Turkey’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday called “untruthful” the United Nations’ condemnation of Friday’s incident in Cyprus, where Turkish Cypriot forces attacked and tried to block construction of a disputed route, according to the peacekeeping organization.
“The statement by the UN Security Council does not correspond at all to the realities on the ground. “Rather than making a positive contribution to the problem, this statement complicates the process,” said the ministry, which is implicating the peacekeepers in the incident.
“The road works were announced well in advance. The physical intervention by the blue helmets (…) caused the tension, the Turkish ministry confirmed.
The incident, one of the most serious in several years, drew international condemnation. He performed in Pyla (Turkish Pile), the only village on the United Nations-monitored Green Line where Greek and Turkish Cypriots live side by side.
According to the United Nations, four peacekeepers were injured and their vehicles damaged while trying to block “unauthorized construction” near Pyla.
After a closed session Monday, the United Nations Security Council condemned the attacks, which “could constitute a crime under international law.” “This action contradicts Security Council resolutions and violates the status quo in the UN buffer zone,” the 15-member Council said.
The buffer zone or green line divides the island between the Republic of Cyprus, which is a member of the European Union and exercises its authority in the south, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which is self-proclaimed and recognized only by Turkey. , which raided the northern third of the island in 1974 in response to a coup by Cypriot-Greek nationalists who wanted to reunite the country with Greece.