The buffer zone area near Pergamos was quiet on Thursday following a standoff yesterday, with occupation authorities having withdrawn the armoured vehicles they deployed to the area.
The development is the latest in a series of buffer zone incidents that have drawn condemnation from the Republic of Cyprus, the United Nations and political parties over recent days.
According to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), UNFICYP peacekeepers maintain an increased presence at Pergamos, conducting patrols, closing roads and carrying out strict checks. Occupied north “police” are also present inside the buffer zone at points where UN personnel are stationed. British Bases police continue heightened patrols at various points in the area, maintaining oversight of the zone under their responsibility, CNA reports.
At a hilltop position where an antenna has been placed, occupation forces yesterday deployed additional troops, erected a military tent and raised a Turkish flag. Today the tent has gone, CNA notes, while the Turkish flag and the antenna remain.
AKEL denounces tension
In a statement on Thursday, left-wing opposition party AKEL has condemned the actions of the Turkish occupation forces at Pyla, describing them as provocative moves intensifying suspicion and tension between the two communities. This comes at a time when efforts are under way to resume the Cyprus problem negotiating process, it added. The party called for de-escalation and full respect for the status of the area and UNFICYP’s mandate.
AKEL said some in the occupied north are to create a vicious cycle of tension and suspicion between the two communities, undermining security, trust and the cooperation needed to address immediate shared challenges. It specifically linked the buffer zone tensions to the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, which it said is threatening livestock across the whole island and which lies at the root of the current standoff: occupation forces initially entered the buffer zone near Pyla to block Republic of Cyprus Veterinary Services from carrying out checks on Turkish Cypriot-owned livestock farms there, sparking the dispute with UNFICYP.
The party repeated its position that the occupation partition status quo and the negotiating vacuum create the conditions for new negative faits accomplis and insecurity, and that only a solution to the Cyprus problem on the agreed basis and framework can guarantee peace and security for all Cypriots.
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