Thanasis Photiou
When Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas reacted angrily on the afternoon of last Monday after learning that a National Guard operation had caused the fire at one of its own firing ranges, it was not the kind of scene we are used to seeing in Cyprus. His decision to publicly identify those responsible during a live press conference gave the moment even more weight. "It has a name and a surname," he said, referring to the 70th Engineer Battalion as being responsible for the blaze that, driven by strong winds, quickly spread to Agia Anna and Psevdas. I have little doubt that many people welcomed that response. At last, here was a public official who was not trying to soften responsibility with vague language. He openly named those he believed were at fault, spoke of "unprofessionalism," said authorities would investigate "why they proceeded and how they proceeded to destroy ammunition," although he clearly meant the ammunition itself, not the process, and reminded everyone that heavy weapons detonations are prohibited when temperatures reach 40 degrees Celsius. He also promised that "the full severity provided for in such cases will be applied."
As expected, there were those who wasted no time turning the incident into an opportunity for political point scoring. Apparently determined to remind everyone that politics in Cyprus is too often conducted with childish instincts, they immediately drew comparisons with the Mari explosion and asked, with obvious satisfaction, whether the President of the Republic knew about the destruction of the ammunition and, if he did not, whether he should have known. They were comparing two completely different events that shared no meaningful similarities. In doing so, they also seemed to forget that during the Mari explosion trial, the lawyer representing the then defence minister had asked the court to treat as a mitigating factor "...the fact that, because of the direct involvement of the President of the Republic in ensuring that the cargo remained in Cyprus, an atmosphere was created that discouraged the accused from taking any effective initiative in dealing with the matter." He went on to argue that "...once enough time had passed and the dangers resulting from the continued storage of the cargo had become obvious, the President's involvement created an atmosphere that discouraged any effective initiative by the accused to deal with the issue."
The Kalo Chorio firing range had nothing to do with Mari. Even so, Vasilis Palmas still ended up embarrassing himself, and his initial display of anger quickly lost its impact. Neither the defence minister nor the President of the Republic can reasonably be expected to know every routine activity carried out by the National Guard. What we did expect from the minister, however, was that before making such public accusations, he would at least have spoken with the military leadership. Had he done so, he would have learned that the Engineer Battalion had not independently decided to destroy ammunition. The operation had already been approved by the National Guard General Staff and was part of a joint three-day exercise with an allied force. Unless, of course, he already knew and deliberately chose to follow that script. Either way, watching the Chief of the National Guard publicly accept responsibility so the government could distance itself from any political accountability was hardly an impressive sight. Quite the opposite. It was depressing. Equally uncomfortable was the way military officers quietly undercut the government's position by leaking information that filled in the missing facts. That episode says very little for the relationship between the political leadership and the military.
Days after the fire at the Kalo Chorio firing range, there is still no clear explanation for what caused the latest failure of the CY-Alert system. No one has explained what this unspecified "technical error" actually was or why it prevented the system from operating. Since this is not the first sign that the system has experienced problems, the government owes the public a much clearer explanation of the fault, or faults, behind these repeated failures. Falling back on a vague reference to a "technical problem" is not enough for a system designed to protect human lives immediately and in real time. At the very least, one would hope that much is understood.
