Antalya, Turkey. Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman on Friday met Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the Antalya diplomacy forum. Neither Erhurman’s office nor Aliyev’s office made further comment about the meeting.
Meeting participants
The meeting was also attended by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Turkish Cypriot ‘foreign minister’ Tahsin Ertugruloglu.
Talks in Ankara and remarks on foreign military units
Erhurman met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Thursday, with the Turkish presidential communications directorate saying Erdogan said “the military units sent to the island from some European countries under the pretext of the war in Iran need to not be permanent”.
Deployments around Cyprus following drone incident
After Cyprus was hit by an Iranian-made drone last month, Greece, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the United Kingdom deployed naval or aerial assets to the island and its vicinity.
Previous comments by Erhurman
Erdogan’s comments echoed those made by Erhurman last month, when he told Turkey’s Anadolu Agency: “I do not think that the military assets which have come here will be permanent, and I am saying very clearly that they should not be.”
“Of course, their arrivals will be reported in the foreign press, and when that is reported, no matter what you say, the perception that this region is not a safe region will be implanted into people’s minds,” he said.
What impact do you think foreign military deployments around Cyprus have on perceptions of regional security?