US steps encouraging Southern Cyprus to arm itself do not contribute to regional stability: Türkiye

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) - US steps encouraging the Greek Cypriot administration of Southern Cyprus to arm itself further do not contribute to regional stability, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

"As we have repeatedly emphasized together with the TRNC (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus), the steps taken by the US at the expense of disrupting the balance on the Island of Cyprus and encouraging the Greek Cypriot administration’s armament do not contribute in any way to regional stability or to a just, sustainable and lasting settlement of the Cyprus issue," said a ministry statement.

Türkiye strongly supports the statement made by the TRNC Foreign Ministry on the recent anchoring of a US attack submarine at a Greek Cypriot port and the armament activities of the Greek Cypriot administration, it added.

"We once again call on the US to reconsider these policies. We reiterate that Türkiye will continue to resolutely defend the rights and interests of the TRNC under all circumstances and conditions, within the framework of the responsibility stemming from our guarantor status," the statement read.

- 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.