Opinion
By Panayiotis Kaparis
When it comes to pageantry, we’re always ahead of the curve. The Gender Equality Commissioner, Josie Christodoulou, joined by Transport Minister Alexis Vafeadis, staged an entire ceremony, right in the thick of Nicosia’s traffic mess, to unveil the new pedestrian traffic lights. “Grigoris and Stamatis” became “Grigoria and Stamatia,” all in the name of what I can only call “illusory” gender equality. Meanwhile, not a peep about the major fiasco surrounding women’s voluntary enlistment in the army. Equality was turned into a “rag,” and the grand project of getting “women in fatigues” suffered a humiliating defeat.
The Defense Ministry is left holding the bill for the program’s preparations, and the lone volunteer enjoyed five minutes of fame and the solitude of an empty barracks. Beyond that, women demand equality in power, yet seem unbothered by equality in responsibility and obligation. Things have truly spun out of control with the rise of women in the civil service, where in recent years a sweeping wave has filled nearly every seat. And yet, by some unwritten rule, they still avoid the tougher tasks, which are conveniently handed off to men. Of course, there are always exceptions.
It’s never too late to correct mistakes, provided one is willing to acknowledge them. And by any honest measure, “Operation Women in Fatigues” failed. We don’t know whether serious studies were conducted or whether the whole venture was just another bureaucratic improvisation. The “wise men of the coffeehouse,” ever irresponsible, offered a few “ingenious and crafty” suggestions.
The rollout could have begun with summer training, sparing young women who planned to study. Officials could have announced training in martial arts, something many young women now pay handsomely for. They could have promised weapons training, even a taste of the art of war. Better yet, a few daughters of prominent families could have been “sacrificed” to set the example. Instead, young women learned from their brothers and friends that military service is no joyride.
The debate over drafting women showed, once again, that decisions in this country are made haphazardly by “smokeless” officials who rely on the famously short memory of Cypriots. The National Guard still runs on structures from decades past. We maintain enough officers for an army of 100,000 when the actual force is barely 10,000. Wars today are fought with drones, satellites, and high-tech systems, yet we persist in “wasting” 14 mandatory months from the most productive years of young men in a force that, according to those serving, reeks of “mold.”
It is long past time for the National Guard to leap forward and move toward a professional corps, not merely contract soldiers, but scientists. At that level, the brightest female minds could also serve. Global powers employ PhDs in weapons systems, which is why they can wield real foreign policy leverage. Tiny, seemingly insignificant Cyprus, sitting on a colossal strategic crossroads, could perform miracles if it invested in robotics and drone technology. And much of that could be produced by our own defense industry.
The country’s military posture must advance in tandem with diplomacy, as it does in every serious nation. The Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry should cooperate directly and meaningfully, not just ceremonially. Parliament should do the same by merging its Foreign Affairs and Defense committees. Every war and every conflict, throughout history, ends at the negotiation table. The “smart” countries avoid war through diplomacy and secure far greater gains for their citizens.
Diplomacy operates in the realm of cold logic and national interest. Armies operate in the realm of emotion, because without ideology and belief in something beyond oneself, no rational person walks willingly into a war. “War is the father of all things,” said Heraclitus, the darkest of philosophers. War begins within us and extends outward—to those beside us and to those behind barbed wire. A little more humility wouldn’t hurt.
