The WPC Middle East Meeting to be held in Chania, Crete on June 6-7

The World Peace Council (WPC) is organizing the Middle East Meeting of anti-imperialist peace movements this year in Chania on June 6-7. The conference and related events will be hosted by the Greek Committee for International Detente and Peace (EEDYE) and the Peace Committees of Crete.

Given the difficulty of having the meeting of the Middle East Peace movements in their own region and following a proposal by the WPC and the EEDYE, the meeting moved to Chania, where the US-NATO Souda Base is located, which has been directly involved in all the imperialist attacks and wars in the Middle East for decades.

The state of war in the region (Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, etc.), the ongoing attacks by Israel on various fronts and the reinforced military presence of the US, together with the “peace with a gun to the head” in Iran, highlight the particular importance of this initiative. EEDYE will host this kind of meeting in Crete for the second time after 2014.

This session of the WPC is expected to focus on the struggle of movements in various countries, against the common enemies of Peace, on the involvement of Greece in the imperialist plans, the complicit role of the governments of NATO and European Union member states, while it will also be a platform for expressing militant and internationalist solidarity with the peoples who are fighting for their just causes.

On June 6 (Saturday), the meeting of the peace movements will be held all day at the Center for Mediterranean Architecture (CMA-Former Grand Arsenal). Representatives of movements from Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Iran, Egypt, Iraq, Tunisia, and guests from the immediately attached countries of Turkey and Cyprus will participate in the conference. A delegation of the Greek Committee for International Democratic Solidarity (EEDDA) will also attend as guests.

The EEDYE will participate with its delegation led by its president Stavros Tassos, while the World Peace Council will be represented by Thanasis Pafilis general secretary and Iraklis Tsavdaridis, executive secretary of the WPC.

On June 7 (Sunday), in the morning, the participants will visit the area near the Souda Base together with the Peace Committees of Chania and the rest of Crete, as a protest demonstration demanding the closure of the Souda Base.

On the same day at 19:30, an open event of internationalist solidarity will be held at the port of Chania, where, in addition to speeches greetings from guests, a speech by Thanasis Pafilis, general secretary of the WPC, will be held. The event will close with a concert and the participation of artistic groups from the region.

The Secretariat of the WPC
26th May 2026