UN peacekeepers have intensified patrols and are maintaining a visible presence near Pyla after Turkish occupation forces entered the UN-controlled buffer zone in the Plati area without authorisation, UNFICYP spokesman Aleem Siddique told the Cyprus News Agency on Wednesday.
Siddique said UNFICYP special representative and head of the peacekeeping force Khassim Diagne is urging calm and restraint at Pyla, with respect for the UNFICYP mandate.
Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said in a written statement that the buffer zone violation in the Plati area, north of Pyla, has been ongoing for several days and constitutes a breach of the existing status quo and international law. The action, he said, aims to challenge the status of the buffer zone, UNFICYP’s role and mandate, and to create new faits accomplis.
“The Republic of Cyprus, in full adherence to international law, has been in continuous contact with UNFICYP from the outset, supporting efforts for de-escalation,” Letymbiotis said. He welcomed UNFICYP’s immediate response to the violation and its public statement, and said Cyprus expects the peacekeeping force to continue taking all necessary measures to prevent the creation of faits accomplis, as it has been doing, within the framework of its duty and mandate.
Sources familiar with the behind-the-scenes consultations told Phileleftheros that the government had been in contact with the UN side from the moment the provocative actions began. UNFICYP’s initial response was assessed as positive and helpful in preventing further escalation. Both the peacekeeping force’s response on the ground and statements issued in Nicosia and New York indicated that the UN side was not prepared to accept what the Turkish side was attempting to achieve in the Pyla area, the sources said. The next 24 hours would be critical in determining whether the situation returns to its previous state, as the UN requires, or whether the Turkish Cypriot authorities achieve their objective in Plati, they added.
Wednesday was relatively calm in the Plati area compared to preceding days, which had prompted the immediate mobilisation of UNFICYP personnel. The concentration of armoured personnel carriers within the occupied areas adjacent to the buffer zone was part of the pattern of actions aimed at creating tension, according to the sources.
Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, in a social media post, said the Turkish Cypriot side had never been and would never be in favour of tension. He said he had been briefed by the “security forces” command that calm now prevailed in the area and that dialogue was continuing, which he said was confirmed by a UNFICYP announcement. Erhurman accused the Greek Cypriot side of attempting to escalate tension through statements from the south and Greek Cypriot media reports, saying the Turkish Cypriot side would not become party to such an effort.
