Turkey slams US decision on lifting Cyprus weapons embargo

Turkey's foreign ministry said on Saturday it strongly condemned the decision taken by the United States in September 2020 to lift its arms embargo on Cyprus.

The foreign ministry said it would "further strengthen the Greek Cypriot side's intransigence and negatively affect efforts to resettle the Cyprus issue".

"It will lead to an arms race on the Island, harming peace and stability in the eastern Mediterranean," the statement said, calling on the United States to reconsider its decision and to pursue a balanced policy towards the two sides on the island.

Meanwhile, Cyprus on Saturday hailed the full lifting the embargo on the ethnically divided island nation as a milestone reaffirming increasingly tighter bilateral bonds that serve to bolster stability in the turbulent east Mediterranean region.

The Cypriot Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Cyprus-US strategic partnership aims at creating the necessary conditions for regional security and stability.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in in a statement that Secretary of State Antony Blinken determined Cyprus met the conditions to allow for "exports, re-exports and transfers of defense articles for the fiscal year 2023".

The US will assess annually whether Cyprus complies with conditions for the embargo lift, including implementing anti-money laundering regulations and denying Russian military vessels access to ports for refueling and servicing.

Cyprus barred Russian warships from using its ports in early March following the invasion of Ukraine.

The conditions are enshrined in the Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act that the US Congress passed in 2019. The Act underscores US support for closer ties among Greece, Cyprus and Israel based on recently discovered offshore gas deposits.

The US enacted the embargo in 1987 to prevent a potential arms race from harming peace talks with the country’s breakaway Turkish Cypriots. Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup aimed at union with Greece.

Barred access to US weapons, Cyprus turned to Russia to procure Mi-35 attack helicopters, T-80 tanks and Tor-M1 anti-aircraft missile systems.