The Turkish foreign ministry on Thursday night condemned the United States’ decision to allow the Republic of Cyprus to purchase military hardware directly.

“We condemn the decision made by the US,” the ministry said, adding that it “shares the views” of the north’s ‘foreign ministry’, which had earlier in the day described the move as “tragicomic”.

We consider this decision, which will increase armament activities on the island, to be a grave mistake. Considering that our region is going through an extremely sensitive period, all parties concerned must avoid provocative steps and act with common sense,” it added.

It went on to say that it expects the incoming US administration led by Donald Trump, which will take office on Monday, to reverse what it described as a “mistaken step taken by the current president”.

“As a motherland and a guarantor power, we will continue to support the steps that the TRNC will take to increase its defence and deterrence capacities,” it added.

Earlier, the north’s ‘foreign ministry’ had criticised the Republic of Cyprus for “claiming that it is acting on the ground that it is the victim on the victim on this island regarding armament activities”.

However, it added, “it was the Greek Cypriot side which turned the island of Cyprus into a bloodbath between 1963 and 1974.

“Although the international community tried to cover up this cruelty committed by the Greek Cypriot side against the Turkish Cypriot people by calling it an ‘intercommunal conflict’, the suffering which took place is preserved in the memory of the Turkish Cypriot people,” it said.

It added, “a fter this decision taken by the US, it is clear that the Greek Cypriot administration will continue this arms race as if it were preparing for war.

“It is extremely unfortunate that the warnings we have repeatedly made to all relevant parties regarding the dangerous situation that the Greek Cypriot side’s military activities could create in the region have not been heeded.

It therefore said it “calls on the countries which are facilitating the Greek Cypriot side’s warmongering to act once again by calculating the consequences of their actions, and to be sensible.

“It will not serve anyone’s interests for the delicate balances on this island and in the region to be negatively affected.”

US President Joe Biden had issued a Presidential determination on Wednesday night which incorporated the Republic of Cyprus into three programmes run by the US department of defence.

Those are the US defence security cooperation agency’s foreign military sales (FMS) programme, its excess defence articles (EDA) programme, and programmes to allocate resources under the US’ ‘Title 10’ security assistance provisions.