Formalising the defence dogma

By a Staff Reporter

DEFENCE Minister Socrates Hasikos said yesterday the Joint Defence Dogma between Greece and Cyprus was now anchored with a new memorandum that would not be affected by changing governments.

The Dogma, agreed in principle in 1993, provides for land, sea and air cover for Cyprus in the event of a fresh Turkish offensive against the island, with Cyprus also providing aid to Greece if it was attacked.

Opposition party AKEL had consistently expressed its concern that there was no formal guarantee to the spoken agreement between the two sides. Hasikos said yesterday that the Council of Ministers and Greece’s State Foreign and Defence Council had approved the document, which formalised the Dogma.

“It is now a bi-governmental agreement between the two countries, Greece and Cyprus.” While Hasikos said he had no doubt either side would have failed to live up to the agreement as it stood, he conceded:

“It is much better, instead of being dependent on situations and time, for there to be a written agreement consented by both countries and which will stipulate what forces are to be employed and rules of engagement followed, so that if there is a crisis, (what will be done) will already have been decided on by both countries.”

“This is a bond between the two countries,” he continued. “Independently of who comes into power in Cyprus or Greece, either PASOK or New Democracy or AKEL or DISY, the agreement will stand.”

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.