The Turkish media’s reaction to the statements of the Minister of National Defense, Nikos Dendias, during his visit to Nicosia, where he met with the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, was intense.
Turkish media outlet Haber7 claimed that “Greece targeted Turkey in the midst of the war [with] arrogant words that sounded like threats,” following comments made by Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias to Alpha TV.
Specifically, the Haber7 article says:
Greek Defense Minister Dendias, responding to a question about whether sending troops to the [Republic of Cyprus] could be an excuse for Turkey, made an arrogant statement that this could be an opportunity to withdraw Turkey’s large military presence in the [unrecognized and illegal] Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Explosions had been heard at the Akrotiri Base in the ‘Greek Command of Southern Cyprus’, and then it was observed that some warplanes stationed here had taken off.
The Government Spokesperson of the Republic of Cyprus, Konstantinos Letymbiotis, stated that in the incident that occurred in the area of the sovereign base of the United Kingdom in “Southern Cyprus”, an unmanned aerial vehicle was used and limited damage was caused.
Making a statement to the press, Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias stated that he has been in contact with Greek Cypriot Defense Minister Vasilis Palmas for the last 2 days and said: “Following the unjustified attacks on the territory of the ‘GCC’, I promised Palmas that Greece will contribute as much as it can to the defense of the ‘Greek Cypriot Administration’ throughout the crisis.”
Dendias, who visited the Republic of Cyprus a day later, recalled that Greece has always been on the side of the Greek Cypriots and announced that it will respond to requests for assistance with all the means at its disposal.
Responding to questions from Antonis Sroiter live on the main news bulletin of the Greek television station Alpha during the day, Dendias again expressed his annoyance about Turkey.
To Sroiter’s question: “Could the deployment of Greek troops in the ‘GCC’ be a good excuse for Turkey to deploy forces on the ‘TRNC’ side? How would we react to that?”
The Greek minister said that Turkey has a large military presence in the ‘TRNC’ (40,000, he said) and that the arrival of Greek forces in the region is a good opportunity to withdraw Turkish troops.
The presenter asked: “Will Greek forces remain in the Republic of Cyprus after the end of the crisis? Will visits by ships and aircraft become more frequent?”
Responding to the question, Dendias stated that the Greek army will be permanent in the Republic of Cyprus and used the following statements:
“These Forces went to protect, I repeat, the entire population of Cyprus from this crisis. In this context, I will not give any general policy change or instructions.”
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