‘Strengthening of Cyprus’ deterrent power a top priority’

Bolstering Cyprus’ defence infrastructure is a “top priority” for the government, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Saturday, in advance of a visit to Paphos’ Andreas Papandreou airbase.

“I am glad that we have the opportunity, precisely because of the country’s economic situation, to invest in the upgrading of the Evangelos Florakis naval base and the Andreas Papandreou airbase,” he told reporters.

To this end, he said that “strengthening our country’s deterrent power … because it is directly related to the upgrading of the Republic of Cyprus’ international status, constitutes a top priority for our government, not in words, but with actions”.

During his visit to the airbase, he was briefed regarding work which is to get underway to expand and upgrade it.

Upgrades to the airbase are expected to cost between €10 million and €14m, with Christodoulides having last year suggested that the United States may offer financial assistance to the Republic of Cyprus to assist with the upgrades to both bases.

Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas had said that upgrades at Mari may cost in excess of €200 million.

Aside from upgrades to the bases, military ties between Cyprus and the United States have been strengthened in recent months, with the country having been authorised Cyprus to buy military hardware directly from the US governmentafter joining three programmes run by the country’s department of defence.

Amid this heightened cooperation, Palmas had been keen to stress last year that both the airbase in Paphos and the naval base in Mari are “of Cypriot interest and Cypriot ownership”, and that the bases “will not be transferred out of Cypriot hands, regardless of our cooperation with the Americans and the Europeans”.

“We will continue to serve allies in terms of training, information exchange, and in broader missions, including the removal of their citizens from crisis areas,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Paphos airbase has gained salience in the last month, and is now the stationing site of four Greek F-16 fighter jets, which were transferred to Cyprus after the island was hit by an Iranian-made drone at the start of last month.

Greece was one of a number of countries to deploy military hardware to Cyprus and its vicinity in the aftermath of the drone strike, with France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the United Kingdom having all also done so.

In light of this, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and French President Emmanuel Macron both visited the Paphos base alongside Christodoulides, with Macron saying during the visit that “when Cyprus was attacked, all of Europe was attacked”.

Mitsotakis, meanwhile, stressed that Greece “would be by your side, even if we were alone”, but that “we are not alone”.

“As far as Greece is concerned, from the beginning of this crisis, I set as a basic national priority the security of [Cyprus], a place which is connected to us by the strongest national, historical, and cultural ties,” he said.