The leader of Turkey’s opposition party Iyi (Good party) on Wednesday threatened Cyprus with invasion following the country’s drilling for natural gas in its Exclusive Economic Zone, the boundaries of which are disputed by Ankara.
Speaking in the Turkish parliament, Meral Aksener lashed out against “imperialist activity” in the eastern Mediterranean, vowing “Aishe will go on vacation again,” an ominous reference to the code phrase that was used during Turkey’s 1974 invasion of the island.
Aksener has served as Turkish Minister of the Interior and was a vice-speaker of the Parliament.
In 2016, she led an opposition group within the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) against its leader Devlet Bahceli. On 25 October, 2017, she founded the Iyi Party, of which she is the leader.
