The extraordinary meeting of the National Security Council, convened by President Christodoulides, with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Defense, and Justice, lasted more than an hour. Also present were the Assistant Attorney General, the Commander of the Cyprus Intelligence Service, and the Chiefs of the National Guard and the Police.
Cyprus is not involved in any way in any attacks, or anything else, President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides said on Sunday.
In his remarks to reporters, coming to the Arodafnousa house from where the Christodoula march will start, and asked about the National Security Council meeting held this morning, the President of the Republic said “You see the developments, the situation is very difficult. Our hope and expectation is that there will be no further deterioration.
A deterioration we believe is not in the interest of anybody. In such difficult times, the decisions we have to make are difficult. Difficult decisions, however, are made on the sole criterion of how we safeguard the interests of the Republic of Cyprus and the Cypriot people.
It is in this context that we met today, following up on the announcements we made yesterday. We have reviewed the situation, we have seen the latest information both outside Cyprus and inside Cyprus and we will be in continuous session, we are alert. Everything that needs to be done is being done, and we are monitoring the situation very carefully.
At 4.30 pm today I have a telephone appointment scheduled with the President of the European Commission and I will also talk to other European leaders. On Wednesday I will be in Brussels for an informal European Council. The situation will be discussed but within that framework, you understand, there is also the burning issue of migration, something that we are very concerned about and I hope that some decisions will be made.
It is for this reason that a group of states within the EU is being set up on our initiative, which is calling for decisions to be made, particularly concerning the situation in Syria. We will see all this on Wednesday. We are on constant alert, the National Security Council is in continuous session and we will see accordingly what other decisions will be made.”
Asked whether the British informed Cyprus about the attacks from the bases, the President of the Republic said “No, there was no prior information from the British. After we saw it, the Foreign Minister spoke to the British Foreign Secretary last night and was briefed on the situation, but, no, there was no advance briefing.”
