The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) criticized the U.S. Navy for anchoring an attack submarine at a Greek Cypriot port, threatening stability on the island.
The TRNC Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Greek Cypriot administration continues to disrupt the atmosphere of stability and peace on the island and in 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, the Greek Cypriot administration's defense minister, to buy U.S. weapon systems, the statement said such developments show that the U.S. is helping the Greek Cypriot administration systematically arm itself.
According to the U.S. Defense Department, the USS San Juan docked at the Southern Cypriot port of Limassol on April 3. Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides visited the sub on Thursday, according to the local media.
Cyprus has been mired in a decadeslong dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the U.N. 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 U.K.
The Greek Cypriot administration was admitted to the EU in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted a U.N. plan to end the longstanding dispute.
