22 August 2023

Turkey’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan, accused the United Nations of losing its neutrality on Tuesday, a day after the UN Security Council (UNSC) condemned the assault by Turkish Cypriots against peacekeepers inside the buffer zone in Pyla.

In a statement issued Monday, the Security Council described the construction of a road as a violation of the status quo that is contrary to council resolutions. The statement came at the end of emergency closed consultations by the council’s 15 members.

On August 18, Turkish Cypriots attacked UN peacekeepers that blocked crews working on the unauthorised construction of a road inside the UN-patrolled buffer zone near Pyla. The road plans to connect the village of Arsos, in the occupied north, with the mixed village of Pyla, which is inside the buffer zone. The road would give Turkish Cypriots direct access to Pyla by circumventing a checkpoint on the northern fringe of a British military base.

The Cyprus government perceives the road’s construction, which spans 180 kilometres, as a move with a military purpose.

“We believe that with this move, the United Nations has lost its neutrality,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told reporters during a joint news conference with his Bulgarian counterpart.

Fidan argued that Greek Cypriots had been allowed to go ahead with similar road construction projects.

“The road built by Greek Cypriots towards the Greek population in Pyla was never subjected to obstruction and condemnation by the United Nations,” he said. He accused the UN of acting “like a hawk” to block the Turkish Cypriots’ project.

Earlier, the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement rejecting the UN Security Council’s condemnation, which is said was “divorced from the realities on the ground.”

Speaking after a Cabinet meeting on Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the UN peacekeepers’ action “unacceptable” and accused the force of bias.

In its statement, the Security Council welcomed the halt in construction by the Turkish Cypriot side and the removal of equipment and personnel, while calling on both sides to show flexibility and support efforts by the UN envoy “to negotiate mutually agreed development in the area concerned.”

Cyprus’ Foreign Ministry said Tuesday it was satisfied with the U.N. Security Council statement over what it called “a new, serious military breach” of the buffer zone.

(Source: Associated Press)