Greek opposition demands gov't come clean on arms swap deal with Germany

By Ahmet Gencturk

ANKARA (AA) – Slamming the government on a recent arms swap deal with Germany, the Greek opposition demanded the government explain arms shipments to Ukraine under “opaque and covert dealings,” local media reported.

The main opposition party SYRIZA called for an urgent meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Armament Programs and Contact on the matter, the local news outlet Efsyn said.

“The government, without any shame, insists on hiding and not informing the people and the Parliament about the arms shipments to Ukraine,” deputies Thodoris Dritsas and Georgios Tsipras said in a statement on behalf of the party.

Condemning the government’s “opaque and covert dealings which undermine the country’s defense capacity,” SYRIZA accused Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of making a foreign policy decision on his own, the news outlet reported.

Another political alliance PASOK-KINAL also called on Mitsotakis to inform the parliament about the content of the deal with Germany, and his talks with US President Joe Biden, according to the outlet.

Greek Communist Party (KKE) also blamed the government for concealing the content of the deal with Germany and misleading the public about the inventory of the Greek army.

This deal, the party said, among other things, further expands the country’s involvement in the war in Ukraine at the request of NATO and the US.

On Tuesday, Greece and Germany agreed on an arms swap deal for Ukraine, in which Athens will provide Kyiv with older BMP-1 armored combat vehicles from its own stock, and Berlin in return will deliver newer Marder 1A3s to its fellow EU member nation.