TURKISH troops outnumber National Guardsmen in Cyprus by more than three to one, experts warned yesterday.
According to a study carried out by the Intercollege Strategic Research Centre, the number of Turkish troops in the north has risen to 36,000 this year, compared to 30,000 in 2,000.
Speaking at a news conference yesterday, department head Dr Aristos Aristotelous said Turkey continued to maintain its occupation forces at “extremely high levels of competency,” while the National Guard had cut down its rate of weapons imports and had reduced defence spending as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product.
The study showed that Turkish tanks outnumbered National Guard tanks three to one.
“The number of Turkish tanks is 449, compared to 300 in 2000,” Aristotelous said.
“The National Guard has the same number of tanks as in 2000, 145. For every National Guard tank, there are three Turkish ones today compared to two in 2000,” he added.
“The number of Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) of Turkish forces has risen to 627 from 463 in 2000, while the National Guard has only 402, the same number recorded in 2000.”
Aristotelous said that by maintaining increased military capability, Turkey is trying to maintain the imbalance of military forces on the island to its benefit and thus preserve its dominant negotiating position on the Cyprus problem.
It also aims to underline its insistence in making its military presence and strategic control of the island permanent and to deal with any provocative action against the occupation forces by disgruntled Turkish Cypriots.
Defence spending by the Greek Cypriot government amounted to £193.8 million (3.1 per cent of the GDP) in 2002, compared to £212.7 million (3.6 per cent of the GDP) in 2001 and £244 million (7.4 per cent of the GDP) in 1993.
Aristotelous said the island’s accession to the European Union would increase security on the island and would change the current state of affairs in regard to the Turkish military threat and the dangers the Republic was facing.
However, Aristotelous said new forms of politically motivated dangers and provocations, like small military skirmishes on the ceasefire line and sabotage, were more apparent than before, and added that the military planning and structure between Greece and Cyprus should be re-evaluated.
