ATHENS — "The announcement of the NATO Secretary General about the existence of an agreement between Greece and Turkey, in order for technical talks to proceed, necessarily means one of two things: either the government has secretly agreed to such a thing or NATO is trying to create a fait accompli and force an outcome, with the knowledge of the government, which is once again exposed. In any case, it is shown that NATO promotes dangerous settlements, using the logic of equal distances and joint management, that aid and abet Turkish aggression," the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) said in an announcement on Friday. The party was commenting on an announcement by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg that he had brokered a Greek-Turkish agreement to begin 'technical talks' on "establishing deconfliction mechanisms" in the Eastern Mediterranean.

According to KKE, along with the New Democracy government, all the parties in the Euro-NATO arc were left similarly exposed, especially main opposition SYRIZA, whose position on the issue "essentially [exonerates] NATO for the dirty role it is playing at the expense of the sovereign rights of the country," the announcement added.

"Every day confirms just how dangerous for the people is the policy that embroils the country in the plans of the US – NATO and the EU, whose role is associated with the worsening of Greek-Turkish relations and competition in the Eastern Mediterranean generally at the expense of its people," it concluded.