Turkey's invasion threats should be taken 'very seriously': Cyprus official

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's recent threat to invade Israel should not be taken lightly and betrays Ankara’s continued regional ambitions, according to an official from Cyprus.

"Any threat being made publicly has to be taken very, very seriously here and we think that the international community cannot ignore or disregard the threats," Konstantinos Letymbiotis, the official government spokesperson for Cyprus, told Fox News Digital.

"History itself has proven this, respect for international law is fundamental, and it goes without saying that all of us should be strongly committed to it," Letymbiotis said. "Unfortunately, as a country, we have been experiencing for the last 50 years a continuous ongoing increase in illegal occupation of 37% of the Republic of Cyprus territory by Turkey."

"We know exactly the consequences of an illegal invasion, and we take every threat very seriously," Letymbiotis said.

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Erdoğan at the end of July suggested to his party that Turkey "must be very strong so that Israel can’t do these ridiculous things to Palestine" and, further, "just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similar to them."

The comments drew a scathing rebuke from Israel, with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz comparing Erdoğan