NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cyprus on Thursday hailed a U.S. memorandum allowing military sales, including arms, to the island as a milestone affirming recognition of the island as a pillar of stability in the east Mediterranean region which has been fraught with conflict.
U.S. President Joe Biden boosted security ties with Cyprus on Wednesday by issuing a memorandum that makes the island eligible to receive American defense articles, military sales and training.
Cyprus has over the years played a key role in evacuating people out of conflict zones and established a maritime corridor for aid to war-ravaged Gaza last year.
“This (memorandum) is a clear recognition of the Republic of Cyprus as a pillar of stability and security in the Eastern Mediterranean, with the potential to further contribute to peace and the management of humanitarian challenges,” the Cypriot presidency said in a statement.
Cyprus was close to Russia for decades, but there has been a marked shift in allegiances in recent years.
For many in Cyprus, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has drawn parallels to Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974, and Cyprus, an EU member state, has followed its peers in adopting sanctions on Moscow. It is now getting FBI expertise in countering illicit finance.
Access to the U.S. programmes would enable greater interoperability to respond to regional humanitarian crises, counter malign influence, and combat terrorism and transnational organised crime, the U.S. embassy in Nicosia said.
Deepening U.S-Cyprus relations are closely followed by Turkey, which in September criticised the signing of a roadmap to boost defence co-operation between the United States and Cyprus.
Cyprus was split in a Turkish invasion following a brief Greek-inspired coup in 1974, following years of sporadic violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots which triggered the collapse of a power-sharing administration in 1963.
(Reporting By Michele Kambas; Editing by Michael Perry)
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