Greece supplies Greek Cypriots with US-made weapons
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
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ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

Following a crisis over Greek Cypriot efforts for oil and natural gas exploration off the Mediterranean, another debate has erupted over armaments on the island. Turkey informed the United States of Greek Cypriot use of U.S.-made weapons, reported the NTV news channel yesterday.
The Turkish government took the initiative and complained against Greece after a critical draft about the use of U.S.-made weapons by the Turkish army on the island had been submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives. But Ankara considers this an attempt to harm Turkish-U.S. relations and argues that not Turks but the Greek Cypriots use U.S.-made weapons on the island. In the meantime, Turkey has withdrawn its few U.S.-made weapons in northern Cyprus after contacting the Pentagon, reported NTV.

Greece is supplying the Greek Cypriot army with U.S.-made weaponry systems, according to intelligence sources. Among these systems are M48 A-5 war tanks, M113 armored vehicles, M110 A2-type and 203 millimeter obus and 175 millimeter canons.

The U.S. administration brought the issue to the notice of the parties involved after pressure from Ankara, reported NTV. But Washington's pressure on both Athens and the Greek Cypriots for a couple of years has turned out to be futile.

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Just another in the long list of reasons of why not to buy Yank equipment...