Israel Denies Turkish Media Report Of Huge Troop Deployment To Greek Cyprus

Israel has denied a report by Turkish media that it plans to deploy 20,000 soldiers and commandos to Greek Cyprus in order to protect its energy projects there. In a written statement, the Israeli foreign ministry declared that the claims by the Anatolia news agency were "baseless and disconnected from reality."

"Israel has never sent troops to any other country in its history," the statement added.

The report by Anatolia suggested that the Israelis wanted its own citizens to operate energy projects in Cyprus and seeks to protect them militarily. It was also claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Greek Cypriot counterpart, Demetris Christofias, discussed these projects and other issues during their meeting in mid-February. (...)