France would have deployed Rafale in Cyprus

According to the Defenseworld.net website, which is generally well informed about what surrounds Turkish Defense, two fighter planes Rafale of the French Air Force were observed on the Cypriot base Andreas Papandreou near the town of Paphos, on the west coast of the island. The two French aircraft, accompanied by a Hercule KC-130J tanker aircraft and a C-160R Transall logistical support, would participate in exercises with the Cypriot National Guard. But the information comes whenAthens and Nicosia are on high alert again following the intrusion of a new Turkish mining exploration building accompanied by an armed naval escort in Cypriot waters. In fact, the deployment of the two French fighters immediately takes on a whole new dimension, and appears as a message from Paris to Ankara concerning the support that France is providing, and will provide if necessary, if Turkey were to attempt a forced passage in this matter.

Tensions between the French capital and the Turkish capital have been increasing in recent years. Initially, Ankara criticized France for its de facto alliance with the Syrian Peshmerga, Kurdish fighters who have shown great determination in the fight against Daesh, but whom the Turkish authorities consider affiliated with the PKK, the Kurdish independence party which has led numerous terrorist attacks on the soil of the country. In retaliation, the Turkish press had broadcast the position of the French special forces present in Syria, naturally posing a much greater danger to these forces accustomed to discretion. Subsequently, these are Turkish offensives in northern Syria, in particular against the Syrian Kurdish allies of France, who poisoned Turkish-French relations, while President Erdogan asked for the support of European allies to strengthen his air defense, while threatening these same Europeans with a systematic blockade of the NATO and liberate waves of migrants on the coasts of the old continent.

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