On Russia…
Article by Georgos Koukoumas, member of the C.C. of AKEL and International Relations and European Affairs Department
25th February 2016
The Centre DIKO, Socialist EDEK, the “Citizens Alliance” and others welcome Russia’s position towards Turkey on the Cyprus problem and call for the strengthening of the relations between Cyprus and Moscow. First, we don’t need to say anything in particular as to which political force and what government strengthened in practice and assertively Cyprus-Russia relations. However, doubts are raised as to whether these specific parties understand what they are seeking really means or as to whether they really mean what they say. Doubts are being raised because on two critical issues, these very parties supported positions which put Cyprus not only in a completely contradictory position to Moscow, but – most importantly – also in violation of positions of principle.
Firstly, all of these parties support Cyprus’ accession to partnership with NATO (namely, the so-called Partnership for Peace). That is to say they are following in the steps of the governing DISY party which is dreaming about accession to NATO itself, which is currently gathering military forces in Eastern Europe in an aggressive formation against Russia, at the same time as the Syrian front is raging. Therefore if Cyprus’ partnership or accession to NATO is ever realized, Cyprus-Russian relations will in all probability be completely ripped to pieces, which have already been tested by the policy of the Anastasiades government. How exactly do these parties believe that our relations with Russia will be strengthened, when Cyprus will be tied to a coalition that is beating the drums of war against Russia?
Secondly, there is the issue of Ukraine, the open and bloody front of Russia with the Euro-Atlantic bloc (NATO, European Union, USA). As it is known, the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement – which is the vehicle to remove Ukraine from Russian influence and to chain it to the West, and which was the fuse that blew up Ukraine – had to be approved by all the Parliaments of the EU Member states. However, last October the House of Representatives of Cyprus no other party – except AKEL – dared to vote against the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, about which the Russian positions were known. DISY-DIKO and EDEK voted in favour this Agreement, while the Ecologists abstained. The patriotic bourgeois forces of the Greek Cypriot community on this issue too proved to be inconsistent.
AKEL, in contrast, takes a different position from all the other political forces, not for Russia’s sake, but from the standpoint of principles and in line with its long-standing positions. Certainly, any possible ramifications that any decision may have on relations between Cyprus and Russia or any other country should be taken into account, but they cannot be the main criterion. AKEL consequently rejects NATO because it opposes its existence, character, history and NATO’s current role in the world. In addition, AKEL opposes NATO because any form of Cyprus’ attachment with NATO – an aggressive military alliance – objectively contradicts the declared position of the Greek Cypriot side for demilitarization of Cyprus. This is a position which is also contained in the unanimous decisions of the National Council of 2009. In the case of the crisis in Ukraine as well, AKEL voted against the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement because it opposes the EU’s rewarding of the current Ukrainian regime which came about as a result of a nationalist pro-Western coup d’état, violating human rights, persecuting communists, attacking its own people in the east of the country and acting as a destroyer of peace in Eastern Europe.
But the interesting thing is that DIKO, EDEK, Citizens Alliance, the Ecologists, do not project the positions of principle AKEL puts forth, nor did they reflect on Cyprus-Russian relations on these two issues. On the contrary, in reality they approach or/and align themselves with the lifelong pro-Atlantic DISY governing party. The most surprising of all is that the same parties do not lose any opportunity to issue statements full of pro-Russian passion, even offering bases and facilities, unconditionally.
However the strong statements demand at least also strong actions throughout the relevant time. In fact, their inconsistent position also reveals something else, namely that the forces of the so-called centre ground, are using the issue of Moscow only in words in order to cultivate the impression that Russia (others say similar things about Israel and envision illusions about “anti-Turkish blocs”) or anyone else on the planet will clash with Turkey for Cyprus’ sake and will solve the Cyprus problem for us as they themselves dream about (and therefore, according to this theory, Cyprus can abandon the talks and postpone the solution until the time of the prophecies). But this is an illusion – if not sheer deception.
