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Türkiye is meticulously updating its military readiness posture to ensure the security of Türkiye and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Defense Minister Yasar Guler said, citing Ankara's close analysis of developments on the island, including Israel's activities in the Greek Cypriot administration (GCA).
He pledged that every necessary military and political measure is being taken against potential threats.
The disclosure, in a written parliamentary reply, offers a rare official confirmation that the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) are revising their Cyprus posture as Ankara watches deepening U.S.-Israel-Greece-Greek Cypriot cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean and what Guler called Israel's escalatory, "unlawful" actions in southern Syria.
"Taking care to preserve the sensitive balances on the island, our military readiness posture aimed at ensuring the security of Türkiye and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is being meticulously updated," Guler said in response to a written question from Republican People's Party (CHP) lawmaker Hasan Ozturkmen.
Ozturkmen had asked how Türkiye would respond to NATO's evolving security architecture; the growing cooperation among the U.S., Israel, Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration in the Eastern Mediterranean; and whether Israeli initiatives threatening Türkiye's national security via Syria had been identified.
Guler said Türkiye is carefully analyzing developments on the island and in the region, including Israel's activities in the Greek Cypriot administration and their possible effects, with the necessary military and political measures continuing to be taken against every kind of potential threat.
Guler said Türkiye maintains close coordination and dialogue with the Syrian government within a framework of preserving Syria's territorial integrity and regional stability.
"Israel's approach aimed at escalating tension in southern Syria in a manner contrary to the 1974 Agreement, and its unlawful actions are being closely monitored, and every necessary measure concerning our security is being taken in a timely and complete manner," he said.
Addressing NATO's trajectory, Guler recalled the alliance's post-Cold War focus on out-of-area operations, crisis management and the rules-based international order and said Washington's turn toward the Asia-Pacific under its 2025 National Security Strategy and its reduction of conventional forces in Europe require European allies and Canada to shoulder greater responsibility.
"Türkiye, within the principle of regional ownership, is taking all necessary measures together with our NATO allies Bulgaria and Romania to maintain security and stability in the Black Sea and is providing every possible support for a just, lasting and honorable peace in Ukraine through sincere dialogue with all parties," he said.
The reply lands amid heightened sensitivities across Türkiye's maritime theaters.
Ankara took over NATO's Baltic air policing this week; the Defense Ministry reaffirmed the two-state formula for Cyprus at its weekly briefing; and Turkish-linked shipping has come under repeated attack in the Black Sea.
Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite diplomatic efforts by the U.N. to reach a comprehensive settlement.
Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety. In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece's annexation of the island led to Türkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was founded in 1983 as a result.
The island has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom.
The Greek Cypriot administration (GCA) entered the European Union in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots single-handedly blocked a U.N. plan to end the dispute.
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