Menendez: Every Turkish soldier on occupied Cyprus should leave

US Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) on Wednesday revisited his staunch position vis-à-vis an increasingly belligerent Erdogan-led Turkey, calling for “every Turkish soldier” on occupied Cyprus to leave the island republic for good.

The influential American lawmaker, who chairs the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, spoke during a remote event to mark the dour 39th anniversary of a unilateral declaration of statehood in the Turkish-occupied areas of the island republic.

In addressing participants, Menendez Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “… continuing willingness to flex his authoritarian muscles to Cyprus and around the world means that it is more important than ever that America stands shoulder to shoulder with the Republic of Cyprus…I am proud to be a long-time supporter of the Cypriot cause and the decades of struggle for security and democracy in the Eastern Mediterranean,” he said, stressing: “As you know, I am fully committed to the Republic of Cyprus’s sovereignty”.