The Greek Cypriots will see that the weapons they bought are useless, Turkish parliament speaker Numan Kurtulmus said on Thursday night.

Addressing journalists after a meeting with the north’s ‘parliament speaker’ Ziya Ozturkler, he said he desires that “the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot people live in peace under the flags of their own states until the end of time”, but warned, “we will not allow anyone to disrupt the peace of the TRNC”.

“In this sense, Turkey stands by the Turkish Cypriot people and the Turkish Cypriot state with all its might, no matter who it opposes, and will continue to do so. We warn others not to arm themselves, we will not be the ones to decide who they will buy what weapons or from whom. They will see that the weapons they buy are useless,” he said.

He was reacting to the Republic of Cyprus’ westward shift as regards its weapons procurement, and recent reports that it has strengthened its air defence system into something resembling an “iron dome” using weaponry bought from the United States, the European Union, and Israel.

“The warlords are looking for new places to sell their weapons, it seems. Enough is enough. These warlords who have turned the world into a bloodbath should not make this region even more unstable by selling their war machines, We want this armament to be stopped,” he said.

He added that with this in mind, he cannot understand how those who constantly try to “manipulate the TRNC” and through it Turkey, ignore Cyprus’ passion for armament.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Cypriot ‘foreign ministry’ also issued a warning, saying, “we have been insistently stating for a long time that the support provided by the US administration to the Greek Cypriot administration … and the military cooperation of countries such as Israel and France with the Greek Cypriots poses a danger of changing the delicate balances of the region”.

They also pushed back on talk of the Republic joining Nato, pointing out that all Nato members must unanimously agree before a new member state is added, but also adding that “it is obvious which forces the Greek Cypriot side got this courage from”.

“The armament of the Greek Cypriot side on the grounds that its security is apparently under threat is very likely to bring disaster to the entire island in the future. Therefore, once again, we call on all parties to act with common sense, and on international actors to refrain from encouraging the Greek Cypriot side,” they added.