New crisis brewing on Cyprus after US lifts arms embargo

A Cypriot soldier sits on a truck during a military parade marking the 62nd anniversary of Cyprus's independence from British colonial rule, in Nicosia, on October 1, 2022 [File: Petros Karadjias/AP]

Turkish-Cypriot authorities could be preparing to evict United Nations peacekeepers from their bases in northern Cyprus, triggering a new political and security crisis on the divided island, officials have told Al Jazeera.

“[The United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP)] needs to enter into a mutually agreeable formal agreement with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in order to continue its presence and operations in the TRNC,” Tahsin Ertugruloglu, who holds the Northern Cyprus foreign affairs portfolio, told Al Jazeera.