A PROPOSAL by DISY to reduce the period of military service has angered government officials and deputies from AKEL and DIKO.
Last Friday, DISY deputy and former defence minister Socratis Hasikos caused a stir by suggesting the government reduce the period of national service to 14 months from the current 25, while also arguing the National Guard should recruit more professional officers.
DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades said yesterday that Hasikos’ proposal was a party initiative, adding that upgrading to more professional officers would upgrade the army, and not abolish it.
Anastassiades added that those criticising the proposal should wait until it had been revealed in full before launching attacks against it.
“For those asking why Mr Hasikos did not mention this plan in the past, the answer is simple. Back in 2002, the political situation on the island was very different compared to 2003 and onwards.
“First of all, today we have the easier relations on the island, we have the free movement of Greek and Turkish Cypriots across the Green Line, we have the de-mining in the buffer zone, we have Cyprus’ accession to the European Union, we have decreased military activity and we have cut down military exercises.
“However, and more importantly, we have the undeniable fact that in the past three years, since the Papadopoulos government has been in authority, expenditure in the defence budget has been slashed. Military expenditure in 2002 stood at £235 million. Now it is around £70 million.
“What Mr Hasikos is asking for on behalf of DISY is not the abolition of the military but instead an upgrade of the National Guard with professional personnel and with the abolition of bringing in thousands of reservists who, as we all know, hardly go in for the military exercises when called up.
Government Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides yesterday told reporters that Hasikos had been out of line to speak so publicly about his party’s new proposal, adding that the DISY deputy was simply using the army as an excuse to gain votes ahead of the upcoming elections.
“My question is this, why didn’t Mr Hasikos wait to submit his proposal officially, in full as he later stated, to the House Defence Committee and the government before launching his ‘advertising campaign’ on his proposal? It is nice for someone to ‘sing sweet music to the ears of citizens’ with nice, big words but we must all be serious when it comes to matters of defence and we must all show respect to the efforts being made by the National Guard.”
Chrysostomides added DISY’s proposal was unrealistic.
“What exactly has changed since 2002? Have the occupation forces retreated from the island? So how do they figure that the defence needs of the Republic have been reduced? I believe that they should be looking at all factors of the island’s defence. That is one of the reasons that they should have submitted the proposal properly.”
But Anastassiades dismissed Chrysostomides’ comments saying that it was absurd to suggest electioneering, between presidential and parliamentary votes, elections on the island occur almost every two years.
“Our aim is to open a discussion with all the political parties and not to come into confrontation with anybody and is certainly not an attempt to gain extra votes as some people are implying. We have to accept that in Cyprus we have elections every two years and we cannot have people accusing other people of populism because an idea or proposal is to be announced.”
