Turkey: Lifting Cyprus arms embargo would be ‘dangerous escalation’

Turkey has warned that US moves to lift a decades-old arms embargo on Cyprus would undermine efforts to reunite the Mediterranean island and create a "dangerous escalation."
The US Congress voted Tuesday to end the embargo on the island, which was imposed in 1987 with the aim of preventing an arms buildup that would obstruct diplomatic efforts at a peace settlement.
The US decision "will have no outcome other than hampering efforts towards a settlement on the island and creating a dangerous escalation," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement late Tuesday.