Ukraine: Cypriots draw parallels with Turkish invasion – poll

The overwhelming majority of Cypriots believe that Russia’s attack on Ukraine is an invasion as opposed to a small number that called it a peacekeeping operation, according to a poll published on Sunday.

The poll of almost 2,000 people was carried out on behalf of Politis newspaper by RetailZoom.

It found that 79 per cent of those polled believe Russia invaded Ukraine while 6 per cent described it as a peacekeeping operation.

The percentage of men who called it an invasion was higher (82 per cent) compared to women (76 per cent).

The highest percentage of those who characterised the military operation as an invasion were in the older age groups, people the survey said remembered what it was like during the Turkish invasion.

To some extent, it added, Russia’s argument that it invaded Ukraine to protect itself from a possible Ukrainian accession to the EU and Nato resonates with a significant number of Cypriots but 52 per cent rejected this compared with 40 per cent to agreed wit the notion and 8 per cent who said they didn’t know.

The majority of Cypriots, (54 per cent) agree or strongly agree with the international sanctions imposed on Russia, both in terms of the economy and sporting events. The remainder (31 per cent) either strongly disagreed or disagreed with the sanctions, while 15 per cent said they neither agreed nor disagreed.

The vast majority of respondents, (84 per cent), believe that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is similar to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. In particular, 50 per cent believe that there is great similarity and a percentage (34 per cent) said there was some similarity.

People aged 55+ (63 per cent) believe that there is a great similarity, which increases to 78 per cent among the over 65s. Some 14 per cent believe that there is no similarity between the two military operations.

As regards Nato, of which Turkey is a member, 45 per cent of people are opposed to Cyprus joining the Western military alliance.

However, according to the poll support for Nato membership has risen to 42 per cent. The remainder said they had no view on it. Most opposed to Nato were respondents (52 per cent) in the 18-34 age group.

In relation to the pandemic and the measures that are still being taken, one in two Cypriots (48 per cent) appears to trust the health ministry and the epidemiological team.

Around 17 per cent of respondents believe that the measures should continue to apply for a while longer but 32 per cent said they should be repealed immediately. Most of the latter respondents were vaccine-free, according to the poll.

The majority consider that the government has managed the pandemic satisfactorily (55 per cent) over the past two years plus another 10 per cent said the handling of the pandemic was “excellent”, taking the total to 65 per cent. Over one in three, 35 per cent said it was not handled well.

Despite the early start of the election campaign for the 2023 presidential election, 51 per cent of respondents answered that they were following developments with great interest. One in six Cypriots (16 per cent) said they were not interested at all, while 33 per cent said it was too soon to be thinking deeply about it. The biggest interest was shown among the over 65s.

Asked what was the main quality they would like their new president to have, 74 per cent cited honesty. His first priority, most respondents (71 per cent) said should be stamping out corruption, followed by resolving the Cyprus issue (56 per cent), improving education (39 per cent), improving Cyprus’ image (26 per cent) and to reform the state (26 per cent).