UN Assistant Secretary-General Jenca to travel to Cyprus next week

By Firdevs Bulut Kartal

TORONTO (AA) - Miroslav Jenca, the UN assistant secretary-general for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, will travel to Cyprus next week, said a spokesperson on Friday.

Jenca "will be in Cyprus from the 27th to the 29th of August for separate meetings with the Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides and the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar and the representatives," UN associate spokesperson Florencia Soto Nino told a daily press briefing.

"The discussions are expected to focus on the way forward on the Cyprus issue and recent developments on the ground," she added.

The announcement of the planned visit comes a week after the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) intervened in road construction work to link the Turkish Cypriot village of Pile in the buffer zone with the rest of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

The road expansion is strategically important for residents as it will give them more options to reach Pile, where Turks and Greek Cypriots live together.

The Greek Cypriot administration and the UN, however, oppose to project.

Residents of Pile will be able to travel shorter distances and will not have to pass through British bases when crossing to the Turkish side when the 11.6-kilometer (7.2-mile) construction and repair work ends.

The first 7.5 km (4.66 mi) of the road will pass through the village of Yigitler, and the second 4.1 km (2.55 mi) will pass through Pile.