Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the island nation of Cyprus to halt Russian' privileges' in response to the brutal and illegal Russian invasion of his country. In particular, halt the ability of Russians to obtain Cypriot citizenship by investing in the country.
However, there was some disquiet in Cyprus that Zelensky's speech, which was made to the Cypriot parliament, did not mention the invasion of Cyprus by Turkey, which still illegally controls the northern portion of the island today.
Zelensky said in his speech:
"I'm grateful to you for your moral stance. You reacted to the Russian invasion and banned the docking of Russian ships in your ports. [But Cyprus should] stop Russian golden passports, dual citizenship. Except those where there is evidence they do not harm Ukraine."
The omission in reference to the Turkish invasion was noted by the Cypriot President, who said:
"We are disturbed by the fact that there was no reference. Of course, this should have been done. I want to be straightforward and categorical. We expected today to hear what the Ukrainian people are suffering now, what we ourselves also suffered in 1974. The rule of law does not distinguish between states, and the rights of some being violated, but the rights of others ignored."
Former justice minister Emily Yiolitis also had harsh words, tweeting:
"A call for an alliance with a sovereign state cannot be made to manage its internal affairs. Whom Cyprus naturalises, under what criteria and which passports it revokes is its own matter."
The main Cypriot opposition party AKEL also boycotted Zelensky's speech due to what they say is the actions of the Azov Battalion, a Ukrainian paramilitary group with strong ties to neo-Nazism, and which has received support from the central government. Zelensky himself is Jewish.
It was unlikely that Zelensky would mention the 1974 invasion, given that Turkey is a close ally of Ukraine, a fellow NATO member, and is hosting the ongoing peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Turkey has also been a major supplier of arms to Ukraine, in particular the Bayraktar unmanned droned system, which has been inflicting massive casualties upon the Russians, and which some analysts say has turned the tide of the war.
[Based on reporting by: Greek Reporter]
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