Cyprus talks ex-negotiator: UN peacekeeping force should be slashed

THE UN peacekeeping presence in Cyprus should be slashed or even completely withdrawn, a former Cyprus talks negotiator said this week.

Osman Ertuğ made the comments to Cyprus Today after the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution extending the Unficyp peacekeeping force’s mandate for another six months, until January 31, 2019.

He slammed the five-page resolution for referring to the “government of Cyprus” which agreed that the “prevailing conditions on the island” meant Unficyp forces — first deployed to the island in 1964 following attacks on Turkish Cypriots — should stay on.

“There has been no such unified government capable of exercising control and/or jurisdiction over the whole island, since the forceful usurpation, by the Greek Cypriot side, of the legitimate bicommunal government in December 1963,” said Mr Ertuğ.

“The Turkish Cypriots, who were equal partners in that government, had been driven out of their governmental positions, as well as their homes and properties . . . rendering the hitherto bicommunal government a totally Greek Cypriot monopoly.

“The Turkish Cypriots have since ruled themselves in the areas under their control, which are now consolidated in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

“The Greek Cypriot administration clearly does not represent the Turkish Cypriot people or the whole of Cyprus.”

Mr Ertuğ added that the UN had signed a “Status of Forces Agreement” (SOFA) with the Greek Cypriot side which “ignored” its own principles on the need to gain the “consent” of all parties to a conflict.

“It is high time that the UN concludes a SOFA with the Turkish Cypriot side too if it wants to continue its operations in the territory of the TRNC,” he said.

Mr Ertuğ said Unficyp’s mandate had failed to “adapt” to the “drastically changed circumstances in the island” since 1964.

“There has been peace in Cyprus since 1974 and Unficyp should consider drastically reducing its own operations, if not completely withdrawing from the island,” he continued.

“Because, in time, Unficyp has become part of the status quo, to the detriment of the Turkish Cypriot side as well as a political solution to the Cyprus problem.”

The Deputy Prime Ministry and Foreign Ministry also condemned the UN resolution in a statement describing it as “full of faults and contradictions” and “failing to explain the reasons for the collapse of the negotiations process” in Switzerland last year.

Meanwhile Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis told a South Cyprus radio station that the current period could be the “last chance saloon” for efforts to forge a bicommunal, bizonal federation.