Greece, Turkey and Cyprus!
Turkey and Greece out of NATO now!
For the Socialist Federation of the Middle East and the Balkans, in the lineage of Bedreddin and Rigas, where Greece and Turkey stand side by side, along with an independent united socialist Cyprus!
DIP (Revolutionary Workers’ Party, Turkey)
EEK (Workers’ Revolutionary Party, Greece)
20 July 2024
