UNFICYP, the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus was established under United Nations Security Council Resolution 186 in 1964 and although it was supposed to be on the island for a short period of time, its servicemen and women are still here, making it one of the longest-running UN Peacekeeping missions in the world.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of its establishment and various events are taking place to commemorate all those who lost their lives serving on the island, to pay tribute to the veterans and to reflect on UNFICYP’s mission and goals.
Veteran peacekeepers from various countries returned to Cyprus to be decorated and spoke to Cyprus News Agency about their experiences and memories. Cyprus News Agency also spoke to academics who explained the importance of resolution 186 for the establishment of the UN peacekeeping force, its historical context its legal aspect.
Resolution 186 was unanimously adopted at the 1102nd session by the Security Council in 1964, by which it noted that the
situation in Cyprus was likely to threaten international peace and security, and recommended the creation of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), with the consent of the government of Cyprus.
The Council also called on all member states to refrain from any action or threat of action likely to worsen the situation in the sovereign Republic of Cyprus or to endanger international peace, asked the government of Cyprus, which had the responsibility for the maintenance and restoration of law and order, to take all additional measures necessary to stop violence and bloodshed in Cyprus, and called upon the communities in Cyprus and their leaders to act with the utmost restraint.
The veterans, their service and memories
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Anders Arvidsson of Sweden is now 80. He was a 20 year old boy and came to Cyprus in the summer of 1964 to serve for 7 months. Sweden was one of the first countries to contribute to the first UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus. Anders Arvidsson returned to receive the vetera
n’s award at the UNFICYP 60 years ceremony, leading a large group of 42 veterans from his country.
He served in Tylliria, Kato Pyrgos, Lefka for the first 3 months and then in Famagusta.
“I remember everything. When you’re young you don’t care. It was dangerous, we knew it. There were tensions, fights, confrontations. When there was a confrontation between two villages we were ordered to mediate, to stop the shooting and contribute in the negotiations’, he said. He also said that they had to offer medical assistance and transfer patients to the nearest hospitals.
Arvidsson spoke of the ties between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots who left their villages saying that they had grown up together. ‘They were alike, they were Cypriots. Ok, one might go to church and the other to the mosque, but then in the afternoon they would play ball together. Maybe one went to a private school and the other to another school, but in the afternoon they studied together’, he said.
They were friends, the Swedish former pea
cekeeper said. ‘That was never – not even then – a problem. The problem was directed from above. That’s what I believe,” he told the Cyprus News Agency.
The 80-year-old veteran Swede has been visiting Cyprus ever since. In fact, he said, for the last 30 years he has been organising trips with other veterans and they come to see the island with their families.
Two Dutchmen, Colonel Ralf Tieken, commander of the Dutch division of 100 soldiers at the time and Lieutenant Elizabeth Schiltmans, in charge of a group of 10 soldiers, served at the same time in Cyprus from June 2000 for 4 months. Schiltmans was in fact the only woman deputy commander at the time. There were women, but in the administration, she said, not in the army.
Tieken, who had served in the former Yugoslavia in 1994-1995 said that there was no violence and the general effort was to keep things calm and peaceful.
It was a strange feeling when she saw the dividing line for the first time, Schiltmans said. “We were in the buffer zone, where ever
ything was left as it was in 1974”, she said.
Before Cyprus, in 1996 she had served in Bosnia and after Cyprus in 2005, she served in Afghanistan.
Gabriiel Enriquo Acosta came from Argentina and served from August 2017 to February 2018 near Skouriotissa. He told the Cyprus News Agency that things were quiet, without much trouble and they only faced some isolated incidents with farmers within the buffer zone or hunters in the hunting season.
Acosta met his wife here, a Greek Cypriot, they got married and he has a 6-year-old son.
“I prefer living here. People are very nice. The job is safe, the pay is good,” he said.
Academics and their take on the UN resolution
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The resolution was a victory for the Greek Cypriot side, Petros Papapolyviou, associate professor of Modern Greek History and Archeology at the University of Cyprus, told the Cyprus News Agency.
But he noted that the resolution was prompted by the “rapid developments” that occurred on the island. It was preceded, he noted, in November 19
63 by the proposal of Archbishop Makarios for the revision of the Constitution, the well-known 13 points, which were immediately rejected by Turkey.
He referred to the inter-communal conflicts on December 21, 1963, which went down in history as Bloody Christmas. Papapolyviou said that after the start of the conflicts, the Turkish Cypriot went into enclaves and there was an effort by Makarios and Fazil Kçk, then vice president to calm the situation, which unfortunately turned out to be fruitless and on New Year’s Eve came the drawing of the Green Line in Nicosia by the then commander of the British Forces in Cyprus, General Young.
He explained that this led to the resignation from the government of Kucuk and all Turkish Cypriot members of the Cabinet. Papapolyviou spoke about the London Conference in January 1964 where the proposal to bring a large NATO force to Cyprus was supported by Turkey, Greece – which was then in the pre-election period – and the Greek side, but was refused by Archbishop Makarios, con
sidering that there have been NATO forces in Cyprus since 1960 through the three guarantor forces and their missions.
He said that UNFICYP was supposed to be on the island for three months but these three months turned into 60 years.
The professor noted that the most important thing was that this resolution recognized as the legitimate government of the Republic of Cyprus, the then government of Archbishop Makarios. The international organization is in dialogue with the legitimate government and it is essentially the only representative of the island, he said.
Since then, he added, the Turkish side considers this resolution as a “black mark” and referred to the frequent related statements of the current Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar. He noted, however, that at the time Turkey was forced to accept this resolution which was unanimously approved by the UNSC, although in the first years it reacted against the renewal of UNFICYP’s mandate, which weakened over time.
Papapolyviou expressed the opinion that
although the resolution was a victory, we undermined it. He also said that resolutions are there, however conditions change.
Associate Professor of International Law and Human Rights Law at the Law Department of the University of Cyprus, Aristotle Constantinides told the Cyprus News Agency that it was the first time after the withdrawal of the Turkish Cypriots from the government, that the issue of how the Republic of Cyprus is legally represented internationally was raised, and the international community, with resolution 186 , accepted that the Makarios government, despite the withdrawal of the Tc’s , is the one that legally represents Cyprus internationally.
He spoke of the importance of the resolution, because the consent of the Makarios government was requested for the establishment of the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus.
According to Constantinides, the fact that the UN General Assembly indirectly but clearly accepted consent to be given by the government that was not in accordance with the 1960 Cons
titution, is an indirect acceptance by the UN, the most important international organization, of the state of affairs that developed after the departure of the Turkish Cypriots.
Constantinides also said that the appointment of a mediator, first introduced by Resolution 186, is a standard practice of the UN and the Secretary-General to mediate between conflicting parties in an attempt to resolve a dispute.
He noted that the UN Security Council’s involvement with Cyprus since 1964, the establishment of UNFICYP and the appointment of a mediator in 1964, as well as the start of intercommunal talks in 1968, remind us that the Cyprus problem existed before 1974 and it is not only a question of invasion and occupation.
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 inconclusively.
UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres appointed Holguín 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