Turkey steps up war of words with UN over latest Cyprus unrest

Turkey on Tuesday angrily denounced a United Nations Security Council statement blaming the latest unrest on the divided island of Cyprus on the breakaway government backed by Ankara. The war of words followed an altercation involving UN peacekeepers last Friday that underscored the many hurdles Turkey faces as it revives its drive to join the European Union. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made mending ties with Western allies one of his main objectives since winning a difficult re-election in May. But the long list of Turkey’s disputes with Europe includes its support for a breakaway government in the north of EU member Cyprus whose rule is recognised only by Ankara. Those tensions spilt over when UN peacekeepers last Friday tried to physically block the Turkish Cypriot administration from constructing a road in the buffer zone splitting the east Mediterranean island. Both sides agree that four members of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) were injured in the incident. The European Union and Washington both blamed the altercation on the Turkish-backed administration. The UN Security Council issued a statement after a closed-door meeting on the emerging crisis warning that “attacks targeting peacekeepers may constitute crimes under international law”. The 15-member council also “called for the removal of all unauthorized constructions and the prevention of unauthorized military or civilian activities within and along the ceasefire lines”. Turkey called the UN statement unfair. “The press statement issued by the United Nations Security Council… is completely divorced from the realities on the ground,” the Turkish foreign ministry said. “The notification regarding the road work was made well in advance. This being the case, the physical intervention by soldiers of the UNFICYP in the road construction work was the cause of the tension,” the Turkish statement said. Turkey presses EU The incident has become one of the most serious of its kind on the island in years. Turkish Cypriot officials have since opened talks with local UN envoys and halted work in the disputed zone. But both they and Ankara insist that the road was both legal and essential for linking Turkish Cypriot communities in the ethnically mixed village of Pyla with those living in the north. Turkish officials also argue that the UN had turned a blind eye to roads linking Greek Cypriot communities in the buffer zone with the south. Cyprus has been divided since Turkish forces occupied the island’s northern third in response to a military coup sponsored by the junta in power in Greece in 1974. Efforts to reunify the island have been at a standstill since the last round of UN-backed talks collapsed in 2017. EU officials have made the revival of their own long-stalled negotiations on closer ties with Turkey contingent on finally settling the Cyprus dispute. “Solving the Cyprus issue in line with the relevant United Nations resolutions will be key in this re-engagement with Turkey,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said last month. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Tuesday that Ankara expected Brussels “to revise their stringent opinion about membership.” “They need to re-evaluate that,” Fidan told reporters. “We believe that Turkey’s accession to the EU is a strategic act that can further reinforce the EU’s position in the world.”