Six parliament members from DIKO, DISY and ELAM have formed a cooperation group with the Israel Allies Foundation (IAF) to strengthen ties between Cyprus and Israel. They also aim to counter what they described as Turkish aggression and terrorism in the region. Members of the group met President Nikos Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace on Wednesday morning, together with an IAF delegation led by the foundation’s president, Josh Reinstein.
Speaking on behalf of the group after the meeting, DIKO parliament member Chrysis Pantelides said its purpose was to develop parliamentary diplomacy and tighten cooperation and alliance between Cyprus and Israel. He said the group would pursue common goals in tackling the challenges and dangers in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, and also in confronting “Turkish expansionism and aggression and terrorism, which unfortunately is also supported by Turkey”.
ELAM parliament members Sotiris Ioannou and Marios Pelekanos and DIKO parliament member Andreas Apostolou also attended the meeting. Pantelides said a formal ceremony to establish the group would be held at the House of Representatives.
The Cyprus group is the IAF’s 68th parliamentary group, Reinstein said. Founded almost 20 years ago, the foundation has set up 67 groups supporting Israel in parliaments around the world, from Fiji to Brazil, the largest of them in the US Congress. With the Cyprus group, the network now covers 1,700 parliament members and legislators from 68 countries. The IAF had decided strategically to launch a group in Greece on Tuesday and one in Cyprus on Wednesday, to highlight the alliance between Israel, Cyprus, Greece and the United States, he said.
Reinstein said he and Christodoulides had discussed the excellent relations between the two countries. “I believe that, under his presidency, our relations have developed at an unprecedented pace,” he said.
Many people focus on the fact that the two countries have a common adversary in the Muslim Brotherhood and Turkey, Reinstein said, but in truth they have much in common. He cited economic ties, work on undersea fibre-optic cables and other initiatives under way, which he said benefit both Cyprus and Israel.
In the coming weeks and months, the IAF will discuss concrete plans to strengthen relations in the region, to boost cooperation in the wider Baltic region and at European level, and then to extend that cooperation across its global network, Reinstein said. He said there were many positive signs of support for Israel in Latin America, Eastern Europe and the South Pacific islands, and that the United States remained Israel’s most important ally. However, this region had now taken on particular importance, and the cooperation could contribute to its peace and prosperity, he said.
Background
The initiative follows the launch on 30 September of a Cyprus chapter of Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI), a separate cross-party group of legislators, by parliament members from the same three parties. The TFI chapter is chaired by DIKO leader Nikolas Papadopoulos, with Ioannou among its vice-chairs. DIKO, DISY and ELAM together hold 33 seats, a majority in parliament. AKEL and other parties often described as anti-establishment have repeatedly criticised Cyprus’s foreign policy, particularly on Israel.
(with information from CNA)
