Nicosia, June 15 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus on Sunday, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 23 years, is being viewed in Nicosia as a diplomatic signal to Turkey, which has occupied one-third of the island since 1974 and had backed Pakistan during Operation Sindoor last month.

PM Modi is visiting Cyprus at the invitation of President Nicos Christodoulides and will be accompanied by a large delegation of around 100 officials.

Despite historical ties between the two countries, visits by Indian Prime Ministers have been rare. Only two such visits to Cyprus have taken place in the past 40 years, by Indira Gandhi in 1982 and Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002.

His stop in Cyprus is pa...