NIKOSIA – Cyprus’ government, a member of the European Union, believes that a warning by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to invade Israel in response to Israel’s war in Gaza hunting for Hamas terrorists shouldn’t be ignored.

“Any threat being made publicly has to be taken very, very seriously here and we think that the international community cannot ignore or disregard the threats,” Konstantinos Letymbiotis,” Cyprus’ government spokesman, told Fox News.

“History itself has proven this, respect for international law is fundamental, and it goes without saying that all of us should be strongly committed to it,” Letymbiotis said, after reports Israel also fears an invasion by Iran.

“Unfortunately, as a country, we have been experiencing for the last 50 years a continuous ongoing increase in illegal occupation of 37 percent of the Republic of Cyprus territory by Turkey,” he said.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/turkeys-invasion-threats-should-be-taken-very-seriously-cyprus-official

“We know exactly the consequences of an illegal invasion, and we take every threat very seriously,” Letymbiotis said, Cypriot governments at times fearful Turkey would take the rest of the island.

That was in reference to Turkish invasions in 1974 that seized the northern third of the island, which remains occupied although isolated in the world and recognized only by Turkey, not the United Nations.

The often blustering Erdogan, who swivels from belligerence to diplomacy during a renewed hope to get into the European Union – a process that began in 2005 and has worsened under his autocratic rule – previously said he would invade Greece.

Letymniotis said that Erdogan has ambitions to be a regional power after the Turkish leader said that his country “must be very strong so that Israel can’t do these ridiculous things to Palestine,” and “just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similar to them.”

Karabakh, as Erdoğan referred to it, was an enclave of around 120,000 Armenians who lived within Azerbaijan until they were removed in 2023 and their land and properties seized by the invaders.

Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip is in a hunt for Hamas terrorists who raided Israel in October, 2023, killing more than 1200 people – including torturing, burning and beheading children and babies and posting videos about it.