Cyprus cannot be used as an aggressive launching pad for waging any war

 

Statement of Neoklis Sylikiotis, member of the Political Bureau of AKEL

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 29th September 2014, Nicosia

 

AKEL stresses its position that the territory of Cyprus cannot be used as an aggressive launching pad for waging any war. The use of the British bases, as well as the statements made by the Government Spokesman that the “Andreas Papandreou” air force base in Pafos will be used by foreign troops in view of the attacks against the terrorist organisation “Islamic State” (IS), involves our country in a war with many dangerous consequences for the region of the Middle East, as well as for Cyprus. Cyprus’ role was and indeed must remain a bridge for peace and the provision of humanitarian assistance to the peoples in the region who are suffering from on-going wars and not a launching pad for military interventions. A war brings chaos and breeds terrorism and it certainly doesn’t combat it, as we have seen in the cases of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria.

It must be underlined that the fundamentalist and criminal organisation IS did not come from nowhere. The IS organization and the so-called jihadists are made up of forces who were supported and armed by the United States, NATO and the European Union in order to promote their geo-political plans in Iraq, Syria, Libya and elsewhere. Today they are being used as a pretext for waging new interventions and wars. At the “right” time, they have exploited the chaos being spread by the successive wars waged by the imperialist forces and the civil conflicts in the region in order to promote their geo-strategic interests in the Middle East.

The international community must react in an organised way utilising the logic of peace, focused on the United Nations and on the basis of the principles of International Law and not by playing an adventurist and tragic game against peace in the region and to the detriment of the peoples.