Turkey on Thursday described as “provocation” the agreement signed on Monday between France and Cyprus governing the presence of French troops on Cypriot territory, judging it “contrary to international law”.
“The agreement signed between France, which has no guarantor status in Cyprus, and the Greek Cypriot administration, which aims to unilaterally modify the fragile balance on the island and disregards the will and equal sovereign rights of Turkish Cypriots, is contrary to the Cyprus Accords of 1960 and international law,” the Turkish Defense Ministry said in a press release.
“These measures (…) devoid of any legitimacy and whose consequences have not been carefully studied could have dangerous consequences for the south of the island”, added the Turkish ministry, which said “to closely monitor this provocation aimed at destabilizing the Eastern Mediterranean.”
The agreement signed Monday in Nicosia between the French and Cypriot Defense Ministers follows the wish expressed in April by French President Emmanuel Macron and his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides to facilitate the reception of French forces in Cyprus “for operations humanitarian aid in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East.
The French armed forces already regularly use Cyprus as a deployment and support base during regional crises.
“As a guarantor country, we will continue to protect the rights and interests and ensure the security of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, as we have done in the past,” stressed the Turkish Defense Ministry in denouncing “hostile attitudes”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had already promised on Wednesday a “very firm response” in the event of “an attack on the rights (…) of Turkey and Turkish Cypriots in the Eastern Mediterranean”.
The island of Cyprus has been divided since Turkey’s invasion of its northern part on July 20, 1974, in response to a coup by Greek Cypriot nationalists aimed at uniting the country with Greece.
The northern part of the island, where mainly Turkish Cypriots and Turkish settlers live, was self-proclaimed the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983, and its authorities are only recognized by Ankara.
AFP
