ANKARA (Agencies): Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that Ankara is prepared to construct a naval base in northern Cyprus if deemed necessary. This statement appears to be a response to Greece’s plans to support a naval base on the southern side of the island.
According to the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency, Erdogan made this declaration on Sunday, following his visit to northern Cyprus on Saturday to attend a military parade in North Nicosia. The event commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Turkish military’s intervention in Cyprus in 1974, which resulted in Turkish forces capturing over a third of the island to protect Cypriot Turks from violence by Cypriot Greeks.
Erdogan emphasized the ongoing construction of political infrastructure in northern Cyprus, including the presidency and parliament buildings, contrasting it with Greece’s military base expansion efforts. He stated, “If necessary, we can construct a base and naval structures in the north” of Cyprus.
The Turkish President’s remarks are seen as a reaction to Greece’s support for the Greek Cypriot administration’s expansion of the Evangelos Florakis naval base, which Ankara views as a significant militarization and provocation.
Erdogan also dismissed the possibility of further UN-sponsored talks to unify the island, asserting that “we do not think it is possible to start a new negotiation process without establishing an equation whereby both parties sit down as equals and leave the table as equals”.