Tour of the Thessaloniki fortress

Alexis Tsipras, president of the Greek Left Cooperation, conducted an official visit to the Heptapyrgion fortress, commonly known as Yedi Kule, in Thessaloniki on 3 October 2026. The site served as a place of incarceration, torture, and execution for political dissidents, communists, and resistance members from the Metaxas dictatorship and Axis Occupation through the Greek Civil War and the military junta. Mayor of Neapoli-Sykies Simos Daniilidis welcomed Tsipras to the facility to discuss local preservation campaigns. Giannis Karliampas, president of the Macedonia-Thrace branch of the Association of Greek Archaeologists, guided Tsipras through the preserved prison wards, individual cells, and isolation quarters.

Reversal of private event listing

Discussions during the visit focused on a plan by the Ministry of Culture and the Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development to include Yedi Kule in a registry of heritage spaces open to subleasing for private gastronomic gatherings. In response to the listing, the Neapoli-Sykies municipal council approved a unanimous resolution requiring the government to remove the monument from commercial catalogues. Coordinated opposition from the Association of Imprisoned and Exiled Resistance Fighters, archaeologists, academic researchers, and local residents resulted in the ministry withdrawing the site from the leasing scheme. Tsipras described the decision as a defense of public heritage against commercial exploitation and revisionism.

“If it is true that Yedi Kule was exempted from the overall commercialization plan, this is a collective victory of local government, the Association of Imprisoned and Exiled Resistance Fighters who reacted, and the local society.”

Mass graves and DNA testing initiative

Mayor Daniilidis informed Tsipras about the discovery of mass graves containing executed inmates directly across from the fortress walls. The municipality of Neapoli-Sykies launched an initiative inviting relatives of the deceased to provide DNA samples to enable the identification of remains dating back to the Civil War. Approximately 87 families from across Greece have submitted requests to participate in the genetic matching process. Tsipras laid a commemorative wreath at the burial site and met with resistance veterans Nontas Ochonos and Adam Dragas to review ongoing municipal efforts to honor the victims.

National debate over memory sites

Tsipras argued that the dispute over Yedi Kule reflects a broader push to disconnect sites of persecution from contemporary national memory. He cited the former prison on the island of Aegina as another example, criticizing proposals to convert that facility into a pistachio museum instead of using alternative municipal locations. He stated that state authorities must preserve locations tied to persecution and political struggles rather than converting them into revenue-generating entertainment venues.

“Cultural heritage is not a commodity. It is a public good, historical memory, and collective property that we have an obligation to pass on intact to future generations.”