Turkey condemns Cyprus-US defence co-operation roadmap

Turkey said it condemned this week’s signing of a roadmap to boost two-way defence co-operation between the United States and the Republic of Cyprus.

The move came amid United Nations efforts to find common ground for the resumption of long-stalled negotiations between the rival Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities on the Mediterranean island, which has been divided for decades.

The US steps, including last June’s announcement of the launch of a strategic dialogue with Cyprus, are detrimental to the security of the Turkish Cypriot side of the island, the Turkish foreign ministry said.

“These steps … undermine the neutral USA position towards the island of Cyprus and make it more difficult to reach a just, lasting and sustainable settlement of the Cyprus issue,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.

On Monday, the United States and the internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus signed the co-operation roadmap in Nicosia.

In a joint statement, their defence ministries reaffirmed their commitment to collaborate to tackle international security concerns via the roadmap.

The north’s ‘foreign ministry’ on Wednesday accused the United States of “bias” regarding the Cyprus problem, following the signing of a roadmap for bilateral defence cooperation with the US earlier this week.