NO to the military agreement with Israel!
Position of AKEL Parliamentary Spokesman, Yiorgos Loukaides during the debate in the House of Representatives on the agreement between Cyprus and Israel on the status of their forces
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 31st March 2017, Nicosia
It is very clear that the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Cyprus and the Government of the State of Israel on the Status of their Forces, which is set for ratification today before the plenary of the House of Representatives, is a military cooperation agreement. The specific type of agreements regulates the presence of the armed forces of a foreign country on the territory of another country.
Regional and mutually beneficial cooperation with all the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean is a legitimate objective, which began to be implemented by the previous government. However the militarization of this cooperation and the involvement of Cyprus in military designs is neither in the interests of the Cypriot people, nor does it contribute to peace and stability in our region. At the same time, such policy choices are sending out the wrong signals to the peoples of the Arab world with which Cyprus maintains long-standing and mutually beneficial relations. Cyprus cannot and must not enter into the dangerous logic of competing “regional blocs”.
Our goal as AKEL is to rid Cyprus of any foreign military presence so that it will not function as a bridgehead or military base for any third party. On the contrary, Cyprus must be a bridge of peace, friendship and cooperation between all the peoples of the region.
For these reasons, AKEL will vote against the bill which adopts the military agreement.
