A decision to allow girls into the national guard when they graduate secondary school on a voluntary basis is in its final stages, Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas said on Monday.

“If and when we complete this processing and we are ready with the proposal we will submit it to the cabinet and will deliberate at the same time, we will be able to say more,” Palmas added.

He was speaking after President Nikos Christodoulides on Sunday said that “from 2025, pending a decision by [cabinet] in a few days, I hope girls will have the possibility of voluntary enlistment in the national guard, like the boys, immediately upon completion of lyceum [or] technical school.”

They will be able to voluntarily serve in the army for a minimum of six months and a maximum of 14 months, the obligatory term for young men, the president said.

Christodoulides was speaking on Sunday evening at an event marking 60 years of the national guard’s founding at the Nicosia Municipal Theatre.

Palmas said he welcomed the move and extolled the significant contribution the young women could offer, not least because girls are more mature than boys at the age of enlistment.

“Without undermining the males, we all know young women tend to be more mature and can contribute significantly to the military’s operational aspects,” he said, adding, however, that the women will be trained in combat, the same as men.

The matter will be brought before cabinet for discussion in a few days.

The national guard was established in 1964 with the aim of forestalling Turkish plans to partition our homeland, the president recalled in his speech at Sunday’s event.

“In these 60 years [the national guard] has been strengthened to a very significant extent, to levels no one could have imagined in 1964,” Christodoulides said.

He had often heard praise about national guard officers’ bravery in his various government roles from foreign officials, he added.

Since its founding, not only has the national guard continued to strengthen its deterrent capacity against a Turkish threat, but it also now offers crucial support in coping with illegal immigration, terrorism, firefighting and search and rescue missions, the president said.

One of the first acts of his government was to upgrade the working conditions of contract soldiers (Syops), he added.

In his address, Palmas spoke of the historical conditions which marked the establishment of the national guard, noting the lack of equipment and means in the early days, after the coup of July 15, 1974.

Despite these difficulties and significant shortages, the men of the national guard fought with unparalleled determination to repel the Turkish invader, he said.