Turkish intelligence has data that Cyprus is being used “by certain countries“ as a base for operations against Gaza, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said yesterday in an interview with Haberturk TV and warned “Greek Cyprus" and Greece to “stay away” from the region, the Anatolian Agency reported.
Fidan emphasized that it is possible that the conflict (between Israel and “Hamas”) could grow into a major war and attract other participants. He said that Turkey has warned European countries and regional powers about the “Greek Cypriot administration” (as Turkey calls the internationally recognized government in Nicosia), which has become an “operational center”.
„After October 7, after the first operations launched by Israel, we continuously see through intelligence reports that the Greek Cypriot administration has become a base used by certain countries specifically in operations against Gaza. From there, there are continuous reconnaissance flights and military flights to Gaza”, said the Turkish foreign minister.
„When we raised this question, they suddenly announced this place (Cyprus) as a logistics base for Gaza. The operation of this logistics base has clearly become an activity that hides the fact that this place is actually a military base. The fact that this place and the Greek islands are used for operations in the Middle East will not benefit either the Greek Cypriots or Greece. Our advice, we also told the Greeks, is to stay away from these places because when you get involved in the ongoing wars in the Middle East, when you take sides, the fire will come and find you. We are now in the same geographical location. He will come and find us too”, Hakan Fidan said.
He stressed that factors in the region must realize that there is a serious militarization of “Southern Cyprus” and that this should be prevented.
Last week, the leader of the Lebanese Shiite movement "Hezbollah" Hassan Nasrallah issued threats against Cyprus, stating that "the government of Cyprus must be warned that opening Cypriot airports and bases to the Israeli enemy to attack Lebanon means that it has joined the war and resistance (" ;Hezbollah" - note ed.) will deal with it as part of the war".
Cyprus categorically rejected Nasrallah's claims of intervention in the Middle East conflict. Any public claims regarding the involvement of Cyprus through its infrastructure or its territory in a possible confrontation involving Lebanon are completely baseless, Cypriot government spokesman Konstantinos Lethimbiotis said, while Foreign Minister Konstantinos Kombos described Nasrallah's threats as baseless.
The European Union expressed support for the Republic of Cyprus and stated that “any threat against an EU country is also against the EU itself”, and Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis defined the threats of “Hezbollah” as “unacceptable“.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, quoted by ANA-MPA, on Friday expressed bewilderment as to why “Hezbollah“ threatens a country that “really plays a major role as a country for organizing the delivery of humanitarian aid that reaches Gaza, that helps innocent Palestinians, that provides food to innocent Palestinians”.