podlist.gr

In late 2019 the head of Turkey’s Defense Industry Directorate announced that Turkey had flown its first drones to Lefkoniko Airport in the occupied northern part of Cyprus. Turkey has continued to transform this airport into a drone base, even moving many attack drones such as the Bayraktar-TB2 onto the base. Expert Michael Rubin joins The Greek Current to discuss this new Turkish base and why it poses a threat to not only Cyprus, but to other countries in the Eastern Mediterranean. Michael Rubin looks at the steps that the United States can take to ensure Cyprus has the means to defend itself, and explains that the only strategy that will work in the region is to demonstrate to Erdogan that Turkey has far more to lose from scrapping the status quo than it has to gain.

Michael Rubin is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former Pentagon official.

Read Michael Rubin’s latest piece in The National Interest: Turkey’s New Drone Base Is a Problem

You can read the articles we discuss on our podcast here: 

Greek, Turkish leaders to meet in June in bid to mend ties

First step taken for a calm summer

Ruling party wins as largest parties shrink

Far-right party, centrist group gain big in Cyprus poll