The President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, welcomed the statement of the US State Department that the US will completely cancel the 1987 arms embargo against Cyprus.

APA reports that Anastadiades said this on Twitter.

"This is a significant decision that reflects the developing strategic relations between the two countries, including in the field of security," he said.

It should be noted that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced the decision in the evening of September 16.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the Republic of Cyprus has fulfilled the necessary conditions under the relevant legislation to approve the export, re-export and transfer of defense materials to the country for fiscal year 2023, and the US Congress has also approved it.

The statement noted that compliance with the conditions is assessed on an annual basis.

The Turkish side strongly condemned this decision and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey issued a statement in this regard.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that this decision "will further strengthen the intransigence of the Greek Cypriot side and will have a negative impact on efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem."

"This will lead to an arms race on the island and harm peace and stability in the eastern Mediterranean," the statement of the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.