Appeal
of Left leaders to the EU Summit on IraqAppeal
of Left leaders to the EU Summit on IraqOn the initiative of SYN President N.Constantopoulos the following letter was signed by 13 leaders of the European Left and addressed on Feb.17th, 2003 to the EU Summit on Iraq through Prime Minister Simitis .
The signatories were the following [in alphabetical order]:
The letter was as follows:
H.E. Mr. Costas SimitisYour Excellency,
On the occasion of the E.U. Extraordinary Summit on Iraq we appeal to you most strongly to do everything possible to stop war on Iraq and promote a just and peaceful solution to the crisis, on the basis of the United Nations Charter and International law.
We are totally opposed to war as a means to solving international problems. The civilian population of Iraq, especially children, will be the main victims, if the U.S. war plans are carried out. The people of Iraq will experience a new tragedy, in addition to the tremendous toll they have paid to the Gulf War, the international embargo and the brutal dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein.
Á war will not be catastrophic just for Iraq. The whole of the Middle East will be further destabilized and the Palestinian just cause severely harmed. Terrorism and religious fanaticism will be increased not diminished, because war and terrorism feed each other.
We have been consistently on the side of the Iraqi People and the Kurds and have opposed the tyrannical regime of Saddam. But we firmly believe that democracy and human rights cannot be served by war; on the contrary war is their supreme violation and denial.
A war on Iraq by the United States of America will also be effectively a war on Europe, the U.N. and the very premises of the International Law. It will be against the whole of Humanity, as it will set an extremely dangerous precedent for "preventive wars".
We, therefore, call upon the E.U. leaders to oppose the war and support the implementation of the U.N. Resolutions on Iraq by diplomatic and political means. For Peace and Democracy in Iraq and throughout the Middle East and for this extremely militarised region to become a zone without nuclear, chemical and other mass destruction weapons.
With our esteem,
.
