CYPRUS’ handling of the Gaza flotilla affair has been inexplicable from beginning to end. On Monday the strongest of words issued from President Demetris Christofias condemning the deaths of pro-Palestinian activists who tried to break the blockade on Gaza.
The Foreign Ministry also issued a statement reiterating its position for the “immediate, continuing and unconditional access of humanitarian aid, commercial products and people to and from Gaza”
NGOs “should be left to act freely in the framework of the legitimacy and the respect of law” it said.
Only five days ago the same government was projecting an almost paranoid fear of the Gaza flotilla, which it had previously assisted on several occasions. The convoy was told to stay out of Cyprus’ waters, and any ships flying the Cyprus flag would be struck off the register if they went to Gaza.
The “vital interests” of the country were cited. Speculation has put these down to Israeli pressure, concern over the proposed Haifa-Famagusta ferry, and offshore hydrocarbons, all of which have been predictably dismissed. More likely it all had to do with the heavy Turkish involvement in the Gaza operation and rumours of Turkish agents being part of the flotilla.
In this context Cyprus may have had has every right to look out for its own interests.
What is at issue is how far the authorities went. Last Friday they prevented a group of local and foreign MPs from boarding speed boats so they could join the flotilla in international waters off Cyprus. The police spokesman said: “Anything to do with” the Gaza mission was “prohibited’ even though the small boats carrying the 20 or 30 MPs were not going to sail to Gaza, only to the edge of our territorial waters.
The ill-conceived move constitutes a restriction on the freedom of movement of a group of law-abiding EU citizens, including Cypriots within the territory of the Republic.
Advising would-be protesters of possible dangers is one thing but actually stopping people from leaving the island to exercise their democratic right to join a protest outside of Cyprus, goes beyond the “vital interests” of the country and into the realm of individual rights violations.
This was in the main ignored by most of the media which focused on the frowned-upon fact that the EU MPs went north to join the flotilla through the occupied port of Famagusta. No one questioned why they were forced to take that action in the first place.
Now the government comes out five days later championing the rights of NGOs to move freely. This shows Cyprus up as no less hypocritical than UN-censured human-rights violator Israel – for its self-righteousness – and Turkey for its outrage over the whole affair.
