Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias on Monday said that Cyprus, as far as his country’s armed forces are concerned, “lies nearby”, in his message issued to mark the 52nd anniversary of the Turkish invasion of the island.

“Fifty-two years since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the memory remains alive. We honour the fallen, the missing, and all those who defended the freedom of the great island. The Cyprus issue remains one of illegal occupation. Nicosia cannot be today the last divided capital of Europe,” he said.

He added, “to our brothers in Cyprus, the message is clear, especially after recent developments: Cyprus lies nearby”.

The recent developments to which Dendias was referring was a drone strike on the island’s British Akrotiri air force base in March, after which Greece deployed F-16 fighter jets to Paphos and two frigates, the Kimon and the Psara, to the waters off the island.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also visited Cyprus shortly after the drone strike, describing the Kimon as the “pride of the Greek fleet”.

Since then, Greece has maintained a constant presence of a frigate in Cypriot waters, with the Nikiforos Fokascurrently stationed off the island’s coast.

Dendias’ choice of words on Monday, saying that “Cyprus lies nearby”, is a callback to a comment made by Kostas Karamanlis to then acting Cypriot president Glafcos Clerides during the summer of 1974.

Shortly after Karamanlis had been installed as prime minister following the disintegration of Greece’s military junta in the aftermath of Turkey’ arrival on the island, Clerides asked him for further military aid to ward off further Turkish actions on the island. Karamanlis refused, saying that “Cyprus lies far away”.