ATHENS — “This is another huge success for Greek foreign policy, a huge success for the country – and for the government, obviously – which is a substantial, practical and qualitative upgrade of our defence relationship with the United States of America,” government spokesperson Yiannis Oikonomou said on Friday in an interview with the radio station “kanali 1 – 90.4.”

The government spokesperson pointed out that there are things in the agreement that have never before been so clearly expressed and which strengthen Greece’s geostrategic footprint to a superlative degree, in terms of the Aegean and the Southeastern Mediterranean.

“It is an agreement which recognises mutuality in the preservation of peace and security in the region, even in the event of the country coming under an armed attack within its territory. This is the first time that such a thing is reflected in a text and it is a real reply to the casus belli with which Turkey has threatened our country. There is a very clear reference to the protection of the sovereign rights of our country, as defined by the International Law of the Sea. It directly refers to our sovereign rights, as far as the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the continental shelf are concerned. In addition, the US presence is being upgraded in key points for Greece, with the most important being Crete, Evros and Alexandroupolis, without excluding from the Agreement the possibility of its extension to the Aegean islands,” Oikonomou underlined.