The United States will lift a 33-year arms embargo on Cyprus and deepen its security cooperation with Nicosia, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday, prompting an angry response from Turkey. The island was divided in 1974 following a Turkish invasion triggered by a Greek-inspired coup. Turkey recognises the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is not recognised by other countries. Several peacemaking efforts have collapsed. The United States imposed the arms embargo in 1987, in the hope that it could encourage the reunification of the island, about one-third of which is controlled by Turkey since a 1974 invasion. But the embargo was counterproductive, simply pushing the Cypriot government to create alliances with other countries without making progress on reunification. “Cyprus is a key partner in the Eastern Mediterranean,” Pompeo said on Twitter. “We will waive restrictions on the sale of non-lethal defence articles and services to the Republic of Cyprus for the coming fiscal year.” The decision comes amid escalating tensions in the eastern Mediterranean between Nato allies Turkey and Greece over claims to potential hydrocarbon resources in the eastern Mediterranean based on conflicting views on the extent of their continental shelves. The disputes are rooted in conflicting interpretations of maritime boundaries and the feud between Turkey and Cyprus over offshore gas reserves around the Mediterranean island. Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said on Twitter after a phone call with Pompeo that he welcomed the move. EU tries to mediate as Greece, Turkey dispute over Mediterranean Sea deepens Turkey, which has been keeping tens of thousands of troops on Cyprus since 1974, said the US move “poisons the peace and stability environment in the region” and does “not comply with the spirit of alliance” between the United States and Turkey. If Washington does not reverse course, the ministry said, “Turkey, as a guarantor country, will take the necessary decisive counter steps to guarantee the security of the Turkish Cypriot people, in line with its legal and historical responsibilities.” The EU has also backed its members Greece and Cyprus in their disputes with Ankara, and on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country is “tired of this shadow game”. “Throwing a country that can’t even take care of itself against a regional and global power such as Turkey has started to look odd,” he said, referring to Greece. Turkey’s bid to become maritime powerhouse unsettles Mediterranean Earlier Tuesday, Turkey warned Greece against exceeding limits on military forces allowed on a tiny island that has become a flashpoint in their competing claims to energy resources in the Mediterranean Sea. “If there is arming exceeding limits, then Greece will be the loser,” said Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, after Turkish media showed images of Greek soldiers arriving on the Greek island of Kastellorizo over the weekend. Ankara says the presence of the Greek soldiers violates a 1947 peace treaty. But a person familiar with the Greek government’s stance said soldiers were already stationed on Kastellorizo and the event was a routine troop rotation. The Greek government had no comment on Turkey’s demand to demilitarise the 12 sq km island, which lies off the Turkish coast and is the most distant Greek outpost in the eastern Mediterranean. Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Bloomberg