US greenlight for arms purchase for Greek Cypriots in the divided island of Cyprus, in a move that has angered Türkiye, the main supporter of the island’s Turkish Cypriot community.
The Biden administration on Friday extended its decision to lift the US arms embargo imposed on the Greek Cypriot administration until September 2024. Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed Congress “that the Republic of Cyprus has fulfilled the conditions necessary under applicable law to enable the Department to approve exports, re-exports and transfers of defense articles to the Republic of Cyprus for fiscal year 2024,” the Department of State said in a statement.
“As a result of this determination and certification, the Secretary has lifted the defense trade restrictions for the Republic of Cyprus for fiscal year 2024,” he said. The authorization is the second consecutive year that Blinken has lent US approval to arms transfers to Nicosia.
Türkiye on Saturday condemned the decision. “Following the decision of the United States to lift the arms embargo against the Greek Cypriot administration in September 2020 and the expansion of the scope of said decision in 2022, we condemn the fact that the United States has now extended the duration of this decision by one year from October 1, 2023,” the ministry said in a statement.
Turkey fully supports the justified reaction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), he added. “We would like to take this opportunity to recall that together with the TRNC, we have repeatedly underlined how the various destabilizing measures recently taken by the United States in the region at the expense of the Turkish Cypriot side are undermining the neutral position on the island. of Cyprus which that country has maintained for many years, and constitute an obstacle to a just, lasting and lasting settlement of the Cyprus question.
“We once again urge the United States to reconsider these policies that endanger the stability of the region,” the statement said.
Turkey, as a guarantor state, will always continue to ensure the existence, security and peace of Turkish Cypriots within the framework of its historical and legal responsibilities, he added.
Cyprus is mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to reach a comprehensive settlement.
Turkey fully supports a two-state solution on the island of Cyprus based on sovereign equality and equal international status between its two states. In 1974, Türkiye launched a “peace operation” to help Turkish Cypriots who were attacked by the administration of the Greek Cypriot community supported by a military junta in Greece.
The operation stabilized the tensions that had prevailed over the past decades and restored relative peace to the island. Yet the TRNC was shunned by the international community in the decades that followed as the Greek Cypriots, with the support of the West, gained international recognition as the Republic of Cyprus.
Turkey is worried about a resumption of hostilities on the island if the supply of weapons continues. The United States, despite being a close ally of Turkey, frequently angers Ankara for its support of Greece and the Greek Cypriots while ignoring the country’s security concerns. Türkiye also opposes the “militarization” of the Aegean Islands of Greece near the Turkish coast with the help of the United States.
