By Penelope Galliou
The sealing in strategic importance Greece-US defense cooperationis expected to be the vote today by the Plenary Session of the Greek Parliament, the Agreement on Mutual Defense Cooperation of the two countries, which is introduced for discussion and voting, in the presence of the Prime Minister and the political leaders,
The agreement that was signed last October in Washington by Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and the Anthony Blinken’s American counterpart will have a duration of at least five years and its main forecast is the expansion and deepening of the US military presence in four new military installations, in Volos, in Litochoro Pieria, in Alexandroupolis and in the Souda Naval Base. It also provides for what is allowed for at least five years in the US government to maintain and operate military and auxiliary facilities within the facilities of the Greek Armed Forces at Larissa Air Base, at the Stefanovikeio Magnesia Army Air Base and at other facilities that will be agreed upon.
The attitude of the parties
This is an agreement, which since its signing in Washington had provoked the reactions of the opposition parties, except for PASOK – Movement for Change, which together with ND support the agreement.
The position on the climate that is expected to prevail in today’s debate was already given by the Prime Minister during his closing speech at the ND congress, when he noted that in Parliament “everyone will vote with their opinion on how they perceive the country’s strategic alliances” .
Respectively, Alexis Tsipras in an interview had criticized the content of the defense agreement, claiming that “Mr. Mitsotakis is the first prime minister to grant indefinite military facilities to the United States, without negotiating specific exchanges.”
After the voting of the agreement by the Committee on Defense and Foreign Affairs of the Parliament with the vote of ND and PASOK-Movement for Change, no surprises are expected during the voting, which will be nominal and in order to ratify the agreement it is required to vote by an absolute majority of the total number of Members, ie at least 151 Members.
The symbolism
Apart from the substantial weight of the vote on the Greece-US agreement for the further upgrading of the relationship between the two countries, it also emits a strong symbolism in every direction. “The Greece-US Mutual Defense Agreement is a tool to feel safe internally so that we can broaden our horizons, increase our perception of things and not return to phobic syndromes that instead of empowering us, weaken us and trap us. “We believe in the need for Greece to be open in the Balkans and not to be a prisoner of Greek-Turkish disputes,” Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said in a speech to the Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee.
With the agreement in the “suitcase” the Prime Minister’s trip to Washington
The now-voted defense cooperation between Greece and the United States will be another important piece in the “puzzle” of Greek-American relations, which the prime minister will carry in his “suitcases” during his trip to Washington.
A trip during which, according to government sources, the Prime Minister will, among other things, address stability issues in the Eastern Mediterranean, with Turkey being widely known to be the big player constantly creating problems. However, as the same source clarified, this trip is not going to be anti-Turkish, but purely Greek. After all, the goal of the Prime Minister and the Greek government is to highlight the advantages of our country in terms of geopolitical stability in our region and how we can contribute to increasing regional security.
The piece of the “puzzle”, however, that does not seem to “connect” with the rest, was the Wall Street Journal article that the Biden government asked the leaders of the US Congress to approve the sale of advanced weapons systems and other equipment for the fighter fleet. F-16 aircraft of Turkey. However, according to the same report, some US lawmakers, including high-ranking Democrats in both houses of Congress, oppose the sale of the aircraft, citing objections to Ankara’s ties with Russia and human rights concerns in Turkey. The State Department, however, “does not publicly confirm or comment on the proposed defense transfers until they are officially notified to Congress,” a spokesman said, adding that the Turkish Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, what has become known to me is that after the Greek Prime Minister’s trip to Washington and his meeting with US President Joe Biden, on May 18, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt ÇavuÅŸoλουlu will travel to the US to meet with his US counterpart Anthony Anthony B. the coveted Biden-Erdogan meeting never took place.
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