The United States, the imperialist power which played a dark role in the 1974 Turkish invasion and division of the island, is back in Cyprus.
The goal is always the same: the protection and promotion of the U.S. imperialist interests in the broader region of Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, in competition with other forces, such as Russia, China and Iran.
In the face of President Nicos Anastasiadis and his government, the U.S. administration has found a willing ally who is ready to satisfy the needs of the superpower, thus engaging Cyprus in extremely dangerous imperialist plans and competitions.
Last Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy in Nicosia announced the State Department's plan to provide Military Education and Training to Cyprus’ National Guard.
The General Secretary of the CC of AKEL (Progressive Party of Working People) Andros Kyprianou reacted to this decision, condemning Anastasiades' government for accepting to play the role of serving U.S. interests in the region.
More specifically, in a statement after a meeting with the Cypriot Minister of Defense Charalambos Petrides, the General Secretary of AKEL pointed out:
"I am also forced to raise the issue which has arisen with the announcement made by the United States, namely its desire to train the Cypriot army. I put it this way because we believe that this announcement must not be judged on its own. This announcement is part of a broader plan, which stems from the formulation of the relevant legislation for the charting of a strategy on US national security issues in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
We are familiar with the Rubio-Menendez law. In it, the United States make it clear that their goal and priority is to remove any Russian, Chinese and Iranian interests from the region. And they will use three countries, they say, to achieve their goals: Cyprus, Greece and Israel. When we raised these issues, the government told us that these are unilateral decisions taken by the United States, that they do not have the support of the government and that Cyprus will never get involved in such an effort. We therefore declare that little by little all these decisions are being implemented.
I would also like to say the following. If the United States had the good intention to come here to the region and help us politically, militarily, financially, in the field of tourism, replacing all these inflows that we have today from Russian and Chinese capital, from Russian and Chinese tourists, support us politically against Turkey, which is engaging in provocative and aggressive actions against Cyprus, some people might say “okay, let’s go along, let’s attach ourselves to the chariot of the United States and in exchange gain some concrete rewards to the benefit of Cyprus and the Cypriot people”.
Unfortunately, neither in the field of economics, nor in tourism, but even more so nor in the political field, has the United States shown any intention of supporting Cyprus against Turkey’s provocative actions. On the contrary, the recent statements by both Mr. Pompeo and the US Ambassador say that “we support Cyprus, we support the just cause it has on its side, but Turkey is a very important ally for us and we are not going to provoke any problems with Turkey”. As a matter of fact, the statement by EU High Representative J. Borell was characteristic that in the teleconference they had with Mr. Pompeo, Mr. Pompeo raised two issues: the escalation of the crisis in Libya and the attempt to keep Turkey far away from Russia and China – contrary to all that the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Cyprus was saying that a very strong transatlantic message would be sent to Turkey.
We therefore consider that the US are trying to promote their strategic interests. The government accepts that Cyprus should play the role of serving those interests, without the interests of the Republic of Cyprus being served in any corresponding way whatsoever."
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| AKEL Gen. Secretary Andros Kyprianou. |
During an interview to "Astra" radio station on Friday, Andros Kyprianou expressed serious concerns that Cyprus' relations with Russia have been adversely affected:
The goal of the US is the promotion of their interests in the eastern Mediterranean by removing Russia and China from the region and this is recorded in the Rubio-Menendez law, which states that Cyprus, Greece and Israel are to be used for this purpose, the General Secretary of AKEL A.Kyprianou told ‘Astra’ radio station commenting on the US intention to provide military training to the National Guard in Cyprus.
The General Secretary of AKEL pointed out that despite the government’s references, Cyprus’ relations with Russia have already been adversely affected and recalled that Russian ships have not been allowed to dock for two years in Cyprus ports, and that numerous agreements that have been signed between the two countries for some years now are not proceeding. It appears that there is no agreement on the double taxation issue between Nicosia and Moscow. He also wondered what would happen if Cypriots were called upon to fight for American interests in the region.
