The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reacted to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s reports on his Good Offices Mission and the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus.
The Foreign Ministry said references made in the report contradict the realities on the island.
The TRNC Foreign Ministry on Friday expressed its reaction on Friday to the latest reports of the UN Secretary-General (UNSG) Antonio Guterres submitted to the UN Security Council (UNSC) which referred to the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) presented to the UN, which aims to set a legal basis for UNFICYP’s operations in the TRNC as a “draft framework agreement.”
The ministry said that this approach was unacceptable and that it will continue its work to obtain the TRNC’s justified demands.
The ministry also said that the reports, despite attempting to mention all developments on the island and incidents that have taken place in the UN buffer zone over the course of the last six months, as usual failed to mention the inhumane embargoes and unjust isolation imposed on the Turkish Cypriot people.
“It is clear, that the United Nations, which failed to report the outdated restrictions imposed on the Turkish Cypriot people who are equal owners of the island, has failed to reflect the realities on the island,” the statement read.
The report, it added, presented “inter-island trade” as a misleading solution to restrictions Turkish Cypriots are subjected to, serving Greek Cypriot policies which aim to prevent the Turkish Cypriot people from conducting direct trade with the rest of the world.
The ministry said that the terminology and wording used in the report which presented one side as a state and the other as a community was also unacceptable.
“The mention of the TRNC’s reactions to military agreements signed between the Greek Cypriot side and the US, as well as the failure of the removal of negative expressions school books on the Greek Cypriot side has been noted. However, the reference made to the ‘Cypriot government’ which has purely become a Greek Cypriot administration and has lost its legitimacy and the mention that this administration covers one third of UNFICYP’s budget is in direct contradiction of the principle of impartiality,” the statement read.
It added that this has also revealed the UN has become part of the problem.
The foreign ministry said that it has become evident once again that a settlement in Cyprus cannot be reached as long as the two sides in Cyprus are given the same international status, that the sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is recognised.
The ministry concluded its statement by stating that it is high time the Secretary-General reviews its assessment and observations which contradict the realities on the island.