Why didn’t we by the UAVs?

By George Psyllides

THERE WERE no “political approaches” in the House Defence Committee’s decision to reject the purchase of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) from Israel, its chairman said yesterday.

Yiannakis Omirou said the committee and the plenum had examined the proposals submitted by the Defence Ministry and the Tender Board and were “not satisfied that the UAVs fulfilled the expectations and technical specifications set and that was why they had a negative approach”.

Omirou denied there had been a political approach in the decision not to approve the UAVs.

“Any other interpretation could lead to a disturbance in the relations of your country with any other third country”.

In contrast to Omirou’s comments, Defence Minister Socratis Hasikos said the House had cited political reasons resulting in the exclusion of a specific country that had won the tender and is not participating in the new competition.

Hasikos said the Defence Ministry concluded the initial tender but the House judged for political reasons that it did not want to purchase the specific system from this country.

An Israeli company had won the tender but deputies reacted because of the military alliance between the neighbouring country and Turkey.

Hasikos stressed that the system was very important for Cyprus and that a new tender procedure was underway. He added the technical committee should make its suggestions in 15 days so that the tender could be awarded.

The minister said that the House judged for political reasons that it should exclude procurement of the particular system from the particular country adding that Cyprus was a democratic country and the distinction of authorities should be visible to avoid such interventions.

Hasikos said the House could not define foreign policy arguing that that was clearly a matter for the executive.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.