US's sending of warships to Southern Cyprus to increase tensions: Northern Cyprus

By Serdar Dincel

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) said Tuesday that the continued sending of US warships to the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus (GASC) “will serve no purpose other than increasing tensions."

Noting that the guided missile destroyers the USS Arleigh Burke and the USS Roosevelt of the US 6th Fleet operating in the Eastern Mediterranean reached Limassol Port in the GASC on July 27, a statement by the TRNC’s Foreign Ministry said the military cooperation between the US and Southern Cyprus "is intended to be used" by the Greek Cypriot Administration "as an element of threat against our country."

In the face of this situation, the statement underlined that the TRNC "will not refrain from taking all necessary steps" together with Türkiye to ensure the security of the Turkish Cypriot people.

In the statement, it was said that the US lifted an arms embargo imposed on the GASC two years ago and “continuing to send warships belonging to the US navy to the island serves no other purpose than increasing tension.”

The island of Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts 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. July 20, the anniversary of the operation, is celebrated yearly in the TRNC as Peace and Freedom Day.

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

Türkiye fully supports a two-state solution on the island of Cyprus based on sovereign equality and equal international status.