UN peacekeeping force's mission is to maintain status quo instead of establishing peace: Northern Cyprus

By Mehmet Kemal Firik

LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (AA) - The mission of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) is merely to maintain the status quo rather than to establish peace, the Foreign Ministry of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) said Monday.

The ministry issued the statement on the occasion of the 60th year of the presence of the UNFICYP, which was established through UN Security Council Resolution 186 dated March 4, 1964.

“Throughout this time, UNFICYP has failed to adhere to the fundamental principles it is meant to abide by, such as equal treatment to both sides on the island, as well as finding fair solutions to disputes. Furthermore, UNFICYP has become the guardian of the status quo on the island, which is considered unsustainable by all relevant parties,” the ministry said.

It added that the only realistic solution on the island depends on the establishment of good neighborly relations based on sovereign equality and the equal international status of its two existing states.

It urged the UN Security Council to review their “outdated resolutions” and “adopt a new approach based on the existence of two separate peoples” to achieve lasting cooperation and stability on the island.

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece's annexation of the island led to Türkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983.

It has seen an on-and-off peace process, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece and the UK.

The Greek Cypriot administration entered the European Union in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.

Türkiye fully supports a two-state solution on the island of Cyprus based on sovereign equality and equal international status.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar