The ‘foreign ministry’ in the north, along with Turkey charged on Wednesday that Turkish Cypriots had not consented to the UN Security Council resolution renewing the peacekeeping force’s (Unficyp) mandate for another year.
“Contrary to the established practice of the United Nations, the consent of the Turkish Cypriots was, yet again, not sought during the mandate extension of the peacekeeping force,” a statement by Turkey’s foreign ministry said.
Unficyp spokesman Aleem Siddique told CNA the reports of the UN secretary-general speak for themselves and Unficyp stands by them.
On the range of issues that have been raised, those were reported on in the SGs report and we stand by them.
The report speaks for itself, we stand by the report.
A statement from the ‘foreign ministry’ in the north stressed the main factor enabling Unficyp to operate “within the borders of TRNC is the good-willed cooperation” of its ‘authorities’.
“Yet again, the Security Council has repeated the mistake of extending the mandate of Unficyp without seeking the consent of the Turkish Cypriot side. We reject this approach, which disregards the will and existence of the Turkish Cypriot side.”
Commenting on the Security Council’s resolution calling on both sides to make an effort to reach a comprehensive agreement based on bizonal, bicommunal federation, the ‘ministry’ said this was a “great disrespect towards the will of the Turkish Cypriot people”.
This is because it imposes a model “which is incompatible with the realities on the ground, and which is proven to fail”.
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