The United States’ amphibious assault ship the USS Wasp returned to Cyprus on Friday, US ambassador to Cyprus Julie Fisher said.
In a post on social media, she said the ship, alongside the US’ 24th marine expeditionary unit, had docked in Limassol “for scheduled replenishment and much-deserved downtime for the officers and crew”.
“The Wasp is in the Eastern Mediterranean to deter aggression and support regional stability,” she said.
Friday marks the second time the USS Wasp has docked in Cyprus this year, with its first trip to the island having generated some controversy.
Akel accused the Cypriot government of dragging Cyprus into the middle of extremely heightened tensions by consenting to the “continuing concentration of foreign military forces on our island”.
Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar charged that “South Cyprus has become a military stopover point for countries which show at every opportunity they are party to the crisis and that they are complicit in the crimes against humanity being committed, and it has even started to use its civilian ports for military purposes.”
Meanwhile, Turkey’s defence ministry issued a warning to the Republic of Cyprus over military activities on the island.
“The recent increase in activity on the island of Cyprus and the Greek Cypriot Administration’s ongoing activities are being meticulously monitored,” they said,
After leaving Cyprus, the USS Wasp docked in the Turkish Aegean city of Izmir, but this was met with controversy after two sailors from the ship were attacked by 15 people while walking down the city’s central Cyprus Martyrs Street.
It had also taken part in joint exercises with the USS Oak Hill and the Turkish navy’s amphibious assault ship the TCG Anadolu, and fellow Turkish navy ship the TCG Gokova in August.
Despite the controversies, Cyprus’ Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas was resolute in his defence of the ship’s docking in Cyprus, speaking of his “sadness” at “some publications and also some political parties” which criticised the government’s handling of the situation.
“There is nothing reprehensible, there is no fault, we are a recognised, democratic, modern state inside the international community, and we have every right, the inalienable right, to perform exercises for the purpose of being ready if and when issues arise,” he said.
