Held in the Rex Auditorium in Athens which was filled to bursting point of 5,000 people Mikis Theodorakis launches the Citizens Movements called Spark against the IMF occupation of Greece
http://www.mikis-theodorakis-kinisi-anexartiton-politon.gr/el/news/?nid=333
Theodorakis Speech
Part One
From the era of the revolution in 1921, the problem of foreign occupation became an undisputed organic part of our national life. It entered the life of the young Greek nation, changing all of its forms and functions and teaching it how to adapt seriously and timely to all the historic and social changes which it provoked.
It started with the three Great Powers (England, France and Russia) who formed the first Greek political parties with their own names, the Russian, the French to the English and this brought us Kapodistria and after him Othonas and then the Glyxbourgs. In the era of the Balkan Wars, they divided our people into Anglophile Venizelites and Germanphile Konstantinous and because it happened that England won, our country became larger at the expense of Turkey. When later on they changed their minds, they aided Turkey and ensured Greece became smaller. They brought back George 2nd – a servant of the English – twice: first in 1935 which, with Metaxas, they imposed a dictatorship. The second time was in 1946 so as to lead the front of nationhood, in other words, the anti-communists, the quisling collaborators of fascism, so as to dissolve EAM which then had 70% of the Greek people on its side, leading us to a Civil War so as to impose US domination.
On the basis of the control of civil society, politics and military power (Army and Police) foreign domination created within Greece a strong economic, political and cultural social oligarchy which was more loyal to foreigners than foreigners themselves. In other words the fanaticism of the Anglophile, Germanphile and Americanphile members of the Greek oligarchy was greater than the love of the English, Germans, and Americans for their own countries!
To the extent they don’t need the immediate presence of foreign powers (in the military, administrative areas etc.), so as to serve fully and totally every part of their interests, amongst which, in the main part, is the imposition of their culture, thought, language, art, morals and every type of their peculiar interests.
Therefore we should consider the totality of the factors that control power in our country: economic oligarchs, formers of public opinion (journalists, owners of TV stations, radio broadcasters and newspaper men), well known members of high intellectual society (in particular, educators) with the variety of faces who form and are paid handsomely to spread and popularise the ideas and decisions made in the interests of the foreign overlords. In other words, all this flotsam creates a black cloud, which covers the country and hides us from the sun so making us live in the dark and transforming us into self-conflicting flocks of sheep of different colours which follow the System’s shepherds. This poisonous cloud is nothing more than the loyal guardians of foreign dependence (today of the Americans) which imposes, directs and intervenes without rest in all of our internal developments. That is dependence! Therefore, the main aim of our Resistance must be to liberate our country from this.
Here I place a dividing line between us- the Patriots for Independence and the whole of the existing superstructure by which I mean the economic Oligarchy (Banks, Economic Chieftains) and the political system, that is, the Constitution, Parliament and the Political World. I therefore raise objections to all the existing choices which led to the present course being followed by our country and so to the whole of the practice which is being implemented by all in the sectors of our internal life: Economy, Education, Social Relationships. From this point of view our policy must have the character of being radical. It is Radical!
It has to be emphasised that any radical-revolutionary movement we create must have the great majority of people on its side if it is to become a force for historical change.
In light of what I said previously it would also be an error to make DEMANDS on some quarters which are totally conscious organs of dependence from one or more international centres of power, American but also certain European countries. The Troika represents cohabitation of the American (IMF) and two European banks. These agents are not part of any solution, but rather the problem. So it must be our task to IMPOSE our will on them.
With this choice of the verb ‘impose’, we can see the size of the political task we have to undertake in order to bring into being a Movement which one day can become a Movement able to raise the demands of the majority of the Greek people. This struggle becomes harder due to the methodology we choose; not creating from above, but from below, from the people. In this our only weapon is enlightenment with a common view as to how we judge events and the reasons which influence them, the position of the country, the positive and negative elements and more generally, what are our final goals and with which means we seek to achieve those goals.
We can’t just rely on the word ‘Resistance’ to express our politics; we need to add another word: ‘Proposal’. That is, a proposal combining all the elements which constitute the life of the people. This Proposal-Programme should constitute the thought of every Spark-Committee so that their ideas and ideology can become a part of forming the basis of the new Movement with the goal that one day it becomes the dominant ideology of the great majority of the Greek people.
We attack, destroy and in parallel, think-build. That’s how I see how an ideal Committee of Advancement should function.
Let us imagine a Greece which is Free, Independent, Fearless, Untouchable and Self-Governing. Let us fight for this inside a society without unemployment, injustice, poverty, ignorance and with a rule of Justice to solve the problem of Inequality. But let us also impose by law the right of equality of Rights, and Needs with a Standard of Living and Education below which no citizen should be allowed to fall. Applying justice to inequality, whilst rewarding effort, is the only way a society goes forward. Equalizing towards the bottom is unjust and becomes a barrier to progress.
The great misfortune of our country since 1950 arises from the fact that we have been unable to win National Independence. Economically, politically and militarily we are obliged to follow, by one or another path, the interests of the superpowers and their allies and thus have been prevented from developing a clear independent policy – truly Greek – which will serve the interests of the Greek people. That is why our first aim must be liberation from foreign dependence and the development of internal organs to secure National Independence. It is that which constitutes a pre-condition for a Free People with every citizen able to be considered a Man, Independent, responsible for their life and their fate.
In our country since 1821 until today we passed the stage from Subjugation to Dependence which continues to today with very few breaks. As for example from the era of foreign occupation, then when we realised Independence only those who dared to fight the enemy gun in hand. From that moment on we can say that they became independent only they who refused State Power, were imprisoned, tortured, executed. A strange truth for this country in that in order to be free one must sacrifice their life...
Part 2
We declare that Dependence means essentially foreign occupation. Therefore the struggle of the Independent Greek Citizens requires a liberation movement. It is our duty to enlighten the Greek people about the character of the ways by which they are obliged to save themselves, their families and their country.
Dear friends,
The new conditions and international relations have transformed the USA into a modern imperialist power based on two poles: the colossal military power and the control of the world economy under its gigantic economic monopolies. Their aim is to ensure their domination over a united globalised market. That means that every barrier, every national peculiarity, which does not allow the free movement of everything needed for their economic and ideological domination is broken down. Even their present allies like England, Germany, France and Japan will have the same fate as all the rest. China, Russia and India, which now constitute the great barrier to total domination, will eventually be targeted in the same way so as to permit the construction of this world society under USA hegemony. In other words, what is being repeated under other forms and other methods, is the Hitlerian vision of the German Reich of a Thousand Years which it sought through the occupation of the Five Continents.
Whoever hasn’t understood this mortal danger is either blind, stupid, irresponsible or, even worse, collaborators of the USA’s mission to achieve this disastrous goal. And that makes them even more dangerous than their American masters.
Of all the obstacles the new occupiers face, the national, ideological, historic and cultural peculiarities mentioned above are the most difficult for them. And that is why in recent decades, the USA, aided by their Trojan horses within each country have directed their poisonous arrows against these obstacles.
The main concern of every nation is to organize its defense in all areas of its public life, starting with the defense of national identity and all the elements constituting it, national sovereignty with the organization of national defense on new foundations, self-governance with the mobilisation of all subjective forces and the defence of the wealth of the country, the increase in the educational level, the alliance and unity of the peoples with the organisation of our own just society which advances our educational level, in the alliance and unity of the peoples with the organisation of a just society which will provide equal opportunities, chances and services so as to have the spirit of solidarity dominant so we can all confront the coming catastrophe, to surpass it so as to be in a position to create a country which is even better, even under conditions of a storm which we are living through today and which tomorrow will get even worse.
We are now living through one of the worst moments in our history. We are in trouble. We have so much trouble that it will require great effort and sacrifice to break the current foreign dependency. There must be a huge effort to convince ourselves and others that the path of salvation lies solely in the turn to our own forces, where we will try to find and exploit all collective capabilities to allow us to become self-reliant, self-sufficient and so Independent.
What are we going to base ourselves on? On our brains and our will, our desires, our self-sacrifice which will aid us in gaining the strength for what we need to live from our own land and our own work. That is the only way we will become free and at the same time proud, as we will base our life solely on ourselves without the need of foreigners.
For this reason let me elaborate a little on the view which I have for the functioning of the Committees of Initiative. Suddenly we have from nowhere tens of Committees called ‘Spark’. I like this name and I propose we keep it.
Everyone realises more than anybody else the problems which he faces as a person or citizen, as resident of his area, and also as a Greek. Today we are all able to know about the basic national issues and problems, as well as the problems related to other peoples, international relations of one or other dominant power. We don’t need others, Saviours, to tell us what we need to do. As long as we think and act collectively as members of a Committee of Initiative which will unite under a common dream all citizens of an area as workers, in whatever field and above all as equal and responsible citizens of our country. And the country we live in is called Greece.
So it is time to think, to care and to act as Greeks. As people who walk on the same soil, travel on the same seas, speak the same language, the same customs, the same traditions and values, weaknesses, the same history, the same myths and the same love for our cultural traditions.
Our recent history is a history full of struggle, sacrifices, blood and tears. We all love equally fanatically our National Independence, Freedom, Democracy and Social Justice. We want our people sovereign and we dream of a rebirth from the ashes of our beloved Country: a rebirth on the economic, social, educational and cultural level. A National Rebirth!
NO, we won’t allow the nation abusers to devalue and abuse the words ‘Greece’ ‘Nation’ ‘Country’, with the result that only they are considered progressive who despise them. Let us not forget that during all the great moments of modern Greece, from the Balkan Wars, the Albanian Epic, the Battle of Crete, the National Resistance and the struggle against the Dictatorship, all had symbols of Greece and Freedom, of Country and Independence, of the Nation and its Rebirth. Let the nation once more become our basic goal. That means that inside every cell of the Committees of Initiative where all the ideas, proposals and activities are discussed and arrived at, the central goal must be of trying to help all of us, so that one day not far off, our Homeland will be Free, Independent. Self-governing and proud in achieving the position which belongs to it in the current difficult era, maintaining to the limit all its historical characteristics, in other words in its dedication to world Peace, in the freedom and development of all the peoples of the earth who demand from us Resistance to the powers of Evil and liberation from every form of foreign domination which aims to intervene in our internal affairs – like the current Troika – crushing the rights, happiness and proudness of our People.
I believe the basis of progress in our Society must be guarded by the winning of Direct Democracy. Then every citizen can essentially be responsible for their fate and the fate of the Peoples. I always believed that the free person is responsible. He decides with others the solution to all the problems which bother the society in which he lives and works. When others decide for you, then essentially you aren’t free. You are dependent to a point with which morally and practically, you have been relegated to the level of a flock who is required to follow the shepherd from the grass fields to the slaughterhouse, without the possibility of resisting, as they have essentially reduced you to being a being without thought and will.
There is now an opportunity, with the local and international rulers immersed in a crisis which seems to be deepening every day, for the Independents, to succeed beyond our daily activity to have an impact on the major problems of our country.
We are independent citizens. That means that we maintain our own ideological choices as responsible citizens in this peculiar, dangerous and critical period in our country, confronting the powers of foreign dependence from the known international centres of power along with those that accept their policies, support them and benefit from them. These Centres aim to impose recipes of shock therapy on us, to attack us and do damage to us from every angle: economic, social, moral, patriotic. For this higher aim and despite our differences, so that we can work together in a united Liberation Movement with the aim of stopping by every means the evil which is occurring daily against our people, we must try to show the will of the overwhelming majority, as a dominant element in the recreation of the country. Every day when we will grow in size and strength, we will move from being a force of defence to a force of attack and at the same time a creative force and so will be able to block the attacks of foreigners and their Greek allies and to develop plans for the future which are realistic and whole, with solutions which will change today’s miserly form of our Country. With the current presence in our lines and alliance of so many different and important citizens from areas key of our social life, not seeking positions of power, nor to speak ex-cathedra nor wanting to impose a or b programme, but to to analyse and find solutions arising from the richness of thought of the average Greek as a main element for the creation of changes for our Country at all levels.
And most importantly, based solely on the independent will, thoughts, suggestions and decisions of the Independent Citizens for an Independent Greece which belongs only to Greeks and Greece.
Part 5
On December 1, I attended a public lecture of 1000 people. The content of the lecture was re-published in the daily press. I asked the government, as was my right and obligation, a series of questions containing certain allegations concerning important national issues. Of course I am not an MP and hold no public office. I am an ordinary citizen, except that I carry on my back historical experience of half a century and a proven commitment in defending the people and our country at very critical moments. That is why I believe that in any country with an elementary democratic responsibility it would have been impossible to receive such dismissive attitude for my views as I received. That reveals the irresponsible character of the government factions who took the view that I am a 2nd class citizen not permitted to have any public criticism of their policy. But the questions and condemnations remain. If they think that with the method of silence this will be forgotten they are making a big mistake.
In relation to the "Memorandum" (Memorandum of Understanding with IMF) i.e. the conditions under which we agreed to accept "aid", you certainly know the view expressed by the distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law, Mr. Kassimatis, that "…the conditions associated with this loan agreement are unique in the history of mankind." What followed was the President of the Lawyers Association of Greece Dimitris Paxinos who condemns Article 14, paragraph 5: “…with the Agreement by Greece we renounce irrevocably and unconditionally the right of protection of our national sovereignty. Such an unprecedented condition is not met even in colonial agreements. It is a condition that violates fundamental principles of law on all levels: International Law, European Law and National Law. It is a condition that overrides the fundamental rights of the independence of the country and against the subjugation of the country. The danger is imminent, when combined with the terms of the Contract, that with the consent of all the lenders, they can transfer to a Third Country their rights under the Regulations. Consequently the rules of the Loan are based on ENGLISH LAW. The only appropriate court therefore becomes the court of the European Union, in other words they who have made the loan to us. The loaning regime therefore is ILLEGAL”
And he concludes:
“Without a previous condition, with our signature we gave away our national independence and the whole of our public property. From the foundation of the neo-hellenic state we are used to being in debt. But such conditions have never been accepted.
WE DEMAND THE ERASURE OF THE MEMORANDUM AND THE LOAN CONDITIONS WHICH AFFECT OUR NATIONAL RIGHTS”
And I ask you, gentlemen of the Government party: How is it possible that views of such great national importance, of the largest Bar Association in the country, of Mr Kassimatis, be considered by your party and your friendly media, unworthy even of a simple comment? Don’t you realise that such an irresponsible attitude traumatises deeply the essence of democracy and provokes a brutal public sentiment? Is it that apart from me, we now have an expansion of 2nd class citizens in this country? And how much contempt and disrespect for all those who stood up against the junta, who were tortured, imprisoned, exiled, sacrificing 7 years of their lives for democracy and freedom of the press, to see that there now reigns again military style, Junta, censorship under a supposedly progressive mantle. With which criteria have you and your friends suddenly become 1st class citizens, above all others? Even the greatest electoral victory does not entitle anyone to consider themselves superior to others, since according to the Constitution all citizens are equal and have absolutely the same rights. And I think that the first right is to respect their opinions, whatever they are. If you miss this point, there is no democracy, but totalitarianism. But after the last elections, you are devoid of even the pretext that your government represents a majority of the Greek people, as your vote did not exceed 20%. And therefore a purely totalitarian behaviour based upon a small minority actually ends up ultimately dangerous for the country, because you do not have the moral right to take decisions so critical to the country's future by ignoring the will of the vast majority which, in every way, is trying to show you that the road you follow leads to the dissolution of society and, I fear, to that of our country.
Dear PrimeMinister, you have ignored all your pledges, your pre-electoral ones and your post electoral ones in relation to taxes, wages and sackings. You know that daily tens of industries, small businesses and shops are closing without taking into account what will happen to all these people who are suddenly found on the street. You aren’t interested in the fact that a desertification is expanding in the Greek market which till yesterday was brimming with life. You aren’t interested when our young, particularly scientists are immigrating, unable to live in our country? Has no one in your circle told you that the People are in despair, are frightened, are suffering, whilst the country is daily sinking from every view into a generalised depression, from which no one knows the end?
I am making a proposal that you personally Prime Minister stand, observe and see what is happening around you. We aren’t your enemies or even your opponents. If we disagree we do it purely from a different perspective, and we believe the path you have chosen is wrong. It’s not us but reality that says it. We all want to save this country from the difficult position it finds itself in. We are all willing to help to find the best path which I am sure exists. Let's really look to find a better way. I am sure there is one. Let's stop the stubbornness. We all make mistakes. Don’t force us to show once more the point where a People can go when they are in despair. Let us not forget how many times the Greeks transformed their despair into a force and woe to those who had to confront them. Let us not be deceived by the fact that today we are acting like confused lambs. Just think with how many lies and deceits they have fed the Greeks. But every day which you yourself can help them with their tough decisions to reveal the truth, the lambs will be transformed into responsible and decisive citizens who will take fate in their own hands. This may take a little time. But when the river is formed to claim all that has been stolen from us, then no force will be able to stop it. The enraged river will know only too well in which direction it will go so as to win what belongs to it. Just think how many who wanted to dam it in the last decades and where they are found today. For it is a historical law that the People must win. As long as they seek it. They will seek it. Quickly. More quickly than some are expecting.
I ask you one more time:
What is happening in the Aegean? Is it true or false that NATO has imposed on us that we divide half of it with Turkey? Does an agreement exist to hand over our airspace with the Israeli military for war exercises? What is happening with the Turkish Embassy in Komotini and for what reason do these mobile bridges exist which in a very short time can be united on both sides of the river Evros so tanks can come across? Does there exist an organised nationalist propaganda from Albania and Skopje with the aim being alienation of Greek lands and how do we react to this? Why did the Burgas pipeline stop? Is it true there were favourable economic proposals from Russia and China which the Government turned down? In relation to the IMF, you yourself – as leader of the then Opposition - described in the most graphic terms the destructive idiosyncracies of the IMF in an interview with the journalist Kouloglou. What happened in the meantime to change your view? Why are you silent towards the revelations of serious specialists like the educator Kline, in relation to the implementation on the economy of the barbarous methods of the CIA and the close relations with the IMF with all the dictatorial regimes around the world? Is the event true or not that you led us to the economic dependence of the IMF and our European partners, the infamous Troika to which you handed over our economy and the labour relations of our country without a battle? Why don’t you follow the road of the Hungarians who forced the Banks and all of big business to pay greater sums instead of just taking it from workers?
There is the small recent example of the small state of Equador-Isimerinos which characterised Public Debt as ‘Odious Debt’ and refused to place it on to its creditors. With the result being that it finally paid one third of the final amount to its creditors. Thus showing that the threatening animals (our creditors) confronted by this became lambs as opposed to being confronted by the united will of a leader and a peoples much smaller than ours.
We are also raised the issue of the war reparations from Germany. Wasn’t more important than having verbal conflicts with Ms Merkel to ask her what was logical, in other words, reparations from Germany from the great injustice which occurred against our country, which occurred just against our country, instead of offering her more profits with new purchases of war hardware from them. Finally, how did the President of the Socialist International find it possible to bring in worse measures than the Metaxas dictatorship after the abolition of Collective Labour Agreements which a dictator introduced under pressure from the workers of the 1930’s? How dare you take us back 80 years! Does the Prime Minister and the MP’s who make up your party believe that all these issues we have referred to which deal with the Independence and Security of our country and with the gains and rights of our people, will pass just like that, quickly? Don’t you understand you are taking on heavy burdens with which you will be forced to explain yourselves when confronting the People and History but also Greek Justice? Don’t underestimate us and believe that because today you rule because of a dissolved Constitution which allows a small minority to dominate power on the vast majority of the people that this situation will last.
Already the foundations are being built so as this silent and divided majority of Independent Citizens can express itself as a united and collective force. Then we will see who will laugh last.
I believe that, given the situation that we have reached, there is no other solution but the voice of the People. The hatred felt by the People must be transformed into such a cry that it will reverberate through the rotten edifice of Dependence which is leading us into absolute Chaos. There is no other solution! That is why we are calling you all to enter this struggle from tomorrow, united openly into a tight fist with one and only one thought, the love of our Country. Let us ally with the People, with the thousands of Sparks-Committees of Initiative so as to be able to help our people take the fate of the country into its hands. The “when and how” will be judged by the developments and the People themselves. Our own thought leads directly to the great goals we have raised: National Independence, Popular Rule, Patriotic Rebirth and our passionate belief that Greece belongs only to Greece.
I want to take this opportunity to ask you as well as all of the Greek people their view on basic ideas of mine, one related to the economy of the country and the other to our national security:
We all know the basic argument of the Government to justify the dependence of our country on US and European banks and therefore the necessary for further loans. We also know along which path our Dependence has led us for these loans. We know to what point this tactic of high interest loans has led us. We also recognise at which point it deliberately took us into purchasing weapons from the USA, England, France and Germany. My question is thus: what blocks us from seeking other means? First of all, by paying off the whole Debt; secondly borrowing from other sources at much more favourable conditions - with agreements in the form of public auctions in joint venture companies which will have as the aim the exploitation of the rich seams of raw materials we have at our disposal with strict elements of control so our rights are safeguarded. We already have the example of the Cosco agreement, the agreement of the Burgas pipeline and the advancement of Euro 100 billion on behalf of Russia for the maintenance and repair of their war ships on the Island of Siros. Such kinds of auctions can raise the profile of our ports, the exploitation of minerals in the earth, our tourist industry and whatever else aids the economic development of our country without the fear of massive interest rates and burdens which have transformed us into a People subjugated by our creditors.
My own personal opinion of the issue is that nothing can stop us and that we are free to look after our own interests. The Greek people themselves have to seek it with the two countries I spoke about, Russia and China. We of course remain in Europe, free from the colonial type of economic relationship which they have enforced on us and from our obligation to enrich their war industries to which we hand over billions of Euros every year with dramatic consequences for our people.
I am adding today that we have a positive reply to the Committees of Initiative and as a result by its Citizens which would give us all wings and the representatives of the Leagues which take part in today’s manifestation so as to start from today the necessary manoeuvres so as to achieve this great goal. In the case that first the Greek nation accepted it.
My second thought is in relation to NATO. I don’t propose to leave NATO today as under the current conditions it is quite difficult. I know this would satisfy Andreas Papandreou but not his erstwhile followers as today they don’t agree with their old selves.
My questions are two: The first is related to today’s enemies of the USA and NATO, as yesterday’s no longer exist. To be part of NATO means that its enemies are also our enemies. So are the Serbs, the Russians, the Afghans, the Iraquis and Iranians our enemies? For which reason?
The next question is in relation to the Aegean. Mr Davadoglou tells us again and again that he and “George” (that’s what he calls the Greek Prime Minister) are doing business in the Aegean, which implies that, behind this business, NATO is hidden and the master is the USA. We therefore want to learn if what is being said by the Turkish colonel is true and if so what type of business is this? Are they in NATO happy enough that they have decided to hand over half the Aegean to Turkey? What else do they want?
In 1975, in the context of my efforts towards Greek-Turkish Friendship, I first spoke about the perspective of our co-exploitation of the deposits in the Aegean, which I thought would bring our countries together
Part 7
I discovered the fact that the USA had placed natural resources in their strategic reserves which they will not allow to be exploited until the time they need them for their exclusive use and not before. The saga of conflict in the Aegean between Greece and Turkey confirms this view and clearly shows that behind the actions of the two governments was the hand of the Americans who created these key crises in order to avoid any unilateral or joint attempt at exploitation. But as stated by Professor Theodore Karyotis: for over 25 years, the concept of the Continental Shelf has been overtaken by that of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea (Article 121 Paragraph 2) explicitly states that all islands have the right to an EEZ and an EEZ of the continental shelf out from the island in the same way as the larger land masses such as the Mainland.
Therefore, for these EEZ’s on the Continental Shelf of the Aegean islands, Turkey cannot use the argument that our islands don’t have Sea Rights or that they are resting on the Shelf of Anatolia. The Agreement has abolished the geological meaning of Sea Rights and thus Turkey has lost another argument.
So as to extend its sea rights, Turkey has forced us to reduce our national waters 6 miles instead of 12 on the basis of the infamous Casus Belli, the threat of war, which still exists under International Law. The governments of both political parties when in power rushed to adapt to these new proposals. Our Movement aims to return to the 12 miles, having previously placed in our country a limitless bastion of hundreds of missiles with which we can say to all those who threaten us ‘Molon Lave’ – “Come and Get Us!” (a classical expression of defiance in response to the Persian army's demand that the Spartans surrender their weapons at the Battle of Thermopylae).
I apologize for my reference to technical details which are pretty much unknown to the general public, but it will help us to better understand the game being played in the Aegean for many years by both USA-dependent governments, culminating in the mystery behind the recent Greek-Turkish high level contacts.
Why is it that from 1982 to date, Greece has not set its own Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), as do almost all the countries of the world including Turkey in its part of the Black Sea? Why, when Cyprus created its own EEZ in 2004 and called Greece to do the same so as to unite both EEZ’s did we refuse? Inside this common EEZ of Greece and Cyprus, naturally the issue of Kastellorizo would come up (closely related dispute with Turkey)?
Is that why Greece got frightened by Turkey and backtracked? Cyprus didn’t take this issue into account and signed an EEZ agreement with Israel and left Turkey out of it…
They say that large deposits of oil are located in the triangle between Kastellorizo, Crete and Cyprus and for this reason, in the last period Turkey has developed a particular activity in Kastellorizo, which aims to keep Greece out of the EEZ. Let us wait and see the result of the relevant discussions, in the meantime let us take these issues into account:
First, that with the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea, our rights change fundamentally towards the Aegean.
Secondly that Kastellorizo remains exclusively in the Greek EEZ and as such, blocks Turkey having common borders with the EEZ and Egypt. And,
Thirdly for this reason, Egypt, pressurised by Turkey, backed down and didn’t sign the agreement on the borders of the EEZ between Greece and itself. The same occurred with Albania under pressure from Turkey. We are talking about an arena of hundreds of billions of Euros, a game played for many years back without informing the Greek nation or the Greek Parliament. Both governments are playing this game with other international interests and hiding it from our people
To negotiate with the U.S. and NATO while maintaining an amicable
settlement if they so wish and in whatever degree of cooperation
agreed upon by both sides. The same with Europe. And
Sixth: To concentrate all our forces, so our economic problems can be
solved largely by ourselves. For this purpose, our own people should
develop a detailed, scientifically sound and workable plan to
realistically utilize the potential of the country, both human and
material.
Dear Friends,
In any proposal for a radical shift in the policy that we have
followed to this day, the question heard is "But will the Americans
allow us?". This shows us how much our people today is corrupted by
their dependence on foreigners and that is why we are obliged to
follow to the last dot all the instructions, all the rules, which
originate from the USA, NATO and the European Banks. That same mindset
causes us to vote for the politicians and the parties which are
recognised as the benefactors of the West. We saw what the Big Powers
did to us when we rebelled in the 1960’s with the basic demand of
Democracy: they imposed the 7 year Dictatorship on us which ended
after the revolt of the Polytechnic. They then penalised us by giving
the green light to the Turks to militarily take over 40% of Cyprus. I
remember Mitsotakis saying to me in the Maximos (Presidential Palace)
that “…the Americans are angry with me and I must await the end”. When
my brother Yiannis asked him why don’t you react sir? Mitsotakis
replied: “What did you want me to do…rebel…to go on the streets and
demand “OUT WITH THE AMERICANS?””
And who doubts the wrath of the Americans when Kostas Karamanlis who
opened Greece to the Russians and the Chinese and especially to the
“NO” he dared to say to Bush, face-to-face, at the NATO Summit in
Bucharest thereby blocking Skopje from joining the Great Military
Alliance?
These are truths that no one is discusses, because they are afraid,
and others, the rulers (politicians and journalists) are hooked to the
chariot of Dependence. But all these terrible things are no longer a
threat to Greece and the Greek people but only to the Elites. In other
words, today the Americans have the power to intervene only in the
realms of economic and political power. So the fear exists only at the
top of our national life, not at the level of the people - if they
would have the ability and courage to decide an independent and free
course in accordance with their own interests - and to express their
own will without asking anyone.
I confess that I worked for the Karamanlis solutions recognizing the
power of our Dependence on the Americans and knowingly making that
compromise. Let's not forget that in 1973 when I spoke for the
Karamanlis solution it was just 23 years after the end of the Civil
War, when the Americans virtually ruled Greece, having penetrated
deeply into the Army, the Police, Economy, State, and the political
system using the main instrument of the Throne. And from April 21,
1967 they imposed a regime of open Military Dictatorship.
I remember in Washington in 1974 an American military man asking me
what was the point of the ‘Karamanlis solution’. I told him that:
“Today with the Junta you have 100%’ with the solution Karamanlis you
will have 50%...for…now…”
So I knew firsthand that we were obliged to compromise because they
had 100% control of the armed forces, the police state and the
corroded state and public sector ...
But with these words "for now!", I indicated that the day would arrive
when the danger of a repeat of 1967 would be at an end. This day has
arrived! That is why I came back to the struggle. I see the weakness
of the Americans, their inability to intervene dynamically, due above
all to the erosion of their own political-economic infrastructure, and
arising from that, all the political forces for Dependency, economic
and propagandistic are on a path of economic, political and moral
disintegration.
Final Part
So I firmly believe that the balance of forces that prevail today would assist in ensuring that the victory of a patriotic solution is 100% assured. The only barrier to it lies in the lack of belief in it by the Greek people. Let us understand it clearly: we are free! As long as we believe it and so turn our back on the open and hidden American collaborators of every type and organise the unity of the People based on the Independence of the country and the Freedom of the People to choose solutions in their own interest.
Finally, I would like to return to the issue of foreign dependence, because most, if not all Greeks, associate it with the presence of troops of occupation or overt mechanisms of repression. But as we have seen, many other refined and invisible methods of enforced dependence exist to an unaware and unsuspecting public, as from 1974 to today, where, after the fall of the Junta we experienced the system of parliamentary democracy.
I mentioned earlier my personal experience as from January 1973 when the KKE (Communist Party) and Andreas Papandreou ruled out any possibility of unity of the resistance forces. That unity, based on the will and the power of the people, was the only way to free us from the Junta. I undertook the historic responsibility to load them with the weight on the "Karamanlis Solution” which was to relieve us from military control, but would immediately have two extremely negative characteristics. First it would indulge the nationalist politicians who were primarily responsible for the advent of the junta and second, would perpetuate the dominant presence of the Americans, albeit with a falsely benign form of rule. The responsible officials in the U.S., especially after the uprising centred on the Polytechnic, were looking for ways to get rid of the military and agreed with me on the Karamanlis Solution. So I was invited to Washington in June 1974 to mediate in order for Karamanlis to fulfil this role.
I have no regrets for the historical role I undertook, primarily because I thought, above all, that living under conditions of dictatorship was far harder than in a system of parliamentary democracy and secondarily because I hoped that, in the new conditions, we would have the opportunity to fight to rid ourselves of the scourge of the Americans, once and for all. From these sentiments arose my efforts aimed at achieving unity of the Left, which, unfortunately, were unsuccessful. With events associated with the efflux of time, particularly American decline and given the results of PASOK's first four years, when Americans lost their main strongholds of dictatorial control of our country: the armed forces, police and sensitive areas of the state apparatus, so that they cannot threaten us anymore with the known more direct ways which, however, still persist as nightmares to paralyse our people, who still believe that nothing can be done without the approval of Americans.
That's why I want to shout aloud to all Greeks: THERE IS NO CHANCE OF A NEW 1967! And the influence of the U.S., NATO and European banks is bound to face the decision of the Greek people to search for radical solutions that will work for us, which will not undermine our key strategic interests. And that is why I have said that our goals should be aimed at safeguarding our national and popular interests or agreements with various countries, either by eliminating the conditions which affect our sovereign rights, our economic development and dependence on international centres, which either subjugate us financially (as with the Memorandum and the Troika) or take us along paths which aren’t in accordance with World Peace and the respect for the sovereignty of nations (like our military cooperation with Israel).
Under these circumstances I believe we are perfectly free to move without delay to effect the salvation and rebirth our nation. Free! Free! Free!
Goodbye for now!