http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=44157 <http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=44157&cat_id=1> &cat_id=1
Cyprus Mail February 21, 2009 Kyprianou accuses NATO of spreading death and destruction By Charles Charalambous Reactions came thick and fast yesterday to the European Parliament (EP) vote to adopt the report on EU-NATO relations by Finnish MEP Aro Vatanen. The report, which was approved by a relatively small majority – 293 votes for, 283 against, 60 abstentions – broadly endorsed the Presidency Conclusions of the December 2008 EU Summit, and included a clause inserted by Cypriot MEP Yiannakis Matsis calling on the Cyprus government to join NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme. AKEL General Secretary Andros Kyprianou described the move by Matsis and support for his position by fellow DISY MEPs as “unacceptable and unethical”. Describing NATO as “an aggressive organisation that has scattered death and destruction in many corners of the world”, and one which “continuously violates international law and the UN Charter”, Kyprianou wondered whether Cyprus should abandon its reliance on international law and the UN Charter, which so far had provided a “shield of protection for freeing and reunifying the Republic of Cyprus”. He also said that PfP membership would involve submitting defence plans and defence budgets regularly to all NATO members, include Turkey, adding: “If that doesn’t bother some people, they should say so openly to the Cypriot people.” He also turned his fire on the European Parliament itself, saying: “It is unacceptable for a democratic country, operating on a completely democratic basis, to have its sovereignty compromised and have opinions imposed on it from abroad, wherever that opinion may come from.” What was unexpected is that, according to Matsis, the result of the vote was influenced by intense lobbying: “If three countries – Greece, Cyprus and Turkey – had not pushed for a vote against the motion, I estimate that as many as 90 percent of MEPs would have voted in favour.” ..... DISY President Nicos Anastassiades acknowledged that the final decision on PfP membership lay with the government, “but at the same time people should be aware that we are part of Europe”, adding that “we should behave like real Europeans and not like eurosceptics standing on the fringes.”
