Hardline Turkish-Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, who has rejected reunification for the island, said the Greek-Cypriot side is arming itself to the teeth in a plan to make the island an enclave only for themselves.

He was upset that the government of President Nicos Anastasiades is boosting its defense spending and claimed that “Greek-Cypriots have started an aggressive armament program and are preparing to shed blood.”

Speaking to Turkish newspaper Turkiye, Tatar, he tried to compare the division on Cyprus, where Turkey seized and occupied the northern third in two unlawful 1974 invasions, to that of Russia invading Ukraine.

“What happened in Ukraine showed the whole world how right we were. In the past, Greek Cypriots were equipped for defense purposes. Now,” he claimed, “the dogma has changed and Greek Cypriots have been given weapons and weapon systems worth 300 million euros ($316.20 million,)” he said.

“Greek-Cypriots are trying to shed blood, and trying to drag Cyprus back to the chaos before 1974,” Tatar said, adding that the primary goal is to turn the whole of Cyprus into an EU island with Greek-Cypriot identity.

Since winning election in October, 2020, he has demanded the United Nations and world recognize the occupied territory that isn’t accepted by anyone other than Turkey and set up a self-declared republic that’s isolated.