Just a few weeks ago, the Greek government wrote a letter to NATO headquarters, the EU and the United Nations, warning against Turkey’s increasingly belligerent rhetoric and calling on the international community to use diplomatic means to deal with the Turkish government. reason to move. Comparisons were also made with the situation on the Ukrainian-Russian border before the Russian invasion. Now the government in Ankara has announced that more troops and weapons will be sent to the Turkish north of the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
This was in response to the lifting of a US arms embargo against the Greek Republic of Cyprus, as Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday. They want to “protect the Turkish Cypriots” and provide everything they need.
Cyprus is divided into a larger Greek Cypriot part in the south and a Turkish Cypriot part in the north after a Greek coup d’état and a Turkish military invasion in 1974. The “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” is recognized worldwide only by Turkey.
Will lifting the US embargo end diplomacy?
The United States announced in mid-September that the Republic of Cyprus would be able to obtain unlimited weapons from the United States for the first time since 1987. The US embargo was introduced to convince the parties to the dispute on the divided island and the concerned guarantors Greece and Turkey to find a diplomatic solution. The President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Anastasiades, welcomed the decision as a “milestone”, similar to the Greek government. However, the foreign ministry in Ankara had warned that the decision could lead to an arms race in the island. There are already 40,000 Turkish soldiers in the north of the Mediterranean island.
soldiers on greek islands
Relations between Athens and Ankara are at an all-time low. In addition to disputes over natural gas reserves in the Aegean Sea, Turkey is currently rubbing shoulders with the militarization of Greek islands such as Lesvos and Samos. International treaties of 1923 and 1947 stipulate that the islands must be demilitarized. However, Greece has stationed its army there since the beginning of the Cypriot conflict in 1974 – in self-defense, as Athens emphasizes, because Turkey maintains Europe’s largest landing fleet on its west coast.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
