Hasikos blasts army promotions procedure

DEFENCE Minister Koullis Mavronikolas yesterday denied allegations that recent promotions and retirements in the army had not taken into consideration the individual qualifications of the officers.

The allegations were made by former defence minister Socratis Hasikos who claimed the promotion board had not “taken into consideration the criteria specified by the law and the file of each officer it was asked to judge.”

“The decisions were based on other criteria and were not based on meritocracy and justice,” Hasikos said.

The former minister added that the law provides that an officers’ grade and general education be taken into consideration during the procedure. Among these criteria were whether the officer was a graduate of a military academy, graduation ranking and knowledge of foreign languages, he said.

Hasikos charged that officers who did not speak any foreign languages were being promoted and military academy graduates were retired.

“You cannot retire someone who is a military academy graduate and at the same time promote someone who is a high-school graduate,” Hasikos said.

He said there was no need for the promotions to be carried out at this point, charging that the board could have respected the general staff suggestion to wait until after the end of the talks on the Cyprus problem.

Speaking at a news conference later yesterday, Mavronikolas rejected Hasikos’ allegations, adding that the procedure was completely legal and satisfactory.

He said the ministry was ready to present further documentation before the House Defence Committee for every case or complaint.

Concerning the general staff suggestion, Mavronikolas said the army command did not make suggestions before consulting with the ministry.

Concerning the possibility of disgruntled officers filing lawsuits against their early retirement, the minister said: “Everyone has legal rights, which cannot be taken away by anyone.”