Cypriot Defense Ministry Says Military Relations With US Improved In Recent Years

ATHENS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th March, 2023) Cyprus has deepened the bilateral relations with the United States in recent years, which resulted in a complete lifting of the embargo on the sale of US weapons to the island nation, outgoing Cypriot Defense Minister Charalambos Petrides said on Friday.

"I think we should mention the modernization and deepening of relations between Cyprus and the United States, which culminated in Washington's decision to completely lift the embargo on the sale of US weapons," Petrides said at a ceremony of power transition to new Defense Minister Michalis Giorgallas.

Petrides also said that Cyprus has strengthened its ties and established new relations in defense cooperation with 16 countries to create the conditions for security, peace and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean as well as developed multilateral defense partnerships.

"We are intensifying the implementation of the national guard armament program and starting to create the necessary infrastructure, aiming for institutionalized fixed defense spending of at least 2% of gross domestic product," Cyprus Defense Ministry Director General Andreas Loukas said during the ceremony.

Loukas added that the quadrilateral cooperation of Cyprus, Greece, Italy and France improved their naval presence in the region, aiming to define the Eastern Mediterranean as a zone of interest for the European Union.

The US imposed the Cyprus arms embargo in 1987 with a view to mending divisions between Cypriot Greeks and Turks following the Turkish invasion of the north, but the Mediterranean island nation went on to buy weapons elsewhere.

Washington partially lifted the ban on non-lethal military assistance to Cyprus in 2020 and established a military training center for the Eastern Mediterranean, CYCLOPS, in a bid to bolster security ties with the nation.