Congress adds new irritant in US-Turkey relations with pro-Cyprus push
Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee want to lift the arms sale ban on the disputed island.
Turkey critics on Capitol Hill could add a new irritant to the strained bilateral relationship with legislation retooling longstanding US policy toward the disputed island of Cyprus.
The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., joined Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., this week to introduce the Eastern Mediterranean Security and Partnership Act, which would lift the decades-old arms embargo on Cyprus. The bill also authorizes the Donald Trump administration to enter into energy cooperation agreements between Cyprus, Greece and Israel.
“Cyprus is a member of the EU, Greece is a member of the EU,” Menendez told Al-Monitor. “We’re just talking about creating another security architecture in the Eastern Mediterranean by countries that share our values and are aligned with us. That should not be a threat to anybody.”
But NATO ally Turkey is unlikely to welcome Menendez’s proposed energy security framework.
