U.S. Senator Rick Scott visited Cyprus on Friday, toured the UN buffer zone in Nicosia, and came out swinging at Turkey....

U.S. Senator Rick Scott visited Cyprus on Friday, toured the UN buffer zone in Nicosia, and came out swinging at Turkey. "This is all caused by Turkey and Erdogan," he said after the tour, calling the situation a direct invasion of Cypriot sovereignty. Scott, a Florida Republican, didn't mince words. He called on Turkey to stop its presence on the island, saying Cyprus "should be one country, completely independent" and that its people deserve to make their own decisions without a buffer zone splitting their nation in half. He also challenged Turkey's NATO membership directly. Scott pointed out that Erdogan "supposedly wants to be an ally to the United States" and that Turkey sits inside the alliance, then asked bluntly: "Why don't they act like an ally?" He said Turkey needs to "treat other sovereign nations with respect." The visit comes as Scott has already publicly stated that Turkey is "not our friend," a declaration he made last month after relations between Turkey and Israel continued to deteriorate. He has long been one of the most outspoken pro-Israel voices in the Senate, and the Israel-Turkey breakdown appears to have sharpened his position on Ankara. Scott's remarks go further than those from the U.S. ambassador in Nicosia, John Breslow, who last month limited his comments to supporting a "Cypriot-led, United Nations-facilitated solution" to the island's division, stopping well short of blaming Turkey directly. Cyprus has been divided since Turkey's military intervention in 1974, with the northern third of the island still under Turkish military control 52 years later. #Cyprus #Turkey #RickScott