War of words between ND, SYRIZA over Pyatt’s ‘surprise’ at SYRIZA’s stance on US-Greece defence accord

US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt’s statement that he was surprised with SYRIZA’s criticism of the recently renewed US-Greece Mutual Defence Cooperation Agreement (MDCA) triggered a war of words between ruling New Democracy and SYRIZA.

Main opposition SYRIZA slammed the government over the provision that after the five-year extension agreed to now, the MDCA will be automatically be renewed indefinitely, unless one of the parties withdraws from the agreement.

While ruling ND accused SYRIZA of doubletalk and lies, the main opposition maintains that ND skewed the statements of the US Ambassador and that when it was in power it never negotiated an indefinite extension of the MDCA.
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In a statement, New Democracy said that, “The five-year Greece-US agreement serves our country’s interests and upgrades Greece’s role in the Balkans and the broader region of the Eastern Mediterranean. SYRIZA from the first moment unleashed harsh criticism over “extremely serious concessions” and spoke of an accord “that is not befitting an agreement between two co-equal partners and does not reflect a Greece with independence, dignity, and national sovereignty”.

In an interview with the daily Kathimerini, Pyatt said he was surprised by SYRIZA’s stance as the locations of the four additional military facilities that the US is continuing to develop were identified by SYRIZA and that “the language which is in the agreement is not exceptional.” “ It is language which brings the agreement into line with our other NATO allies”.

“Will SYRIZA deny what the US Ambassador said in his interview? We await its response with interest. Greeks are familiar with Mr. Tsipras’ and SYRIZA’s doubletalk and lies and that know that what it says publicly has nothing to do with what it discusses behind closed doors,” ND’s statement noted.

Common interests, not an ally taken for granted

In a lengthy statement, SYRIZA accused ND of skewing Pyatt’s statements with fake news to hide the fact that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is the first PM after the 1974 post-junta regime change that has signed an indefinite extension of the US  use of Greek military facilities, and indeed with nothing in return.

“Both the US and ND know that the SYRIZA government had not discussed an indefinite agreement and in fact had rejected even a five-year extension,” the statement read.

“To hide the truth, ND is skewing the words of the ambassador, who said verbatim: ‘The language which is in the agreement is not exceptional. It’s language which brings the agreement into line with our other NATO allies.’ ND translates that as ‘the terms employed in the agreement are no different than those discussed with the SYRIZA government.’”

“We never negotiated a legally binding agreement that would cede indefinitely the right to use Greek military facilities, a permanent involvement of Greece in US designs, on the front line, in a period of Cold-War-style tensions in the Black Sea, and indeed with absolutely no US commitment for support in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean.”