[FoxNews] The United States will lift a long-standing arms embargo on Cyprus in a move that has angered NATO ally Turkey. "Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken determined and certified to Congress that the Republic of Cyprus has met the necessary conditions under relevant legislation to allow the approval of exports, re-exports, and transfers of defense articles for fiscal year 2023," State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Friday.
The U.S. embargo on Cyprus remained in place since 1987 as the island remained divided following a Turkish invasion that established a breakaway state. The embargo had forced Cyprus to increasingly turn to Russia for weaponry since it could not buy even defensive weaponry, such as night vision goggles, if they contained any American components.
In order to get the embargo lifted, Cyprus had to install several financial regulatory oversight reforms, such as denying Russian military vessels access to ports, and finally met conditions that the U.S. felt were sufficient to prove it a reliable trading partner.
Endy Zemenides, executive director of the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC), noted that Cyprus had made the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) white list, meaning that Cyprus has fulfilled commitments to transparency and exchanges of information for tax purposes.
"This represents the last vestige of … Russification or increasing Russian influence in Cyprus about ten years ago when Cyprus went through its banking crisis," Zemenides explained to Fox News Digital. "People were saying, ‘hey, you know Russians are hiding money or laundering money in Cyprus,’ [and] Cyprus got very aggressive on money laundering, got very aggressive on banking transparency."
The U.S. had partially lifted the embargo in 2020 and allowed for Cyprus to buy non-lethal military goods, indicating that Cyprus was not far off from a total embargo lift.
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades hailed the U.S. decision as a "landmark" announcement that brings him "great satisfaction."