Menendez-Rubio bill seeking to lift the US arms embargo on Cyprus

Statement by AKEL-Left-New Forces Parliamentary Representative Yiorgos Loucaides

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 17th April 2019, Nicosia

The Anastasiades government, Foreign Minister N. Christodoulides and the governing DISY party are celebrating about the Menendez-Rubio bill, which was tabled in the US Senate, even going to the extent of tabling a resolution in the House of Representatives, in which they welcome this initiative and its content.

We reiterate that it is correct to seek the lifting of the arms embargo imposed unjustly by the US on Cyprus. At the same time, however, we on the one hand stress that the Cyprus problem will not be solved by military means, but through negotiations and on the other hand that the potential militarization of the Cyprus problem will lead us to dangerous adventures.

We further make it clear that AKEL is in favour of strengthening the relations of the Republic of Cyprus with all the permanent members of the UN Security Council – without any exceptions and within the framework of a multilevel foreign policy. AKEL supports the strategic transformation of Cyprus into a bridge of peace and cooperation with the states of the South East Mediterranean. The Anastasiades-DISY Government too presents itself, verbally, as adopting this framework.

However, a simple reading of the Menendez-Rubio draft bill is sufficient to conclude that this represents a Cold War strategy seeking to combat the Russian presence and influence in the South East Mediterranean, as the text itself notes in numerous references to the Russian Federation. Aiming at the complete domination of the US in the region, the authors of the bill, include, in this anti-Russian strategy, also the exploitation of the Republic of Cyprus going, inter alia, as far as its accession to NATO’s “Partnership for Peace”.

We therefore call on the Anastasiades-DISY Government to explain to the people how the foreign policy they are pursuing is multilevel, that it is not directed against any country and does not seek to exclude any country when they welcome the content of a draft bill that integrates the Republic of Cyprus into a Cold War strategy against a permanent member of the UN Security Council, which for decades has been supporting the Republic of Cyprus in a variety of ways.

Finally, as to the insistent dogmatism of the government ruling forces arguing that “Cyprus belongs to the West”, we will insist on the position that “Cyprus belongs to its people” and that our foreign policy must serve the well-intentioned interests of our people and not of any third party.