FOREIGN Minister George Iacovou yesterday denied press reports in Greece, according to which Cyprus has initiated moves to enter NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme, but conceded that discussion was under way in EU circles regarding the island’s status vis-à-vis the bloc’s security policy and the North Atlantic alliance.
Athens daily Kathimerini carried a piece claiming that Cyprus was working through Brussels to consolidate its participation in PfP, regarded as the ante chamber to NATO itself. According to the authors, it was the EU itself that was encouraging such a development, because both Cyprus’ and Malta’s absence from joint EU-NATO security arrangements was causing more problems than desired.
Citing its sources in the EU headquarters, the article went as far as to claim that NATO would be thrilled to have Cyprus join, because the island could serve as a base for the alliance as it turns its attention to the Middle East and northern Africa.
Moreover, it speculated, the personal friendship between Greek and Turkish leaders Costas Karamanlis and Tayyip Erdogan could help waive Ankara’s longstanding objections to Cyprus joining the alliance. And in closing, the authors hinted that Turkey’s acquiescence would be a trade-off in exchange for Greece’s and Cyprus’ support for Ankara’s EU bid.
“I’m not aware of that press report,” the Foreign Minister told the Cyprus News Agency yesterday, adding, however, that quarters inside the EU were “frustrated” with Turkey’s intransigent stance that Cyprus should be excluded from joint EU-NATO security operations.
But he denied any move has been made by the government to “establish a new relationship with NATO.”
However, Iacovou added he has personally discussed with Javier Solana the issue of Cyprus’ wider participation in the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).
The gist of the newspaper article and Iacovou’s comments seemed to be that Cyprus’ exclusion from the military aspect of Europe’s fledgling Rapid Reaction Task Force posed a problem for the EU; that the cause of this problem was essentially Turkey; and that membership of NATO would be a boon for the island.
But according to defense analyst Aristos Aristotelous, membership (even as partners) in NATO would do more damage than good for Cyprus. The political and diplomatic complications arising would seriously outweigh any advantages (if any) of joining the alliance.
“On balance, we wouldn’t have much to gain,” Aristotelous told the Cyprus Mail.
For one thing, he explained, Cyprus might end up playing off NATO and the EU against one another, pleasing neither as a result, It is well-known that the two organisations are yet to reach an agreement over the exact role of Europe’s Rapid Reaction Task Force, which for the time being has been limited to peacekeeping missions, such as KFOR in Kosovo.
Then there is the issue of the British Sovereign Bases; it is very reasonable the British government would feel the bases’ privileged status threatened by the presence of other NATO-member forces on the island.
And of course there’s Turkey’s opposition; decisions on new NATO members are unanimous, meaning Cyprus would always find this stumbling block in its path.
“Realistically speaking, it would be virtually impossible” for Cyprus to enter the alliance, contended Aristotelous.
“And it’s not even because primarily Turkey is against it,” he added.
To illustrate the point, past efforts by the Cyprus government were met with a cold shoulder from the EU when the former launched a bid to join the military facet of CFSP. The island was left out of military operations precisely because the EU Task Force uses NATO infrastructure.
Attempts by former foreign minister Alecos Michaelides and then defence minister Socrates Hasikos during the Clerides administration fell on deaf ears, despite the fact Cyprus offered use of its harbours and airports for military operations.
As for the assumed benefits to the island’s security, Aristotelous pointed out that currently the alliance does not include a mutual defence assistance clause.
“NATO is now primarily a security, as opposed to a defence alliance,” he explained. Therefore the advantages of membership would not be so clear-cut.
Moreover, such a move might expose the island to a host of dangers, for example international terrorism.
Yet another drawback, according to one school of defence and strategy analysts, is that Cyprus would be entering a military-oriented alliance while it should instead be emphasizing demilitarisation efforts, especially following the island’s accession to the EU.
“I really don’t see it happening, and as things stand it’s probably for the best,” Aristotelous concluded confidently.
