The physical intervention of UN peacekeepers on the sovereign territory of the ‘TRNC’ is unnacceptable, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday evening.
Erdogan’s comments on Friday’s incident in the buffer zone near Pyla – in which three UN peacekeepers were attacked – are in stark contrast to the widespread condemnation expressed by the international community, including all five permanent members of the UN Security Council (UNSC).
The north’s efforts to build a road between the mixed village of Pyla and Arsos sparked the confrontation on Friday.
But the Turkish president stated that “it is neither legal nor humanitarian to block Turkish Cypriots who live in Pyla to access their homeland”. His comments were reported by Duvar and carried by the Cyprus News Agency (CNA).
Erdogan warned that as a guarantor power Turkey will not consent to lawlessness on the island – “particularly in the buffer zone”.
He further stated that “the peacekeeping force, both through its physical intervention against residents of the village along with its unfortunate statements afterwards, cast a shadow on its impartiality”.
His comments, made just before the UNSC convened at 10pm to discuss the Pyla incident and other matters, supports the stance of Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar.
Earlier on Monday Tatar hit out at the Greek Cypriot side in a statement to the Anadolu agency.
“The aim of the Greek Cypriots is to make Pyla a completely Greek Cypriot village. This is their aim and purpose. To make life difficult for the Turkish Cypriots in Pyla and to make them migrate to Nicosia and Famagusta. To make the Turkish Cypriots in Pyla think their state forgot about them. To purify Pyla from the Turkish Cypriots,” he said.
Speaking on the issue of previous Greek Cypriot constructions in the buffer zone, he said “When we looked, roads passed through the buffer zone from Pyla to Larnaca. Construction activities were carried out in the buffer zone and a university was established. How do these things happen? They carried out developments without a consensus.
“There is nothing [from the UN] when it comes to that side, but they have such an attitude when it comes to us!” he added.
He went on to speak on the history of the road, saying “we struggled for 25 years to build this road and serve our own citizens through diplomatic means. The UN strung us along for 25 years, saying ‘no, we’ll ask New York, no, we’ll ask the British. They tried distracting us, they thought we would forget.”
He also reiterated his promise that the road would be “eventually completed”, and added his hope that the problem would be solved “through diplomatic means”.
