Türkiye has ramped up the criticism of its NATO ally United States for abandoning a balanced policy and escalating tensions on the issues of Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean, reiterating that it will protect its rights and interests against the Greek side.
The recent U.S. decision to lift the arms embargo on the Greek Cypriot administration has disrupted its balanced policy on the island and made Washington completely pro-Greek Cypriot, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Friday.
The decision is meant to "reward" Greek Cyprus for "leaning away from Russia," he added, speaking at a press conference in Türkiye's southwestern Muğla province.
"They (Greek Cypriot administration) may have cooperated with the U.S. against money laundering, but does the reward have to be arms? It could've been something else, like monetary support," he added.
"For years, the U.S. had a balanced policy on the island. It was following a balanced policy between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots and also Türkiye and Greece. Now, for the last two years, it has been moving away from this balanced policy," Çavuşoğlu said.
Pledging to do whatever is necessary amid the latest U.S. moves, he stressed that Türkiye will respond with concrete steps.
On Sept. 16, the U.S. State Department announced lifting the arms embargo on the Greek Cypriot administration.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the move, saying it is "in contradiction to the principle of equality of the two sides on the island, and will further strengthen the Greek Cypriot side's intransigence, will negatively affect the efforts to resettle the Cyprus issue, and will lead to an arms race on the island, harming peace and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean."
Also, Türkiye on Thursday reiterated that it will take all measures to protect Turkish Cypriots following the U.S. decision to lift an arms embargo on the Greek Cypriot administration.
Çavuşoğlu said Ankara "will deploy more forces to protect Turkish Cypriots and provide them everything they need in terms of weapons."
He also stressed that Türkiye will continue to protect its rights pertaining to Cyprus, as well as the Aegean and Mediterranean seas.
Türkiye has many times invited its NATO ally United States to adopt a neutral stance on the Cyprus issue.
Cyprus has been mired in a decadeslong dispute between the Turkish and Greek Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the U.N. to achieve a comprehensive settlement.
Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.
In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece's annexation led to Türkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983.
It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom.
The Greek Cypriot administration entered the European Union in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted the U.N.'s Annan plan to end the longstanding dispute.
Today, the Turkish side supports a solution based on the equal sovereignty of the two states on the island. On the other hand, the Greek side wants a federal solution based on the hegemony of the Greeks.
Türkiye, which has the longest continental coastline in the Eastern Mediterranean, has rejected maritime boundary claims by Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration, stressing that their excessive claims violate the sovereign rights of Türkiye and the Turkish Cypriots.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticized the U.S. on Wednesday for its tilted stance amid simmering tensions between Türkiye and Greece, calling out Washington for its unequal treatment of NATO allies.
There is simply no comparison between Türkiye and Greece's importance in NATO, Erdoğan said in a televised interview, stressing that the U.S. "cannot find another ally like Türkiye."
Erdoğan reminded that Türkiye is ranked among the top five countries in NATO in terms of both its contributions to the bloc and the power provided by its land forces.
He also said that according to drone footage, there are armored vehicles stationed on Greek islands that are supposed to be demilitarized, which he described as "unacceptable."
"Our expectation from the U.S. is not to involve Greece in wrong calculations and not to allow the manipulation of international public opinion," he added.
He denounced Washington's recent decision to lift an arms embargo on the Greek Cypriot administration, terming it "inexplicable in terms of content and timing."
He said the move "will not go unanswered" and pledged to take all necessary steps to protect Turkish Cypriots.
On the other hand, the U.S. State Department on Wednesday pointed to "America's national interests" in response to a question about Greece's violation of an international treaty by deploying U.S. armored vehicles on two Aegean islands.
When asked by an Anadolu Agency (AA) reporter about a protest lodged by Türkiye against Washington for providing Greece with military vehicles, spokesperson Ned Price admitted that the U.S. is implementing a double standard on provisions of its military sales to Greece and Türkiye.
Reiterating his call on both Athens and Ankara to resolve their differences diplomatically, Price said: "We urge all the parties to avoid rhetoric and to avoid actions that could further exacerbate tensions. The sovereignty and the territorial integrity of all countries should be respected."
When pressed if there was any provision on the sale of military equipment provided to Greece, which are used in violation of international agreements, Price responded: "We're always taking a close look at the security assistance, including potential weapons systems and supplies that we're providing to allies and partners around the world."
He said the U.S. provides its partners with security aid to confront "shared challenges and shared threats," and continued: "There's a constant evaluative process when it comes to looking at the security systems we provide to any country around the world."
Asked again if a provision is applied to one partner and not the other and what the standard is, Price said: "The standard we use is what is in America's national interests. And it just so happens that when it comes to our allies and partners, what tends to be in our national interest is in the collective interest as well."
Later, an Associated Press (AP) reporter entered the conversation with a question about S-400 missiles, asking Price why the U.S. is telling Turks to not deploy or buy them "when you talk about how it's up to each country to oversee or determine the deployment of their own defenses."
"Of course, countries around the world are open to make their own choices. There will be cases, extreme cases, where certain choices will have implications on the part of the United States' bilateral relationship," said Price.
'Hiding behind EU of no use to Greece'
Calling on Greece to abide by international law, Çavuşoğlu on Friday also told Athens that "hiding behind the EU will do you no good."
Amid repeated provocative actions and rhetoric by Greece in the region in recent months, Ankara sent earlier this month a letter to the U.N. and NATO chiefs, the EU foreign policy chief and 25 EU capitals, addressing possible solutions to disputes in the Aegean Sea. Türkiye stressed negotiations based on international law to find fair solutions to the disputes.
Çavuşoğlu said that Greece's response to the letter was "weak" and lacked "legal arguments."
"We told them to not to put third parties between us. This was our agreement," Çavuşoğlu said, citing Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' visit to the U.S. this summer and complaining about Türkiye, which Erdoğan said violated their consensus to seek bilateral solutions.
Çavuşoğlu emphasized that Ankara has made repeated efforts to resolve issues through diplomacy.
Stressing that it would be a mistake for Athens to try to "hide behind the EU," Çavuşoğlu lashed out against the bloc's biased stance, saying: "They are not helping reach a solution to disputes."
Türkiye, a NATO member for over 70 years, has complained of repeated provocative actions and rhetoric by Greece in the region in recent months, including arming islands near Turkish shores that are demilitarized under treaty, saying that such moves frustrate its good faith and efforts for peace.
Türkiye and Greece are at odds over a number of issues, including competing claims over jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean, overlapping claims over their continental shelves, maritime boundaries, airspace, energy, the ethnically split island of Cyprus, the status of the islands in the Aegean Sea and migrants.
Ankara accuses Athens of illegally militarizing Greek islands in the East Aegean and questions Greece’s sovereignty over them. There is also a dispute over the exploitation of mineral resources in the Aegean.
Turkish military drones recently recorded the deployment of Greek armored vehicles on the islands of Lesbos and Samos, which Ankara maintains is in violation of international law. The footage was released last Sunday.
Türkiye on Monday summoned the Greek ambassador and called for an end to violations on Aegean islands and the restoration of their non-military status, according to the Foreign Ministry.
In a note, the ministry said the deployment was another violation of Greece's obligations under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the 1947 Treaty of Paris, which required that the islands be demilitarized.
Since the beginning of 2022, Greek warplanes have violated Turkish airspace 256 times and harassed Turkish jets on 158 occasions, and Greek coast guard boats also violated Turkish territorial waters 33 times.
Greece's prime minister on Thursday pledged to further bolster the country's military spending amid ongoing tensions with Türkiye over Athens arming Aegean Sea islands that are supposed to have nonmilitary status.
During a naming ceremony for a new fast attack missile craft of the Greek Navy, Kyriakos Mitsotakis vowed that strengthening the country's armed forces would be a priority of his conservative-nationalist government.
Referring to recent big-ticket arms deals, including for the modernization of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets and the purchase of FDI-type frigates and Rafael warplanes from France, Mitsotakis said that "every Greek weapon is a means of deterrence."
He also revealed that the new arms purchases and recruitment for the Greek military were being done in the face of profound financial difficulties.