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Turkiye may build naval base in northern Cyprus ‘if necessary’, says Erdogan

July 22, 2024 at 8:54 pm

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during the 50th anniversary celebration program of the Cyprus Peace Operation in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on July 20, 2024, in Lefkosia, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. [Doğukan Keskinkılıç – Anadolu Agency]

Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has said that Ankara is ready to build a naval base in northern Cyprus, seemingly in response to Greece’s own aims to support a naval base on the southern side of the island.

According to the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency, Erdogan stated on Sunday that “If necessary, we can construct a base and naval structures in the north” of Cyprus. His comment came a day after he visited northern Cyprus on Saturday to attend a military parade in the capital, North Nicosia.

The event marked the 50th anniversary of the Turkish military’s intervention on the island in 1974, when Turkish forces captured over a third of Cyprus to prevent further violence against Cypriot Turks by the Cypriot Greeks at the time.

“We are constructing on the island the building of the presidency of Northern Cyprus and the parliament building. They are constructing a military base, we are building a political base”, said Erdogan.

His remarks about establishing a naval base for the island’s Turkish Cypriot administration are reportedly in response to Greece’s aim to support the Greek Cypriot administration’s expansion of the Evangelos Florakis naval base, which Ankara sees as a significant militarisation and provocation.

Erdogan also rejected the possibility of further UN-sponsored talks to unify the island, stating 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”.

Read: Turkiye FM accuses Cyprus of acting as logistics hub for Western arms to Israel