RESEARCH AREAS

Thalia Tzanetti
(RIEAS Senior Analyst)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

Thursday’s (24 June 2010) terrorist attack against the Ministry of Citizen Protection, which claimed the life of a highly-regarded police officer, was the latest, most spectacular and lethal example of the recent rise in terrorist activity in Greece. It has not been a secret that high-profile attacks have been sought and that targets of increasing symbolism have been becoming the focus of terrorists’ attention. The fact that the perpetrators caught the whole security apparatus by surprise, however, and that they succeeded, not only unhindered but, as it turns out by the investigations, even unwillingly aided, to carry out the attack, is undoubtedly unprecedented and marks a significant victory for the terrorists.

Thalia Tzanetti
(RIEAS Senior Analyst)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

Ever since the recent arrests of the six suspected terrorists, what continues to strike me as particularly odd is a specific aspect of what the Police discovered: How can a 31-year-old, a 30-year-old, three 26-year-olds and a 21-year-old have in their possession (or have access to) two scorpion submachine guns, one unidentified submachine gun, three AK-47 assault rifles, one unidentified assault rifle, 200 grams of TNT, fifty kilograms of ANFO -a mixture widely used in improvised explosives devices-, rounds of ammunition, three hand grenades and a sizable collection of other, relatively trivial, yet rather costly, items?

Nikolas Stylianou
(RIEAS Research Associate & Security Analyst)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr 

On Thursday the 24th February Cypriot political parties – except from the ruling party of AKEL – voted for the affiliation of the Republic of Cyprus with the Partnership for Peace Programme. In response to the above, the President of the Republic of Cyprus exercised –for the first time since the Republic’s declaration of independence – his right to veto legislature’s decision. President Christofia’s veto against the decision of the House of Representatives caused intense reaction from the opposition (Democratic Rally, Social-Democrats, European Party and the Green Party), as well the centre-right co-governing, Democratic Party. This article seeks to underline that the affiliation of the Republic of Cyprus with the Partnership for Peace (PfP), is a de facto necessity and must top the strategic agenda of the Cypriot government.