Northern Cyprus slams US for docking submarine at Southern Cypriot port

By Mehmet Kemal Firik

LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (AA) - The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on Saturday condemned the US for anchoring an attack submarine at a port of the Greek Cypriot administration of Southern Cyprus.

The Turkish Cypriot Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Greek Cypriot administration continues to disrupt the atmosphere of stability and peace on the island and in the Eastern Mediterranean by stepping up its arms purchases.

“We strongly condemn the docking of the USS San Juan attack submarine at a Greek Cypriot seaport,” it added. “We repeatedly state that the removal of the arms sales restrictions imposed by the US on the Greek Cypriot administration and subsequent steps that will endanger the security of the Turkish Cypriot people will encourage the Greek Cypriot administration to take up arms.”

Citing pledges by Michalis Giorgallas, Greek Cypriot administration's defense minister, to buy US weapon systems, the statement said such developments show that the US is helping the Greek Cypriot administration systematically arm itself.

According to the US Defense Department, the USS San Juan docked at the Southern Cypriot port of Limassol on April 3. Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides visited the sub on Thursday, according to the local media.

- Decades-long struggle

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece's annexation of the island led to Türkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983.

It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece and the UK.

The Greek Cypriot administration was admitted to the EU in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.