Türkiye condemns US move to lift arms embargo on Southern Cyprus

Türkiye has condemned the United States' recent decision of lifting the arms embargo on the Greek Cypriot administration from September 2024.

"Following the decision of the United States to lift the arms embargo against the Greek Cypriot Administration in September 2020 and the expansion of the scope of the said decision in 2022, we condemn that the US has now extended that decision’s duration for one year as of 1 October 2023," the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Türkiye fully supports the justified reaction of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), it added.

"We would like to take this opportunity to remind that together with the TRNC, we have repeatedly pointed out how the various destabilising steps recently taken by the US in the region at the expense of the Turkish Cypriot side undermine the neutral position on the Island of Cyprus which this country has maintained for many years, and constitute an obstacle to reaching a just, lasting and sustainable settlement of the Cyprus issue.

"We invite the US yet again to reconsider these policies that put the stability in the region at risk," the statement read.

Türkiye, as a guarantor state, will always continue to ensure the existence, security and peace of the Turkish Cypriots within the framework of its historical and legal responsibilities, it added.

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.

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