Cyprus-Forum.com

[Gasman]

B25 this is what it says regarding 'citizenship'

Military Obligations

In accordance with the provisions of the Law relating to the National Guard, there is compulsory military service for all male citizens of the Republic of Cyprus. This includes all males residing in Cyprus whose father is Cypriot, even if they do not have citizenship. The obligation commences in the year of their 18th birthday and continues up to the year of their 50th birthday.

Exemptions are listed:

* All Cypriot Citizens residing permanently abroad
* Persons of dual Cypriot and Greek citizenship provided that during their permanent residence in Greece they fulfill their obligation to serve the Greek Army.
* All persons who at the date of conscription have four or more dependents (married with wife and three or more children who are minors)
* All persons who at the date of conscription are considered unsuitable for military service for health reasons.
* The oldest or the only son of a family whose father was killed or went missing while serving in the National Guard.

[Gasman]

It is correct that more and more are avoiding it claiming 'mental health problems'. There was a big fuss about it here some 3 yrs ago.

This article discusses 'What is the point of conscription?' Especially now Cyprus is in the EU.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/What+is+the+point+of+conscription%3F-a0204007512

and makes some interesting (and some amusing) points re 'the large numbers of draftees who manage to avoid doing national service, or who are granted deferments or exemptions once they are in because of the psychological problems they experience in the National Guard'

The reality is that if 20 per cent of draftees are getting out of doing national service by claiming psychological problems, then either the National Guard is seriously damaging the mental health of a lot of young men. Otherwise there is a wider civil problem of legitimacy in that a large proportion of the population do not see the point in spending two valuable years of their life stuck in an army camp in Cyprus, when their contemporaries in the rest of Europe are off to university, travelling the world or getting on with their careers.

[Oracle]

My nephew (Cypriot dad, Brit mum) only had to do Military Service for 3 months.

[Gasman]

There is a table in the link I posted setting out who serves what length of time.

Length of Military Service for Repatriates
Based on the decisions of the Council of Ministers, the latest ruling 50036 of 14th July 1999, the following provisions have been made for all Overseas Cypriots who take up permanent residence in Cyprus. Repatriated Cypriot conscripts who had their permanent residence abroad for a period of more than 10 years, are entitled to a reduced military service. Calculations are made according to their age on the date of settlement in Cyprus.

NB. The following table applies provided that the repatriate whose age is called up (18 years and over) enlists within 15 months after the date of repatriation. In the case of their enlistment after the 15 months they will be obliged to serve an additional 3 months.

26 - 50 years old 3 months service
18 - 25 years old 6 months service
13 - 17 years old 12 months service
Up to 12 years old 26 months service

Overseas Cypriots (born in Cyprus) who have performed compulsory military service (for at least 11 months) in their country of residence before returning to Cyprus are obliged to serve 3 months.

[Gasman]

Eric, in answer to your question whether there is any 'stigma' attached to avoiding it - it would appear (according to this very recent Mail article) that there is not:

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/state-needs-seriously-rethink-conscription-rules

State needs to seriously rethink conscription rules

NUMBERS of young men avoiding military service have been on the rise for years. It is estimated that about 20 per cent of young males, of every conscription age, are now avoiding serving in the National Guard. It is an astonishingly high percentage which raises questions about the very principle of universal male conscription.

When one in five young males avoid conscription, primarily for psychological reasons, any thought of equal treatment is dispelled. As the system is now, honest young men have to serve for 25 months, while those who feign psychological problems (the overwhelming majority have nothing of the sort) are given an exemption.

The previous government’s decision to make those with psychological problems do alternative service was never implemented, which meant that the men with imaginary problems were rewarded – they were allowed to go to university or enter the job market, immediately after finishing school. The Defence Ministry is currently in the process of drafting regulations for alternative service, but it may be a while before the bill is ready.

Whether they the new rules will be implemented remains to be seen, but the real problem for the government is that the legitimacy and national importance of conscription has been eroded over the years. Too many parents these days do not buy into the idea of national service and are happy to help their sons get out of doing it; there is no social stigma attached to dodging conscription as there had been in the past.

And the situation will only become worse. Perhaps the way forward would be for the government to adopt the old DISY proposal of reducing service to 13 months. This could significantly reduce the number of conscription dodgers, especially if it was combined with an alternative 13-month service for those who found reasons not to join the army.

As for the inevitable shortage of Guardsmen that would result from halving the length of service, the government should consider hiring more full-time soldiers on five year contracts. This would be a much easier problem to manage than steadily rising conscription dodging.

[Gasman]

It is another thing Cyprus has 'in common' with Israel however. They have a big draft dodging problem too. Most of theirs use 'religious' not 'psychiatric' reasons.

God said not to go into the military

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3871143,00.html

Other 'refuseniks' refuse to serve in the West Bank and Gaza' here is a statement from them:

http://www.seruv.org.il/defaulteng.asp

[Get Real!]

All queries pertaining to the CNG can be solved here...

http://www.army.gov.cy/

[bill cobbett]

Curious situation with us regarding this military conscription business, at least on the face of it...

Never been liable for the service cos birth precedes the Treaty of Establishment of the Republic but ...

Our youngster Young Master Cobbett remarkably would seem to be liable cos the Republic views his father, me, as of CY ancestry but if push came to shove would of course contest that.

[CBBB]

My 3 were all born here, but with me being a Brit and their mother a Cypriot, they didn't have to serve. Sometimes I wish they had!

[Get Real!]

My 3 were all born here, but with me being a Brit and their mother a Cypriot, they didn't have to serve. Sometimes I wish they had!

Pushdoenglezzo!