Meeting of the Council of the Cyprus Army Officers Association with the Minister of Defence

The Administrative Council of the Cyprus Army Officers Association (CAOA) would like to inform you that on the 7^th September a meeting was held, at the Ministry of Defence, where, upon our request, we met the Minister of Defence so as to discuss issues regarding the reorganization in terms of the latest events.

Furthermore, we provided in writing and analyzed our positions on the following:

1) Appointments, Hierarchy, Promotions and Retirements of Officers Regulations

2) Settlement of working and duty hours of the members of the Army of the Republic

3) Internal Operation of the National Guard

4) Training of the Army members in Cyprus and abroad

5) The implementation of a specialized system for the officers’ transfer

The presence of the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Malekkidi Ch., made particular impression. Mr. Malekkidis expressed his views on all matters, military or not. Indicatively, he pointed out that the promotions and retirements of officers are of low priority unlike the public sector, that the current stasis is a natural consequence and that officers’ salaries have been rightly reduced by 1/2 (half) or 1/3 (one third) in correspondence with that of soldiers.

Despite this, however, we want to inform all recipients that we will not give up our efforts; we will keep our endeavours despite any problems and expediencies until we accomplish moral and legal justice.