BRATISLAVA, March 16, (WEBNOVINY) — Together 159 Slovak soldiers are leaving for Cyprus to replace the contingent that serves in the country at the moment. Soldiers attended an official farewell ceremony in Nitra on Friday. They are leaving Slovakia on March 22 and will stay in Cyprus for one year. Slovak soldiers will be tasked to maintain status quo between the Cypriot and Turkish sides to prevent another armed conflict. “Their paramount task will be monitoring of the situation between the two countries and patrolling. Teams also operate there that will closely cooperate with individual communities to be able to assess the situation in the event of some tension or conflicts,” said First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Slovak Army Miroslav Kocian.
Kocian said the training of soldiers was focused on patrolling, monitoring and cooperation with the community living there. Slovak sappers will also administrate roads in the buffer zone. “We secure sappers for the whole mission who are placed in Nicosia and perform engineering tasks also for the Argentinean and British sectors,” added Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Jaklovsky who will serve as a chief liaison officer for the Turkish party at the embassy in Nicosia.
The UNFICYP operation in Cyprus is one of the oldest missions of Slovak armed forces abroad. The Slovak army has been serving on the island together with the Serbian, Croatian and Hungarian army. Kocian underscored that Slovak soldiers enjoy excellent reputation among foreign missions and also in Afghanistan, emphasized Kocian.
SITA
