US fighter jet reports denied

THE TRNC Foreign Ministry on Monday denied reports that US fighter jets allegedly violated the country’s airspace.

News in the Greek media last week claimed that American F-22 Raptor warplanes were conducting an exercise near Cyprus after receiving “verbal” permission from the Greek Cypriot authorities.

The jets allegedly took off from Crete, flew around the south of Cyprus and then north over the Karpaz peninsula before turning west back to Crete.

Following days of silence from the government on the matter, former foreign minister Kudret Özersay issued a statement on Sunday asking if the reports were true and why there had been no official response or “protest” made to the US.

The next day the Foreign Ministry

issued a written statement of its own that said the reports “do not reflect the truth” and that “Greek Cypriot sources have been trying to create meaningless tension by fabricating news on a military issue”.

The statement added that “activities taking place around the airspace of our country are closely monitored by our relevant institutions” and that it was “observed that the warplanes in question returned without violating the TRNC airspace during their activities”.

“In this context, we would like to emphasise that the security of the TRNC people is always under the absolute guarantee of the Cyprus Turkish Peace Forces, our Security Command Forces, and especially our Motherland Turkey,” the statement concluded.