AKEL: Will the armed forces of Cyprus be defending US interests?
The mission of our country’s armed forces is to defend our homeland and the people of Cyprus, not the interests of any foreign power
The military training which the United States intends to provide to the Republic of Cyprus, as announced today by the US Embassy in Nicosia, represents yet another step in the implementation of the notorious Menendez-Rubio (East Med) law. AKEL had warned from the very beginning that the law – which the Anastasiades government was celebrating – would involve Cyprus in the dangerous geopolitical plans of the US for the Eastern Mediterranean.
This doesn’t just represent Cyprus’ one-sided orientation to the US-NATO axis. It above all promotes the dissolution of Cyprus-Russia relations. In any case the US for the lifting the US embargo on the sale of American weapons to the Republic of Cyprus also set as a demand the ban on Russian ships present in Cypriot ports. The US statement clarified that military training aims at “strengthening military partnerships and international coalitions that defend the national security interests of the United States”.
The government must clarify whether it intends to proceed with this “cooperation” and whether Cyprus’ armed forces will now be ordered to defend American interests. What exactly is this “regional stability” that the United States is promoting, when the Trump administration is inflaming the Middle East with its decisions, violating international law and withdrawing from the international security system? What is the “common understanding of shared international challenges” when the United States, to “keep Turkey in the West”, provides cover for Turkey’s aggressive actions and Erdogan’s flagrant provocative actions against Cyprus and Greece? Will the propaganda machine cultivating illusions about the Anastasiades government’s ‘powerful allies’ that will supposedly shield Cyprus begin once again, allies that in the end never show up to support Cyprus and its people?
AKEL completely opposes the orientation of the Menendez-Rubio law. The mission of the armed forces of our country is to defend our homeland and the people of Cyprus, not the interests of any foreign power. Cyprus has an interest in being a bridge of peace for the peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean and not a military bridgehead for any foreign power, let alone for powers that are responsible for the blood being shed in every corner of the world.
America like Russia have a goal, one hopes, to see the Cypriot identity overcome the dysfunction it suffers from its “Greeks” and “Turks”; what with their position in the world as a Family of Man.
AKEL has demonstrated, with the election of a Turkish Cypriot MEP, that Cypriots exist. Despite the unnatural divide between them, for decades, such an identity, “being” Cypriot has not been usurped from them yet.
Reflecting on the undue influence of interlocutors in Cyprus’ affairs, i ask, who is blameless? Yet, i am hopeful because, in Cyprus, it is possible for these same governments (i.e. the Guarantors, and allies) to demonstrate that despite their differences, they are also accountable to the People, (their People, the world) and their expectations for a Rule of Law that revolves around a single Human condition, where as Individuals they have the same Freedom, without further discrimination or distinction: being equal.
AKEL can do more. As a vanguard they have already joined Cypriots, much to their credit in the Cypriot cause.
But, elections are coming soon (in the occupied north), and i wonder whether such a referendum on Cyprus, and its existence, will be done without a single attempt, from any Party, to demonstrate the unity electors may have, standing under their Flag, the Flag of Cyprus, together, for this notion, “being” Cypriot, as One. And in the coming elections for President, in the Republic itself, who as Cypriots, would they (the Parties) rally in the same cause (and how); for unity?
…of course such an exposition has its risks; in doing so, who does it expose, and what as a result is the consequence?
I imagine that such courage will not go unrewarded though; those silenced for so long will see that their intentions can be realised through their own efforts. That with the simple act of standing together with the Flag, they may identify those not “them” clearly. The notions of “Greekness”, and “Turkishness” will find themselves on the same side of the table, (and at a disadvantage no longer holding the Agenda) facing their opposite, those not like “them”, as such, Cypriots.
While we are divided, Cypriots will continue to live with severe doubts about the rest of the world (why this Problem has dragged on for so long); what they stand for. We leave ourselves dependent on their good values, and exposed to those that are bad. Cypriots, in any case are facilitators of exchange at the cross road to three continents. It demands from us a great deal of integrity, to be credible in such social-exchange. Cypriots are not credible if they cannot demonstrate their own existence, as a People; they will continue to be subjugated in this weakened position, existentially.
What homeland, i ask, before i ask what mission for our armed forces. In any case, nothing prevents these same soldiers learning more from other allies as well. America, like Russia, are good friends. Cyprus in fact has many friends, but one; if we unite ourselves, could we help to unite them? The Problem, let’s not forget is bigger than the problems in Cyprus, although a solution, to the Cyprus Problem would offer the region (and the world) Hope.
…while America is under the Trump regime, nothing is clear as to Principal, and reason. Elections in the near future will leave it to the American People, their own fate. It is not a good time for them either.