Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu has invited Greek Cypriot officials to exercise good sense and to refrain from actions that will raise tensions on the island.

“Guarantor Türkiye will not hesitate to take countersteps to ensure the security of the Turkish Cypriot people just as it did on July 20, 1974,” said Ertuğruloğlu in a written statement issued on Tuesday.

Responding to the latest statement made by the Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister and the Ministry of Defence following the decision by the US government to lift the arms sales embargo on the Greek Cypriot administration, the TRNC Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu said that the remarks made by the two ministers showed just how eager they are to purchase arms.

“It comes as no surprise that the Greek Cypriot leadership which continue to reject a just and lasting solution based on the realities on the island welcomed the US’s latest decision. This at the same time demonstrates that the Greek Cypriot leadership which aimed to annihilate Turkish Cypriots in the past has not abandoned its hostility towards the Turkish Cypriot people,” he said.

Ertuğruloğlu also said that the US, with this decision, had dealt yet another blow to efforts to reach a settlement on the island.

He argued that the decision also threatened the atmosphere of peace and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean.

“The Turkish Cypriot people see this move as a threat to its existence,” the TRNC foreign minister said.