Is conscription for Cyprus' minorities really a case of equal rights equal duties?

Last year, the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) altered its military service law requiring Cyprus’ minorities (the Cypriot Armenians, Latins and Maronites) to be mandatorily conscripted to the army. Seen as fair treatment by some, the new law is set to come into effect within weeks. Although the RoC government has entered discussions with minority community leaders on the issue, the new duty is proving to be an unwelcomed imposition for some non-Greek / Turkish Cypriots. 

POLITICAL FODDER

It is not the first time it has been mandatory for Cyprus’ minorities to conscript to the National Guard. Between 1963 and 1974 the minorities joined the National Guard.  After the events of 1974, President Makarios decided that since so many Maronites remained in the enclaved in the north, that the minorities be exempt from military service. The exemption was readily seen as a way to protect the dwindling numbers of the community in the south.

The law changed again in 1988 after DISY’s George Vassiliou insisted that  Cyprus’ minorities should do military service like all RoC citizens, bowing to Greek Cypriot resentment over the ‘special’ treatment of minorities. Then the law changed again when Glafcos Clerides came to power; minorities were again exempt from doing military service. But the minorities continued to be used as political fodder once again after the election of Tassos Papadopoulos in 2003. Taking a misinformed popular line that Cyprus’ minorities are somehow ‘spoilt’ or ‘over-privileged’, Cyprus’ minorities were once again required to do military service. The law was altered in 2007 by Greek Cypriot deputies in the House of Representatives and is set to come into effect on July 5 2008.  

A CASE OF EQUAL RIGHTS AND EQUAL DUTIES?

In theory military service law is designed promote equality among citizens. Former Defence Ministry spokesman Yiannis Patsalides once uttered: “Equality in rights means equality in conscription. We are all citizens of the same Republic.” But the reality is rarely as black and white as Patsalides insinuates. 

Days after the military service law was passed through the House of Representatives, the Maronite House representative Antonis Hadjiroussos told the Cyprus Mail’s Jean Christou: “The government decided on the law and there is no way out. “We are embittered because of the attitude towards us from incumbent governments, which showed indecision as to whether they wanted to pass the law or not.  
“Although we concur that it is one’s duty to serve the National Guard, the reasons our community was exempted (in the past) are still very much valid: in its totality, the Maronites are a community of refugees and enclaved. Citing his reasons for objecting a military duty, Hadjiroussos continued: “because of the conscription, the Turkish Army will make it harder for Maronites to visit their villages in the north. In addition, it hampers current efforts which aim to resettle Maronites in villages in the north that have dwindling populations and are on the verge of extinction.  Referring to the consequences of the bill for the Cypriot Maronite community, Hadjiroussos added: “The villages must be kept in existence until a solution to the Cyprus problem has been found.”

Conscripting to the army would undoubtedly cause male members of the community problems in re-entering the north. The military in both north and south are in “attack mode” and in the absence of a solution the latter may well be considered spies on arrival to the north and may face additional obstacles if they ever want to return to their villages. Military service thus poses not only an unnecessary burden for this community but threatens their very ability to return to the north condemning them to assimilation in the south. One expects the government who is aware of the plight of the Maronites to be more sensitive to this issue.  

ASSIMILATION

Assimilation is a major concern to Cypriot Maronites, a 1500 year old community whose roots lie in Lebanon and Syria and whose endangered language is closer to the language of Jesus Christ than it is to any living language. Like education, military service in the Republic of Cyprus, despite the fact that it is an officially bilingual and multi-ethnic state is flagrantly geared towards Greek nationalism much like military service in the north. While Maronites, Armenians and Latins are only too content serving the security and defence of their common homeland Cyprus, they do not share the same enthusiasm for protecting Greek or Turkish nationalism with which they have no connection.

In actual fact many robustly object to military service in the National Guard where singing the Greek national anthem is mandatory, where Greek nationalist symbols dominate and where they are required not to defend the Republic of Cyprus but to defend Hellenism.

Hardly Cypriot symbols that reflect Cyprus’ diversity, the National Guard Emblem consists of the Two-headed Eagle. The symbol founded in 1964 has long been a mystical symbol of Hellenism since the ancient times.  It was first used as a symbol of power during the Byzantine years. One wonders why such a symbol is chosen for the army of the multi-communal, multi-faith Republic of Cyprus in the 21st century. But it gets worse. The symbol is also a Christian symbol; the official emblem of the Patriarchates throughout the Orthodox world. Not forgetting that Muslim Turkish Cypriots are also Republic of Cyprus citizens, the minorities who are at times called “religious minorities” are made up of Roman Catholics, Maronite Catholics or Apostolic Christians, in other words non Orthodox Christians believers. The symbols they are asked to swear an oath to do not represent them, so why would they be concerned with them? Hardly a way to promote allegiance, I wonder would Greek Cypriot conscripts be content doing military service while swearing an oath to Islam or to the Virgin Mary?

Quite justifiably, Cyprus’ minorities, in particular the Maronites feel the squeeze of assimilation once again and undoubtedly the community is not looking forward to the next two weeks.  

RESPONSABILITY

If citizens are indeed equal in a state that is still officially bilingual, evidently multi-communal and multi-faith then why are citizens belonging to minorities forced to sing the Greek national anthem, swear an oath to protect Hellenism in Cyprus and conduct their duty under the symbols of Greek Orthodoxy?  Unquestionably, the symbols of Greek Orthodoxy concern only the Greek Cypriots and cannot represent Cyprus as a whole.

Furthermore why is a community like the Maronites who are entirely made up of refugees from 1974 being forced to conscript to the National Guard when the government knows full well that the community would effectively face obstacles when travelling to their ancestral homes in the north. This is not an issue of equality but a shameful case of insensitivity on the part of the RoC government.

Cyprus’ minorities are right to complain of assimilation if their own government uses them as political fodder to satisfy unjustified resentment by some of their voters.  Majority rule and dominate can never fully be applied to Cyprus which is culturally, ethnically diverse and where there is more than one faith and even different denominations of the same faith. To try to impose this is a recipe for disaster. That’s not to say a majority community be deprived of its votes, but the Republic of Cyprus, the only internationally-recognised legitimate government in Cyprus has a huge responsibility on its shoulders to protect the interests of all her citizens particularly if that government supports unity. The RoC must cease behaving like a Greek Cypriot government and demonstrate greater cultural awareness in its own territory and above all respect for its diversity. Minorities cannot be used as political toys. To ensure the survival of all communities, the RoC must show more tolerance, respect and ensure its own institutions like the military are not used as organs of Greek nationalism but are truly Cypriot institutions. It is time the government of Cyprus acted like a government of Cypriots and not of Greek Cypriots.