Exit permits are utterly ‘pointless’

NOT only is the MoD’s exit visa requirement a blatant violation of EU legislation on free movement (see article), it is to a great extent a pointless exercise for both state and the men involved.

Leaving the legal argument aside however, from the army’s point of view there is a certain logic in its insistence on an exit visa in the year (or even two years) leading up to a young man’s conscription – even though this in no way stops someone from moving abroad in a bid to avoid his military service. But demanding all males after the age of 20 who have completed their service to present an exit visa is just downright absurd.

For those who have fully completed their 25 month service, surely the ‘apolitirion’ (release papers) will suffice. Even those who have not completed their full service in the army for whatever reason, but have been granted an ‘apolitirion’, should not need to continue providing an exit visa before leaving the country.

I have not served the full term of the military service but was recently discharged (given an ‘apolitirion’) because I was judged unable to complete my service. That decision is now final and I simply cannot see the reason for being asked to provide a totally pointless exit visa on my way out of the country.

Let us take this example. Seven months into his service, a friend of mine found out that he had an extremely serious medical condition – this is as serious as it gets – and was rightfully granted an exemption from the military service. Now 21, and given the way the current legislation works, he needs to secure an exit visa every time he leaves Cyprus for the next five year. In most cases his trips abroad involve going to England to receive treatment.

This time-consuming practice of securing exit permits is rendered even more pointless in the wake of legislation passed earlier this year which ruled that conscripts who feel unable to do the army would be examined and a decision taken on their military service within one year. Why then is there still such an urgent need for the an exit permit?

There are so many other things that the Defence Ministry could and should be focusing on to buck the trend of ‘draft-dodgers’. Picking on people who have no further obligations to the military should not be one of them.

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.