Turkey Sends 26,000 Addition COVID-19 Vaccine Doses To Northern Cyprus

Turkey sent 26,000 additional doses of a coronavirus vaccine to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on Thursday.

A Health Ministry plane carrying the doses landed at Ercan International Airport in Lefkos, where officials from TRNC's Health Ministry received the shipment.

Turkey has provided TRNC with 216,000 vaccine doses with the latest delivery.

More doses from Turkey are expected to arrive later Thursday.

TRNC Health Minister Unal Ustel said earlier that the country will be provided more vaccines from Turkey every week until the end of July and consequently a mass vaccination drive will be commenced.

Prime Minister Ersan Saner thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkey for supporting TRNC's fight against the virus.

The island of Cyprus has been divided into the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the north and the Greek Cypriot administration in the south since 1974 when a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece's annexation of the island was followed by violence against the island's Turks and Ankara's intervention as a guarantor power.

Writing by Ahmet Gencturk in Ankara -