Recognizing the need to monitor the green line to prevent migrant flows from the occupied territories, MPs and police organisations expressed questions and doubts on Friday in relation to the recruitment of 300 contract police officers for surveillance of the green line.
The debate continued at a meeting of the Parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee on Friday, with the committee's chairman, DISY MP Nikos Tornaritis, making an appeal to the parties to vote on the bill as soon as possible.
As he said, the 300 contract workers will also be armed and will have increased powers of surveillance of the Green Line, as a measure to tackle the serious problem of illegal immigration and Turkey's own involvement in this hybrid war. He hoped that all parties would feel the weight of the issue as soon as possible and proceed soon to the adoption of this very serious bill. He added that the cost, which will amount to around 10 million euros, will be covered by the EU.
AKEL MP Andreas Pasiourtides said that some of their questions have not yet been answered and serious issues are raised which, he said, also touch on the political aspect of the Cyprus problem. He added that questions are raised as to whether those who will be entrusted with these tasks will have drastic powers and responsibilities, which require a specific form of training, which they will not receive due to the shortness of the recruitment process. He added that they would wait for these issues to be clarified before taking a position on the whole issue.
He also noted that the Green Line and its regulation is a regime that has been created for specific reasons and cannot accept either legislatively or de facto the establishment of a hard border, and that untrained citizens will be armed overnight and will have to deal with specific incidents that may or may not result in unpleasant outcomes. He added that they recognize that the increased migratory flows need to be managed and are ready to contribute constructively.
ELAM MP Sotiris Ioannou said that certain political parties are putting obstacles in the way of promoting the establishment of a special police force to guard the green line to counter the hybrid war from Turkey to the Republic of Cyprus. ELAM, he added, supports any effort to tackle the migration problem, and is productive on this issue.
The MP of the Democratic Forces Coalition, Alekos Tryfonides, said that the surveillance of the green line to reduce the admission of migrants to the territory of the Republic of Cyprus is very important, adding that they asked for clarifications on the duties, responsibilities and activity that the 300 contracted police officers will have and were given explanations on the plan in place. He added that they expressed serious concerns about what was happening in the buffer zone where illegal immigration, cigarette and drug trafficking with migrants living in shacks in the buffer zone was taking place. He added that the important thing is for these police officers to help mitigate the problem.
In a statement, Police Chief Stelios Papatheodorou said that the effort to recruit contracted special police officers, along with other measures, will help mitigate the problem with migration flows through the occupied territories. Responding to MPs' concerns, he said that if the bill is passed, the police have already prepared a training plan, which will be of five weeks' duration, plus obtaining a certificate of possession of weapons as is done for other members, as well as a police driver's license. He said they anticipate that in a month and a half they will be able to perform their duties with proper training. He added that they will never be alone, but under the supervision of ranks and other members of the Police.
The President of the Cyprus Police Association, Kyriakos Charalambous, said that the Association's position regarding contracted special police officers remains the same, that permanent positions must be filled for permanent needs. He expressed his disagreement with the recruitment of the 300 contracted special police officers, stating that the 780 vacant organic posts should be filled in order to address the problem of migration.
The President of the Police Equality Branch, Nikos Loizides, said that they submitted 11 points to the Committee because they consider this project to be too risky. These 11 points, he said, point out that since they do not pass psychometric tests they should not be allowed to carry weapons and should not be transferred to any department other than those designated in the law. He added that there is a risk that if the right filtering is not done, the wrong people and even criminal elements could enter the police force.
Source: CNA
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