Greece Will Remain in NATO, Papandreou Tells Parliament

Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou assured Parliament on Friday that Greece will remain a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Opening a parliamentary debate on defense issues, the socialist leader said that Greece will remain in NATO in order to avoid war with Turkey, also a NATO member and Greece’s key rival for military control of the Aegean Sea.

“We are not pulling out of NATO for reasons of national security and because with such a move, war with Turkey might become inevitable, and not because we believe in a future clash between East and West,” Papandreou said.

The socialist leader also gave the go-ahead for negotiations with the United States after the present five-year accord on bases expires in December, 1988.

“Talks or negotiation with the United States will start from ‘zero base’--the basis that the American facilities legally don’t exist after December, 1988,” he said to applause from deputies representing his Panhellenic Socialist Movement.

The United States has said that for planning purposes, it needs to know this year whether the bases can remain on Greek soil.

Two bases are near Athens and two on the island of Crete.

Papandreou’s party came to power in 1981 calling for an end to U.S. bases in Greece, and had urged withdrawal from NATO.

Papandreou, a former economics professor at UC Berkeley, has toned down the fiery rhetoric that used to anger Western allies since he won a second four-year term in 1985.

Greek-U.S. relations have improved over the past 18 months. Both sides said they have tried to smooth out differences over labor relations at the U.S. bases and a new agreement on two Voice of America relay stations in Greece.

Greece gets U.S. military credits for allowing the four bases and 20 ancillary installations around the country. The credits will total about $340 million this year.