(1945) Michael Rubin - 50 years ago, Turkish troops poured into Cyprus and seized one-third of the island in a naked land grab, no different than Russia invading Ukraine. This was followed by settlers from Turkey pouring into the occupied zone. Northern Cyprus has now become a terror safe-haven and money laundering hub that presents a grave and growing threat to U.S. and European security. In March 2024, Turkish President Erdogan lamented that had the Turkish Army gone further in its invasion, all of Cyprus would be a Turkish state today. School teachers in northern Cyprus report that half their students today speak nothing but Arabic or Persian. Cypriot intelligence has already disrupted a number of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps plots aimed at Israel and Jewish interests in Cyprus. Refusing to call Cyprus occupied is stupid. The U.S. and Europe should calibrate their policy to reality rather than wishful thinking. They should shut down all so-called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) offices, and they should deny their airspace to any airline that serves airports in the occupied zone. The U.S. should calibrate any assistance to Turkey to its withdrawal of forces and settlers from Cyprus. President Biden's provision of F-16s to Turkey is a legacy-defining mistake. The writer is director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
2024-06-20 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive