Turkey`s foreign ministry said on Saturday that it strongly condemned the expansion of a decision taken by the United States in September 2020 to lift its arms embargo on Cyprus. 

The US State Department said on Friday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had lifted defence trade restrictions for Cyprus for the fiscal year 2023. The Turkish foreign ministry said this decision would “further strengthen the Greek Cypriot side`s intransigence and negatively affect efforts to resettle the Cyprus issue.”