TRNC condemns US move to designate Greek Cypriot Administration eligible for arms sales

ISTANBUL

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) released a statement Thursday condemning a decision by the US to designate the Greek Cypriot Administration eligible for arms sales.

The claim by the US that this decision "was made to contribute to 'world peace' is tragicomic in the most diplomatic terms," said the TRNC’s Foreign Ministry.

US President Joe Biden issued a directive Wednesday allowing the Greek Cypriot Administration to purchase military equipment from the US.

"The furnishing of defense articles and defense services" to the Greek Cypriot Administration "will strengthen the security of the United States and promote world peace," Biden said in the executive action.

Saying the Greek Cypriot Administration is under the guise of being a "victim" and depicts itself as if under a security threat regarding its armament activities, the TRNC’s Foreign Ministry noted that "it is the Greek Cypriot side that turned the island of Cyprus into a bloodbath between 1963 and 1974."

"Although the atrocities committed by the Greek Cypriot side against the Turkish Cypriot people are tried to be covered up by the international community by calling them 'intercommunal clashes,' the sufferings still remain in the memory of the Turkish Cypriot people," it added.

Türkiye's military intervention in 1974 stopped the bloodshed on the island and is "the sole guarantee" of peace and tranquility in the region today, the ministry underscored, adding the Greek Cypriot claim that there is a security threat to itself is far from credible.

After the US decision, "it is clear that the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus will continue its arms race as if it were preparing for a war," it said.

Noting that the TRNC's warnings about the dangers of the Greek Cypriot Administration's military cooperation, notably in the recent period, on the island and in the region went unheeded, the ministry expressed the TRNC's call "on the countries that have been giving a platform to the Greek Cypriot side's warmongering to act in consideration of the consequences of their actions and to be prudent."

Negatively affecting the delicate balances on the island and in the region will serve no one's interests, it highlighted.

"No one should have any doubt that we will continue to take all necessary steps to protect the security of the Turkish Cypriot people together with the Republic of Türkiye, the Motherland, by closely following these worrying developments," the ministry added.

- Decades-long Cyprus problem

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 entered the European Union in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots single-handedly blocked a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.