AKEL: Cyprus' subordination to the US does not make it a pillar of security, quite the opposite

In a televised address on 19 June, the head of Lebanon's Shia Islamist group Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, threatened the Republic of Cyprus accusing it of allowing Israel to use its airports and bases for military exercises. 

 

A day earlier, in a statement concerning the meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Cyprus and the USA in Washington DC, the Press Office of AKEL (Progressive Party of Working People) was pointing out:

 

"The Christodoulides government continues on the path of the Anastasiades government in subordinating Cyprus to the strategic plans of the United States in the region through the deepening US-Cyprus military cooperation. This is the core of the Cyprus-US Strategic Dialogue as is evident from the public statements made and about which AKEL will request an official briefing at the level of the National Council and the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee. At the same time, it is clear that the Cyprus problem has been left out of the Cypriot government’s discussions with Washington as if our country faces another greater danger to its security that the ongoing Turkish occupation.

According to press reports in “Phileleftheros” newspaper, HellasJournal and ANT1live, the US Secretary of State also stated that “over the past eight months, the US has learned about the strategic value of the island for military and humanitarian operations.” This puts the Christodoulides government once again before the questions that AKEL has been raising for months and to which it has never responded.

What are the military operations carried out “over the last eight months” in which Cyprus has been involved, i.e. during the period when Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinians has been raging?

When will the Christodoulides government at long last reply to AKEL’s questions about the US use of the British bases in support of Israel in its barbaric war in Gaza?

It also raises the relentless question of how it is possible for Mr. Christodoulides to declare himself a staunch defender of

international law in the case of Ukraine, and at the same time to stand by the side of the Netanyahu government that is slaughtering an entire people?

Cyprus’ subordination to the United States does not constitute a geopolitical upgrade or make our country a pillar of security, but quite the opposite is true. The involvement of the Republic of Cyprus in the further militarisation of the Eastern Mediterranean to serve the USA and its allies in the region is turning our island into an aggressive launching pad of war posing enormous dangers for our people. At the same time, it nullifies the credibility of Cyprus when it asserts respect for international law."

akel.org.cy