An interview with the Turkish newspaper "Cumhuriyet" and the journalist Cengiz Karagöz was given by Elisseos Vagenas, member of the CC of the KKE and Head of the International Relations Section of the CC, for "Cumhuriyet".

          Greek newspapers Dimokratia and Ta Nea claimed that US President Donald Trump has decided to close the alleged US base in Alexandroupoli, Greece. However, US officials issued a statement on the allegations, saying that “the US does not have a base in Alexandroupoli, it is a Greek facility to which the US has access under the Mutual Defense Cooperation Treaty.” What is your assessment of these discussions?

          Answer: The KKE has assessed that the alleged "defence" agreement between Greece and the USA, prepared by the government of the "left" social-democratic party of SYRIZA and finalized by the right-wing government of New Democracy, is in fact a despicable offensive agreement. It involves Greece in the warmongering, criminal plans of the USA and NATO, but at the same time it makes Greece a possible target for retaliation in the context of the escalating competition between the Euro-Atlantic camp and Russia.

          This agreement, which has been extended for 5 years and will then remain in force indefinitely, turns the entire Greek territory into a vast US–NATO imperialist stronghold, providing for the enhancement of the existing military bases, the creation of new ones, the handover of military camps, infrastructure, and other facilities for the US military needs, including Souda, Alexandroupolis, Larissa and many other facilities in the Greek territory.

          Alexandroupolis in particular has been used in recent years as a "hub" for the transport of NATO weapons to the war front in Ukraine. In Alexandroupolis and in many other US military bases in Greece, the members and friends of the KKE have organized large mass mobilizations against the imperialist war, against the foreign bases, and have also blocked railways and roads, preventing such transports.

          US sources have stated that the area in question is not a US base. However, they did not deny the claims that a report on the intended use of Alexandroupoli in light of the Ukraine-Russia war was being prepared by the US. What will be the significance of Alexandroupoli for the US in the event of US cutting their aid for Ukraine?

          Answer: As we noted above, the base in Alexandroupolis has already been used in the war in Ukraine as a "hub" for the transfer of weapons, but it could have multiple significance for the USA in controlling a wider region, including the eastern Balkans and the Black Sea. This comes at a time when the Turkish bourgeois class is disputing and occasionally violating borders, has excessive ambitions in the Balkans, the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia and even Africa, and also seems to be "bargaining" for its own interests (and not the interests of the Turkish people) with the USA, the EU, NATO and Russia as well.

          Having peace negotiations regarding the war in Ukraine initiated, is there a need for such a military facility/base that is also escalating tension between Turkey and Greece as well as West and Russia?

          Answer: Even if the peace negotiations that have been initiated regarding the Ukrainian front lead to a fleeting "peace", this will be temporary because the causes that led to the war will still exist. The confrontation between the bourgeois classes, the monopolies, over the division of natural wealth, pipelines, geopolitical footholds, market shares, etc. will continue. In such conditions of fierce competition, where the USA tries to maintain its "primacy" in the imperialist system, using both the carrot and the whip, its military bases remain a serious "instrument" for intervention in international developments. The fact that the USA has 800 bases all over the world, outside its borders, is not a coincidence.

          What is the policy of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) on Alexandroupolis?

          Answer: The KKE voted against this agreement in the Greek Parliament and has been fighting all these years against the existence of foreign bases not only in Alexandroupolis but all over Greece. For the disengagement of our country from NATO and the EU, with the people being masters in our own country. This struggle is coordinated with the struggle of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) and the anti-imperialist peace movement in your country, which is fighting against the American bases in Turkey, such as the Incirlik base.

          Communists are waging a common struggle for a world without the barbarity of class exploitation, imperialist wars, uprooting and misery, without foreign bases and troops, for the disengagement of our countries from imperialist plans and alliances. The solution for our peoples lies in the overthrow of capitalist barbarity and in the construction of a new -socialist-society.

          Do you have anything to add?

          Answer: We would like to point out that the peoples of Turkey and Greece have no reason to be divided. It is in their interest to struggle against nationalism and irredentism, to demand to live in peace, without violations of the borders in the Aegean Sea and the challenging of the international treaties that have determined the borders in the region. The two peoples must fight against the anti-people policy of the bourgeois governments of both countries, against the antagonisms of the capitalists, that lead to the danger of military involvement. They must demand their own peaceful future, getting rid of the interests of the few, imposing through their struggle the abolition of the exploitation of man by man.

06.03.2025