FM warns UN peacekeepers: sign deal or get out of TRNC

THE United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (Unficyp) has been told it will have to leave its camps in the TRNC if it does not sign a military agreement with the Turkish Cypriot authorities within a month, according to Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu.

Mr Ertuğruloğlu said in interviews with Turkish-language media outlets this week that “the hospitality is over”.

Speaking to the Turkish daily newspaper Hürriyet, Mr Ertuğruloğlu said that during last month’s visit to New York with President Ersin Tatar, he met the UN’s Under-SecretaryGeneral for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, to present a draft of a “Status of Forces Agreement” to the UN.

“They said they would respond as soon as possible, but we gave an extra month,” Mr Ertuğruloğlu was quoted as saying.

“We, as the TRNC, clearly say to them that it is not the Greek Cypriot government, we are the authority that will approve them to serve in the territory of the TRNC,” Mr Ertuğruloğlu was quoted as saying.

“If the answer is negative, the Turkish side will never shy away from the steps it needs to

take,” he added.

Mr Ertuğruloğlu said the move was made “in solidarity” with Turkey and comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s “historic” call at the United Nations General Assembly in September for other countries to recognise the TRNC.

Speaking to Turkish news channel TRT Haber on Thursday, Mr Ertuğruloğlu said: The UN Peacekeeping Force cannot operate on the territory of the TRNC with the approval given by the Greek Cypriots as the so-called Republic of Cyprus, it’s that clear and simple.

“The importance of President Erdoğan’s call [for the TRNC to be recognised] will be better understood in the coming period.”

He continued: “If the UN — considering the fact that there are two separate sovereign peoples on the island and that there are two separate sovereign equal states — respects us, it should make this agreement with us.”

Mr Ertuğruloğlu stated that “for years we have always demanded the approval of the Turkish side for the extension of the mandate of [Unficyp] every six months”.

In July, when the mandate was last extended, Mr Ertuğruloğlu blasted the UN by saying that the Turkish Cypriot people had been “ignored” and that the ongoing presence of Unficyp was “unsustainable”.

Mr Ertuğruloğlu also said he had a meeting with Unficyp head Colin Stewart and his team on Wednesday to discuss the matter.

“According to what he said, they are looking into it. They will determine what they can and cannot do and get back to us,” Mr Ertuğruloğlu added.

Asked by Cyprus Today to comment on Mr Ertuğruloğlu’s “ultimatum” to the UN, Unficyp spokesman Aleem Siddique said: “We are aware of the request made by the Turkish Cypriot side at UNHQ [in New York], although we have not received any official notification or deadline.”

In the TRNC, UN peacekeepers are deployed in the Gazimağusa area.

Mr Siddique added that the UN presence and the work of all peacekeepers in Cyprus is “defined by the mandate given to us by the UN Security Council”.