Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that they will not reduce the number of their soldiers in Cyprus. He was speaking to members of the press following his return from a visit to Azerbaijan over the weekend.

Regarding the media reports last month that Turkey was planning to establish a sovereign naval base in the north of the island Erdoğan said: “We do not have a base problem in the TRNC. Turkey is very close to the island so there is not a problem in reaching it. It will take only minutes to reach the Eastern Mediterranean. We do not need to establish a base there.”

He said that from now on, Turkey will apply the “recipe” it will determine as regards the Eastern Mediterranean.