Cyprus: Diametrically opposed receptions for the new UN resolution on the peacekeeping force

Resolution 2646, unanimously adopted by the United Nations Security Council and which renews the mandate of the Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus for another six months, received a different reception on both sides of the barbed wire. On the Greek Cypriot side, the Minister of Foreign Affairs reiterated his satisfaction with the content of the resolution. And on the Turkish Cypriot side, the occupying regime, with a long-winded position, is having trouble with the United Nations because they misrecognized the “will and sovereignty of the Turkish Cypriots”.

After the first reaction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ioannis Kasoulidis came back yesterday to express his satisfaction with the Security Council’s resolution.

At the same time, he emphasized that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to support and guard UNFICYP, noting at the same time that we stick to our position regarding the issue of the barbed wire in the Dead Zone.

On the sidelines of the expatriate conference, Mr. Kasoulidis was asked whether Nicosia is satisfied with the resolution, saying that “we are satisfied because a lot was said before as comments regarding the reports of the Secretary General, the opinion was widely held that it was not done in the reports reference to the basis of the solution of the Cypriot problem, the bi-zonal, bi-communal federation with political equality”.

He said he studied 20 past reports and “none of them had a reference to the basis of the solution. And I didn’t understand why this issue was made a major issue,” he wondered.

Mr. Kasoulidis explained that the satisfaction of Nicosia is due to the fact that in the resolution – where the SA decides – “and reference is made, and the base solution of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation is confirmed, and reference is made to the UN resolutions concerning Famagusta, concerning the statements of the president of the Security Council calling for a reversal of the actions he has taken against the legal residents” by opening the closed area of ​​Varosia.

Also, the resolution “certainly expresses his regret that there are no talks” and, as Mr. Kasoulidis said, “we add our own” regret. “You all understand that we cannot go to the negotiation table alone, we have to talk with someone, and the side we have to talk to puts terms and conditions that contradict the resolution just issued,” he added.

The occupying regime through a long statement of the so-called “Ministry of Foreign Affairs” expresses its displeasure with the content of 2646. In the written statement (Bairak/GTP source) as “the clearest indication” of the fact that the UN Security Council observes a ” extremely biased attitude” in the Cyprus issue the fact that the resolution completely ignored the “new and unconditional”, as he put it, proposals forwarded by the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar to the UN Secretary General in letters dated July 1 and 8, would benefit and the “two peoples” on the island and offer solutions to their common problems.

He also states that “it cannot be accepted” and the reaction that exists in the resolution of the UN Security Council to the opening that takes place in the closed Varoší with respect to international law and property rights, as he claims.

“The fact that the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus has been renewed in relation to its activities on the entire island with the agreement of the Greek Cypriot side alone again makes it necessary to take some measures on our part,” the announcement adds and the following: “The United Nations Peacekeeping Force has maintained its presence in our country and has been able to carry out its activities thanks to our goodwill and hospitality until today, however, it has been mentioned many times mainly to the United Nations and to the parties concerned that this situation cannot continue. We want to state that we have given a satisfactory deadline to the United Nations on the issue of the just demand that we have been making for many years to make a legal arrangement between the UN and the TRNC and that in the near future we will submit a proposal to the UN on this matter”.

Finally, the occupying regime criticizes the members of the UN Security Council for failing to emphasize “that the sources of hydrocarbons belong to the two peoples that exist on the island. In a similar way, they do not condemn the unilateral, illegal activities of the Greek Cypriot side, which continue against to the legally acquired rights and interests of the Turkish Cypriot people and escalate instability and tension in the region”.

Ankara sees injustices

The Turkish Foreign Ministry characterizes the UN Security Council’s resolution to renew the mandate of UNFICYP as unfair. According to Anatolou (GTP source), the Turkish Foreign Ministry expressed full support for the statement of the so-called Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the occupying regime regarding the resolution in question and states the following:

“The Council resolution is, as always, detached from reality and unfair. It ignores the Turkish Cypriot people and their acquired rights and ignores the inhumane and illegal isolation of that people. The Council’s attempt to impose a model solution that no longer reflects the will of the Turkish Cypriot people for a solution, which has been tried for almost half a century and has not yielded results, is also an inconsistent and contradictory approach. This approach serves to maintain the status quo, not the solution.”

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs also claims that what is written in the resolution on Varossia is also disconnected from reality and that Turkey will continue to fully support the steps taken by the authorities of the “tdvk”, as the areas occupied by Turkey are characterized. regarding property rights in Varosia:

“We repeat our appeal to the Security Council and the international community to focus on the realities on the island and to secure the acquired rights of the Turkish Cypriot people, namely their sovereign equality and equal international status.”

Positives and negatives in the notes of the parties

The political parties took their own notes by reading the last resolution for the renewal of the mandate of UNFICYP. AKEL finds both positives and negatives in 2646, which “does not differ significantly from last January’s resolution”.

AKEL underlines that “in today’s conditions where Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot side insist on a two-state solution, the reaffirmation of the agreed basis for the solution of the Cypriot issue with an explicit reference to Resolution 1251(1999) which provides for one and only sovereignty , international personality and citizenship in the context of a bi-zonal bi-communal federation with political equality, as defined in the relevant resolutions”.

Also “the reiteration of the previous wording on Varossia, combined with the expression of disappointment that recent Turkish actions do not align with the previous call for an immediate return to the status quo, is also a positive development.”

In AKEL, they express concern because “the Turkish side’s insistence on a two-state solution is not explicitly condemned, which was in fact only recently repeated with the Tatar letter to the UN Secretary-General. Instead, there is again talk of finding common ground, at a time when this exists and is nothing more than the resolutions of the Security Council, the agreed basis, the Guterres Framework and the convergences as the UN Secretary General himself has been repeating for years. As far as the International Monetary Fund is concerned, in the invocation of the need for further involvement of the sides, there is no reference to the MOUs proposed by the Greek Cypriot side, a fact that should cause concern”.

Finally, he notes that “the most worrying thing is that while Turkey and Tatars are intensifying the rhetoric for a two-state solution, they are equally responsible for the deadlock. We will not get tired of repeating that correct assessments are finally needed, as we warned in relation to the Varosia when some were talking about fireworks, but also convincing initiatives, with a clear and practical commitment that the Greek Cypriot side is ready to start the negotiation from where it left off in 2017”.

EDEK in its statement welcomes the renewal of UNFICYP and at the same time calls on “the UN and the Security Council not to remain once more in verbal declarations”. He also emphasizes that “even after 48 years, the international community and mainly the UN must take measures for the implementation and implementation of what is foreseen in the resolutions”.

DIPA considers as positive the fact that with the resolution the Turkish side is clearly requested to restore the status of the closed city of Famagusta, as it was in 2020.

Source: philenews.com