Turkey says France-Cyprus troops deal illegal

ISTANBUL: The Turkish Defense Ministry said on Thursday that a deal signed by France and Cyprus allowing for the presence of French forces on the divided Mediterranean island violated international law.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 after Turkey occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup seeking union with Greece.

Today, it comprises the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), recognized only by Turkey, and the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus, a European Union member that controls the island’s majority Greek-Cypriot south.

The agreement signed on Monday by Paris and Nicosia calls for deepening bilateral defense ties and contributing to greater strategic autonomy for the European Union.

Incensed by the deal, Turkey issued several warnings over it.

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“The agreement signed between France, which has no guarantor status in Cyprus, and the Greek Cypriot administration, which seeks to unilaterally alter the fragile balance on the island and disregards the will and equal sovereign rights of the Turkish Cypriots, is contrary to the 1960 Cyprus agreements and to international law,” the defense ministry said in its statement Thursday.

When French President Emmanuel Macron visited in April, he said France and Cyprus were seeking to establish the necessary framework to host French forces “for humanitarian operations in the wider Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East”.