Parties band together and accuse US of hypocrisy
IN A RARE show of consensus both opposition DISY and coalition partner AKEL yesterday agreed the US should look at itself before casting aspersions on other countries when it comes to the so-called war on terror.
In its 2006 report on terrorism released on Tuesday, the US State Department claimed that the Kongra Gel/Kurdistan Workers’ Party (KGK/PKK) maintained an active presence throughout Cyprus and reportedly used the island as both a fundraising and transit point.
It was the first time the US has pointed the finger so explicitly at the government-controlled areas and, unlike the 2005 report, which does not mention the PKK, the 2006 version also has no separate section on the north.
It said experts estimated the Kurdish community in the government-controlled area to number 1,500. Among Kurdish-origin Turkish settlers in the north, the KGK/PKK reportedly also enjoyed significant support, the report said.
“Cyprus maintained that it was fulfilling all responsibilities with respect to the EU designation of the KGK/PKK as a terrorist organisation,” it added.
The report also said authorities in both the area under government control and in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots believed there was little risk the KGK/PKK would conduct operations on Cyprus and were reluctant to take any action that they perceived could make the island a potential target for PKK action.
And while the report refers to the Cyprus government’s concerns over the Council of Europe’s (CoE) report this year that Cyprus and a number of other EU countries had facilitated CIA torture flights, the State Department’s report refers to calls the CoE findings “allegations”.
It also reveals that Cyprus, despite the regular anti-American rhetoric by politicians, continues to allow “blanket overflight and landing rights” to U.S. military aircraft supporting operations in Iraq and Afghanistan
While agreeing with statements by AKEL that the US should put its own house in order, DISY assistant chairman Averoff Neophtyou also took the opportunity to take a swipe at the government for allowing the US to do whatever it wanted in Cyprus under the guise of the war on terror.
Neophytou referred to the deal signed between Cyprus and the US in July 2005 that allows US authorities to board Cypriot ships and vice versa in the fight against trafficking in weapons of mass destruction. This was the United States’ first such agreement with an EU member state and the deal was ratified quietly by parliament last November.
Neophytou said no country however powerful had the right to act as the world’s policeman and issue human rights reports.
“There are some things that we agree on with other political parties,” he said. “One of these is that the right to evaluate human rights and make reports on these issues belongs to the international community and the United Nations,” he said.
“At the same time we should look at the reality in Cyprus and question the decision of the government to allow the air space of the Republic of Cyprus to be used for the military action in Iraq. And on top of that Cyprus is the only European country that has ceded its sovereign rights to the US to allow it to search Cypriot ships if in their opinion it’s being used to transport weapons of mass destruction.”
AKEL spokesman Andros Kyprianou hit back at DISY saying the party had its concerns in relation to these matters and has expressed its reservations in parliament on certain things.
“The Cypriot public knows who it was that resisted the plans and schemes of the US that would have cost the Cyprus Republic,” he said, likely referring to the Annan plan.
Kyprianou warned Neophytou when it came to making such accusations and also said the government had proved its concern over the CIA flights by asking the US for explanations.
He said AKEL did not recognise the right of the US to behave as the world’s policeman and that such work should be left to international organisations.
“It would be better for the US to look and see what problems they face in their own counties and not what is happening within other countries under the pretext of fighting terrorism and promoting legislation that limits the civil and human rights in other states,” he said.
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