Government Spokesperson, Konstantinos Letymbiotis on Thursday, expressed the position that there should be an objective presentation by the UN of the real situation and facts, noting that the Republic of Cyprus remains committed to the effort to create conditions for the start of negotiations for a solution to the Cyprus issue, based on the agreed framework.
Asked by CNA to comment on Wednesday’s statements by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and head of the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), Colin Stewart, after briefing the Security Council in New York, Letymbiotis noted that the Government was waiting for the final text of the Security Council resolution. ‘Our positions are known and we continue to work towards promoting them’, he said. ‘We reiterate our position that there should be an objective presentation of the real situation and facts’, he added.
The Republic of Cyprus remains committed to the resolutions of the UN Security Council and the peacekeeping force’s mandate,
with full respect for the status of the buffer zone and its safeguarding, the Spokesperson noted.
He pointed out that the statements of the head of the peacekeeping force, in response to a journalist’s question, were along the lines of the UNSG’s reports on UNFICYP and his good offices mission in Cyprus.
‘The Republic of Cyprus remains committed to the effort to create conditions for the start of negotiations to resolve the Cyprus issue, based on the agreed framework’, he said.
Stewart made statements to reporters on Wednesday at the UN headquarters in New York, after briefing the Security Council, in the context of the consultations ahead of the adoption on January 30 of the resolution on the renewal of the mandate of the peacekeeping force of UN in Cyprus, which expires on January 31.
Asked by a Turkish journalist if UNFICYP was considering physical intervention for the ‘violations carried out by the Greek Cypriot side’ like the UN did in Pyla last summer, he said that, ‘?ur role is to try to maintain t
he integrity of the buffer zone. And especially maintain the military status quo all as part of an effort to make sure that tensions do not rise and create problems.’
At the moment, he added, ‘we are facing increased tensions. And what that means is that we have had violations to the buffer zone on both sides and in fact there has been an escalation in recent months which is well described in the UNSG report that this is a no win situation but it just escalates tension and creates problems for everybody’.
The peacekeeping mission, he pointed out, looks at every case on its own merits adding that one of the mistakes that is made is to equate different things in different parts of the buffer zone.
Last August, Turkish Cypriots punched and kicked a group of international peacekeepers who obstructed crews illegally working on a road that would encroach on a UN controlled buffer zone in the area of Pyla, in the Larnaca district.
The international community, including the five permanent members of the UN Securi
ty Council, condemned August’s attack. Later on, an understanding was reached which provides that a single urban development area would be created. Works, that begun based on this understanding, were temporarily halted to resolve complaints by some Turkish Cypriot land owners, who believe that their plots are affected.
Further violations occurred in December 2023, when Turkish occupation forces entered the buffer zone in the area of Agios Dometios, and installed on an uninhabited residence there a metal mast, on which a rotating camera and antenna were mounted.
In a recent report, the UN Secretary General notes the importance of the parties refraining from taking unilateral actions both in and adjacent to the buffer zone that could raise tensions.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclus
ively. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar of Colombia as his personal envoy for Cyprus, to assume a Good Offices role on his behalf and search for common ground on the way forward in the Cyprus issue.
Source: Cyprus News Agency