Androulakis: Turkey’s F-16 acquisition ‘a deeply negative development’
The sale of US F-16 fighter jets to Turkey will allow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to continue pursuing “destabilizing practices,” Socialists PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis said on Wednesday.
“The latest development with the approval of the new F-16 program from the US side to Turkey is a deeply negative development,” he added.
Speaking to Morfou Mayor Viktor Chatziavraam, whose municipality is de-jure under Cypriot control, but is situated in the Turkish-occupied northern part of Cyprus, Androulakis said the European Union should take initiatives “so that this huge national issue may be finally resolved, as it also concerns the stability of the greater Eastern Mediterranean.”
Chatziavraam reminded that the issue of property and land ownership following the invasion of the island in 1974 remains a major problem.
The 1974 invasion displaced some 150,000-160,000 Greek Cypriots and around 40,000-50,000 Turkish Cypriots.
July will mark half a century since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
