The Minister of Public Works and Transportation Erhan Arıklı on Thursday expressed the Turkish Cypriot side’s determination to complete repair and expansion work at the Yiğitler-Pile road which has been an issue of contention between Turkish Cypriot authorities and the UN.

Pointing out that the Yiğitler-Pile Road will become the main access point of 500 compatriots living in Pile to the TRNC, Minister Arıklı stated that the Turkish Cypriot side was determined to complete this road, a project which Türkiye fully supports..

He noted that the road construction work had ceased after the confrontation with UN peacekeepers in order to give diplomacy a chance but had since resumed on the section leading out from the village of Yiğitler as they could not lose any more time.

“Work started on Monday from the Yiğitler village. I hope the United Nations will not create obstacles when we reach the section of the road that falls in the buffer zone. If they confront us, we will not be responsible for what happens,” Minister Arıklı said, adding that the task of the United Nations should be to ‘take notes’ not to intervene. He said that the TRNC authorities could not ignore the pleas of its own people.

“We are not a state that is deaf to the cries of our people. Although the United Nations used force for the first time to stop us, we have not taken a step back from our resolve to complete the road. This road will be built and put into the service of those living in the Pile region,” said Arıklı.

Explaining that they had also taken note of the attack on a Turkish Cypriot soldier in the buffer zone in Lefkoşa, Arıklı said that they were waiting for the United Nations to investigate the incident.

“We are silent for now, but we will not let this incident go by,” he said.

He also emphasized that it is unacceptable for the United Nations, which completely ignores the construction in the buffer zone by the Greek Cypriot side, to block the Yiğitler-Pile Road and to apply double standards towards the Turkish Cypriot side.