Cyprus-Forum.com

[margirou]

Hi,
I am planning to leave permanently in the UK once i am able too. I also plan to study in the UK. My main reason to settle to the UK is because the occupation i chose has no feature in Cyprus (i will study Genetic Engineering).

Anyway, have you any ideas on how i can leave Cyprus (by air) and go to the UK without having to complete my military service? It is just a waste of time...I can also renounce my nationality if necessary, but can i in ANY WAY got to settle in the UK without having to complete my military service???

Thanks in advance

[bill cobbett]

Need to give us some more info...

Do you at the moment require an exit permit to get off the Island?
How old are you?
Where were you, your father and grandfather born?
One last question... Do you object as a matter of personal conscience to serving in the armed service?

[margirou]

1) I don't know

2) I am 15 and will be 16 on 21st November 2011

3) Cyprus (the whole family is from Cyprus)

4) Does it really matter? If yes, yup, i can tell that it is a matter of personal conscience

[bill cobbett]

First of all let me say that it is a duty to do the service, and it's no small thing to try and avoid such a duty. So do think very long and hard about your plans. let me put it this way,... what are you saying? that if the worse comes to the worse, you ain't prepared to put your self out to defend your mother and family? What are you telling your mates?... that they can go and do your service for you?

What am saying margirou, and sorry cos you may not want to hear it, it's a very important decision you're making, so do think about the stigma that may come with your decision and it's best to confront life's problems and not do a runner from them, to not run away from life's little obligations. I know two years of your life sounds like an eternity at your age, but as you get older you'll appreciate that two years is nothing, and you'll come out the other side with a clear conscience.

Can i also say you should speak to those who are doing the service at the mo, or who have done it in recent years cos when i speak to people (and i know people who did it in the late '70s as well as the softer and cuddlier recent years) the service ain't as hard or as punishing as it used to be.

Anyway, the law of the Republic can be found at...

http://www.cyprus.gov.cy/portal/portal. ... #_Section2
and at...
http://www.cyprusnet.com/content.php?ar ... standalone

From which you'll see that if you take up permanent residence outside the Republic you will be exempt from service (article c)... but you'll have to stay out (apart from temp visits) 'til your 50th birthday and you'll have to take up perm residence overseas before your 18th birthday, so can't see how you expect to finish high school before your 18th birthday so that you can go to Uni for your chosen career.

This is what the Law of the Republic has to say on Conscientious Objection (in which if successful you do a substitute and longer service outside the military) ...

...According to article 5A, “(1) Those conscripts, who for reasons of conscience refuse to fulfil the obligation to military service invoking their religious or ideological convictions, can be recognised as conscientious objectors.

(2) The reasons of conscience raised must be derived from a general perception of life, based on conscientious religious, philosophical or moral convictions, which are inviolably implemented by the person and are expressed by holding a respective attitude”8....

Which sounds well and good but there is a panel which examines cases very thoroughly and they will find you out if you're trying to mislead... and CY does not have a good record on conscientious objection.

More on CO in CY at... http://www.wri-irg.org/co/rtba/cyprus.htm

[margirou]

I don't care to defend y family. I'll first see MYSELF. Also, i don't care about my mates because i won't be there to see them again

Also, it is not my duty because i minister can't just come and say us what i will do in my life. I didn't choose to be born in this country that compulses me to attend military... Think it this way, do we have a chance in front of Uk army or Turkish army? Of course not!!! They have nuclear and chemical weapons, whereas we haven't.

Does UK or US force their citizens to attend military?


I can leave Cyprus before my 18th birthday because school ends on June the year i become 18. So i can just go to UK and then send a letter to the ministry of interior and just say that i renounce my nationality?

Is there any specifically form for nationality renouncement?


I just don't want to loose two years of my life!

[bill cobbett]

I don't care to defend y family. I'll first see MYSELF. Also, i don't care about my mates because i won't be there to see them again

Also, it is not my duty because i minister can't just come and say us what i will do in my life. I didn't choose to be born in this country that compulses me to attend military... Think it this way, do we have a chance in front of Uk army or Turkish army? Of course not!!! They have nuclear and chemical weapons, whereas we haven't.

Does UK or US force their citizens to attend military?


I can leave Cyprus before my 18th birthday because school ends on June the year i become 18. So i can just go to UK and then send a letter to the ministry of interior and just say that i renounce my nationality?

Is there any specifically form for nationality renouncement?


I just don't want to loose two years of my life!

On nationality and national service... there is an important element of ethnicity in the regulations. So it isn't just as simple as renouncing nationality (and don't know how you would do this)... it's also about your and your father's, and your grandfather's ethnicity (in fact told recently it goes back 7 generations)... if they are deemed to be Cypriots then you would still be liable for the service.

Afraid there is no way you're gonna escape this one margirou. You have a very hard decision to make.

If you do settle perm in Canada, then before returning to CY for visits, you will have to go and get a letter from the CY High Commission in Canada confirming that you are permanently settled in Canada and you present this letter to the Ministry of Defence in CY during your visit and they will give you an exit permit (athia exothou), which you show at the airport on the way out.

[margirou]

Thanks you very much!!!

[denizaksulu]

This guy should be sentenced to peel potatos for his mates in the army for 40 years. Is he for real? No consideration for family and friends? Is he Cypriot?

[Sotos]

DEFENCE Minister Costas Papacostas voiced his conviction yesterday that the new, stricter army law would help the state effectively tackle draft dodging.

“Everything that could possibly be done to stamp out draft dodging, based on what the law allows, has been done,” Papacostas told a press conference at the National Guard Officers’ Club in Nicosia.

The minister said his department is in a position to implement the law “effectively”, calling on all involved to apply it to the letter.

The new law, which includes stricter provisions for those seeking to get out of doing their service, was seen as a necessary measure to stop an estimated 20 per cent of new conscripts avoiding the draft on psychological or disability grounds each year.

The law, which was passed in February, will be put to the test for the first time this month when around 5,000 new conscripts will join the National Guard.

The new regulations state that those claiming a disability, injury or psychological illness in a bid to get an exemption or discharge will no longer be able to do so.

They will be included in those obliged to do an alternative service that calls for an additional eight months on top of the regular 24.

And they will have to complete their alternative service in army barracks as opposed to other government departments, as was the case previously in a system that was only sporadically enforced.

“I look forward to successfully attaining the objectives we have set in relation with stamping out this phenomenon,” Papacostas said.

The ministry will be also reviewing past cases of people who did not do their service claiming physical and psychological problems, starting with the 529 people exempted in 2010.

The army will then work backwards to review all those deemed unfit since January 1, 1995.

If they are deemed fit they may be drafted anew.

“We have covered all the legal loopholes, we’ve closed all the windows that previous laws left open allowing some to draft dodge,” Papacostas said.

The minister also announced his readiness to proceed by the end of the year with the recruitment of a small number of soldiers, on a voluntary contract, for a pilot programme, to see if military service can be reduced, starting in 2012.

The programme’s results will determine whether a 2,500-strong semi-professional army could be created which would allow compulsory military service to be cut by a year.

“Given that the pilot programme produces the desired results and as long as the necessary funds are made available to hire the required number of soldiers, then we will be able to, starting in 2012, reduce military service,” said Papacostas, who admitted that a two year service in today’s society was a long time.

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/no-es ... d/20110702