THE GREEK army contingent in Cyprus, ELDYK, announced it would not be participating in this year’s Nikiforos military exercises, raising more questions about how unified the Unified Defence Dogma between Cyprus and Greece really is.
The news came soon after Greece announced that it would not be conducting the Greek sister exercises, Toxotis, which in the past took place in tandem with Nikiforos.
The exercises have not taken place for the last three years due to outside pressure, primarily from Greece, to reduce tensions between Cyprus and Turkey.
Nikiforos, the National Guard’s largest annual military exercises, started yesterday and will finish on Sunday. According to the Defence Minister, 90 per cent of the reservists will participate in the defensive and offensive exercises, which are designed to respond to an invasion. All of the National Guard’s firepower will be incorporated in the exercises, including for the first time Russian MI-35 combat helicopters.
Cyprus National Guard spokesman Yiannis Patsalides rejected claims made in yesterday’s Simerini newspaper that Greece was withholding the Greek contingent from the military exercises because of pressure coming from the United States, saying that it was only “because Toxotis was cancelled this year”.
Patsalides also rejected the notion that Greece’s absence signalled an end to the Unified Defence Dogma between Greece and Cyprus, saying that they were “just a set of exercises”. He also said he was not aware of reports that the Greek Under Secretary of Defence had declined an invitation to observe the Nikiforos exercises.
It appears that, unlike in past years, no high officials in the Greek military will attend any of the Nikiforos ceremonies. The highest official who will be attending Nikiforos is the Russian Undersecretary of Defence, Mikhail Dimitriev.
On Monday Turkish TV network NTV reported that Turkey would conduct its own military exercises in response to the National Guard’s decision, with military exercises ‘Barbarosa’ to take place in the occupied north and ‘Taurus’ to take place in Turkey.
It was also reported that several armed Turkish jets infringed on Cypriot territory last week on a reconnaissance mission. The military spokesman confirmed that several armed Turkish jets crossed the Green Line and flew over Paphos and then back towards Rizokarpaso. “We filed a complaint. What else do you want us to do, shoot them down?”
The Chief of the Greek army contingent in Cyprus said that the Unified Defence Dogma was as strong as ever, claiming that “if anything happened, then of course, Greece would participate.”
The ELDYK chief went on to downplay that the Greek contingency was not participating in the exercises, even suggesting that the event talking place this week is primarily a media event and that ELDYK “conducts such exercises regularly.”
“Nikiforos exercises take place every year. It’s just that the event for the media hasn’t taken place over the last few years.” Referring to the last three years, when Nikiforos was cancelled, he said that “the exercise has taken place, but the media hasn’t attended.”
Seven soldiers injured on day one of Nikiforos
Seven reservists were injured yesterday morning during the first day of the Nikiforos exercises when a ‘Leonidas’ armored vehicle overturned on the Psevdas to Mofiloti road. The seven reservists, between the ages of 23 and 33, were transported to Larnaca General Hospital for treatment. Director of the First Aid Department Androulla Christodoulidou characterised their conditions as non-critical and said that it has not yet been decided whether the reservists would stay in the hospital for 24 hours. The National Guard is investigating the causes behind the crash.
