Posted on 03/19/2023 11:01:48 AM PDT by Right Wing Vegan
NICOSIA – Nearly a half-century after Turkish invasions seized the northern third of the island – where it keeps some 35,000 troops still – Cyprus’ new President Nicos Christoulides said more will be spent on defense.
He said that 2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product of 26.42 billion euros ($28.41 billion) – about 52.8 million euros ($56.77 million) would be spent on the Armed Forces in different areas.
That comes as the United States is lifting a decades-long arms embargo that held down Cypriot defense while Turkey was buying American arms without conditions and has a huge military advantage on the island.
Writing for Forbes magazine, columnist Paul Iddon – who specializes in military affairs and the Middle East – pointed to the armaments push by Christodoulides, a former foreign minister.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/pauliddon/2023/03/19/cyprus-is-planning-a-new-military-buildup/?ss=aerospace-defense&sh=60abc1003ff2
“As long as there’s an occupation in our country, we are obligated to bolster our deterrent capabilities,” said the President, a month after taking over from his predecessor, Nicos Anastasiades.
Turkey has occupied a self-declared Republic since 1974 although no other country in the world recognizes it, that demand being made now by its hardline nationalist leader Ersin Tatar.
He said he won’t even discuss reunification, citing decades of diplomatic failure and wants unconditional United Nations and world recognition which would allow an occupying army on an island where the legitimate Greek-Cypriot government is a member of the European Union.
NATO asks its members to allocate at least 2 percent of GDP for defense – but Cyprus isn’t a member of the defense alliance while Turkey is – even during soft EU sanctions for drilling for energy off the coast.
Cyprus is the only one of 27 member states not in NATO, and Christoulides said he has no interest in applying because he wants the EU, which doesn’t have a military, to step up its defenses.
Turkey would veto any attempt by Cyprus to join the alliance and he said that the EU needs a military might. “I know that without a strong deterrent force, without a strong defense, your say in foreign policy matters is clearly limited,” he said.
DON’T FIRE AWAY
The report said that his new government is heading toward its biggest military buildup since the 1990’s, bolstered by the end of the embargo although Turkey has a one-sided advantage that can’t be overcome in weaponry and manpower.
Cyprus had turned to Russia for weapons, putting itself further away from western influence and there remains a strong leftist element on the island that sympathizes with Moscow.
George Tzogopoulos, a Senior Fellow at the Centre International de Formation Européenne (CIFE) noted that Cyprus was already spending more on defense as a GDP percentage than most EU countries before Russia invaded Ukraine.
“In 2021, it was ranked fifth in the European list (together with France and Lithuania) after Greece, Latvia, Estonia, and Romania,” he told Iddon, adding that he, too, expects a moderate arms buildup.
In the 1990s, Cyprus acquired Russian-made S-300 missile defense systems but they were sent to Crete after Turkey threatened to destroy them and now is looking for short to medium-range air defense systems, likely from Turkey.
Tzogopoulos said that he believes that Cyprus, under Christodoulides, will probably also expand defense cooperation with the U.S. and Israel. But the piece noted that Christodoulides will find it difficult to get security guarantees from the United States or Israel against Turkey because of conflict interests over national interests.
“He will need to ensure that stronger deterrence will practically function as a peaceful game changer on the Island,” Tzogopoulos said. “History (the 1974 invasion) rather creates pessimism than optimism. So, Christoulides’ task is delicate,” he said of the current dilemma.
“The more Nicosia comes closer to Washington, the more likely it will be pressed to play an active military role in Ukraine, among other things, by supplying to Kyiv Russian-built weapons and get Western alternatives,” Tzogopoulos said.
“The responsibility of Christodoulides is to make sure that closer U.S.-Cyprus ties will not lead to a Turkish-Russian alignment of security interests with the capacity of damaging Nicosia’s national interests on the island. The new President might be squeezed in the rising antagonism of others,” he said.
He also said that Cyprus would have to consider trying to get into NATO at some point although how to get around a certain Turkish veto would problematic while Recep Tayyip Erdogan, facing a re-election, is still in power.
Sweden is begging to get into NATO and Turkey needs influence against Cyprus and the arms embargo from being lifted.
How hypocritical for the Turks to be against Russia, when they’ve had their own illegal occupation for almost 50 years. And they do plan to annex it.
It’s a shame the Greeks weren’t able to liberate Thrace and western Anatolia in the two years following WWI.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Greco-Turkish-wars
Turkey is an ugly country let’s hope they change for the better soon, as unlikely as that possibility is.
For a nation of pigs, it sure’s funny they don’t eat ‘em.
Attack the Turkish scumbags. Paper tiger. Won’t send reinforcements else we charge up the earthquake machine again.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.