Unanimous vote for Nikiforos go-ahead

THE HOUSE Defence Committee yesterday decided unanimously to support that the National Guard carry out the Nikiforos military exercises this year.

The Nikiforos exercises have been cancelled since 2001 as a good-will sign, hoped to reduce tension between Cyprus and Turkey.

Nikiforos is the biggest annual exercise of the Cyprus National Guard and takes place in tandem with the Greek military exercise Toxotis, an exercise which has also been cancelled as a sign of goodwill in previous years.

“The existence of reliable armed forces that can serve as a deterrent force presupposes training and exercises,” Defence House Committee House President Yiannis Omirou said yesterday, adding that “the leading training of the National Guard is the combined exercise Nikiforos – Toxotis.”

Erratum

It was reported in yesterday’s Cyprus Mail that the US embassy had not commented on whether or not the US was opposed to staging Nikiforos this year.

The US embassy spokesman had in fact issued the following statement: “Cancelling the exercises would be consistent with what has happened in the past few years. We support the demilitarisation of the island, which helps reduce tension and build confidence.”

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.