Northern Cyprus slams U.S. for docking submarine at Southern Cypriot port

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on Saturday condemned the U.S. for anchoring an assault submarine at a port of the Greek Cypriot administration of Southern Cyprus.

The Turkish Cypriot Foreign Ministry mentioned in a press release that the Greek Cypriot administration continues to disrupt the environment of stability and peace on the island and within 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 protection minister, to purchase U.S. weapon programs, the assertion mentioned such developments present that the U.S. helps the Greek Cypriot administration systematically arm itself.

According to the U.S. Defense Department, the USS San Juan docked on the Southern Cypriot port of Limassol on April 3. Greek Cypriot chief Nikos Christodoulides visited the sub on Thursday, based on the native media.

DECADES-LONG STRUGGLE

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, regardless of a collection of diplomatic efforts by the UN to realize a complete settlement.

Ethnic assaults beginning within the early Nineteen Sixties pressured Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for his or her security.

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed toward Greece’s annexation of the island led to Türkiye’s navy intervention as a guarantor energy to guard Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a consequence, the TRNC was based in 1983.

It has seen an on-and-off peace course of in recent times, together with a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland beneath the auspices of guarantor nations Türkiye, Greece and the UK.

The Greek Cypriot administration was admitted to the EU in 2004, the identical 12 months Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to finish the longstanding dispute.