We’re not blocking army service reduction, says deputy

NOBODY is stopping the government from reforming the National Guard and reducing military service, DISY deputy Socrates Hasikos said yesterday.

Hasikos was responding to recent statements by Defence Minister Costas Papacostas, who said parliament’s rejection of his proposal on how to go about the whole affair would prevent the reform and service reduction from ever happening.

“The parties couldn’t and can’t prevent the government from realising its promise to reduce military service,” said Hasikos. “On the contrary, all parties agree the army should be reformed and military service reduced.”

He wondered why the government had decided to postpone its decision to do it. “We won’t accept that just because the parties expressed certain disagreements or concerns, that the promise of it being made a reality just stops.”

Hasikos also wondered why in other burning matters, such as Cyprus joining the Partnership for Peace, the views of the vast majority of the public hadn’t been taken into consideration.

“I am saying this in order to clarify without a shadow of a doubt that nobody is opposed to a reaction of military service,” he said. “If the government believes in its pre-election promises, it can realise them at any given moment.”

In response, AKEL deputy Aristos Aristotelous said DISY played a primary role in stalling plans for the NG reform.

He added that the government had secured the advice of experts on whether the reduction was feasible, but as the majority of the House Defence Committee had rejected its proposals, plans had to be stalled.

“The opposition has young conscripts to answer to; on one hand, DISY is telling the government not to go ahead with reforming the National Guard and reducing military service and on the other, it keeps promoting and supporting a reduction of military service to 14 months,” said Aristotelous.

“While [DISY presidential candidate] Ioannis Kasoulides’ promised to reduce army service prior to the elections, the party is now finding excuses. They need to be honest and not say one thing and act otherwise.”

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