The sister parties of EEK in Greece and DIP in Turkey organised activities on 14 May in order to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Nakba (the eviction of a million Palestinians from their homes on the occasion of the proclamation of the Zionist state of Israel in 1948) and to condemn the transfer of the US Embassy to Al Quds (Jerusalem) and the massacre of 62 Palestinians, with a further 2500 wounded.
Istanbul
The DIP was the major force behind the newly established “Friends of Palestine against Imperialism and Zionism” that marched to the US Consulate General in Istanbul in protest against the opening ceremony of the new embassy building of the United States in Jerusalem (Al Quds). The Consulate General was shut for the day, in fear of possible protests by different groups in Turkey.
The “Friends of Palestine” marched chanting “Down with Israel, kick the US out!”, “Al Quds belongs to Palestine!” “Bring down the Zionist state of Israel!” In front of the Consulate, Levent Dölek, a leader of DIP, made a speech attacking the US and Israel, but also taking the AKP government to task for pretending that it is against the policies of Israel but sustaining, and even developing day by day, its economic, military and cultural relations with the Zoinist state. He pointed out that one cannot remain in NATO and keep the Incirlik base running, making it possible for US imperialism to carry on every dirty operation in the Middle East and also claim to be against Israel and in favour of the Palestinian people. He also demanded that the ambassador of Israel be declared persona non grata.
The march was widely covered by the mainstream media, including national TV channels and the daily press.
Athens
The Workers Revolutionary Party (EEK) held a successful public meeting in the center of Athens for the 70th anniversary of Nakba on 14th May. The same day the US transferred their Embassy to Al Quds (Jerusalem) and the Israeli army killed 59 Palestinian civilians protesting in the Gaza border and injured thousands.
Mohammed Khatib from Samidoun and Savvas Michael from EEK condemned the massacre and the Israeli-US murderers. They spoke about the new dangerous war situation developing not only in Palestine but throughout the Middle East, after these massacres by the Zionist regime and the withdrawal decision from the nuclear deal with Iran by Trump.
They both underlined the necessity to fight against imperialism, Zionism, and the reactionary Arab bourgeoisie.
Savvas Michael said that in Greece the workers and popular masses have to fight to kick out the US-NATO military bases, to break from NATO, and to overthrow the Tsipras government, the close partner of the Netanyahu far right Zionist government in the Eastmed pipeline project and close ally in the US-Israeli geopolitical imperialist aggression in the region, threatening to expand the war from the Middle East to the Balkans and Europe.
An international united front of resistance of the oppressed of the entire region is now the most urgent task.