UNSC urges “return to Cyprus negotiations”
31 January, 2019Deputy Prime Ministry and Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “Turkish Cypriot side will commence initiatives before the United Nations towards the immediate establishment of the cooperation mechanism”
1 February, 2019Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticised the most recent UN Security Council resolution on the extension of the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) for a period of six months yesterday (30th January).
In the statement made, the Ministry pointed out that in this most recent resolution, the UN Security Council has adopted a position which goes beyond the UN Secretary-General’s views.
In the statement it has been said : ‘In both reports submitted to the Security Council on his Mission of Good Offices in Cyprus dated 15 October 2018 and his latest report on the UN operations in Cyprus dated 11 January 2019, the UN Secretary-General had emphasized the need for new ideas, without referring to a specific settlement model. Despite this fact, in this most recent resolution, the UN Security Council has adopted a position which goes beyond the UN Secretary-General’s views. Moreover, the UN Security Council has voiced prejudgments regarding the result of the ongoing contacts by the UN Official assigned on a temporary basis by the UN Secretary-General and the possible future shape of the settlement process. In this respect, this resolution does not make a realistic contribution to the efforts towards the settlement of the Cyprus issue. Furthermore, it is not compatible with the above-mentioned reports of the UN Secretary-General.
On the other hand, the fact that the UNFICYP’s mandate has been extended without the consent of the authorities of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, in contrast to the established practice of the UN, is another important deficiency of the resolution.’
The Ministry mentioned that the Conference on Cyprus had closed without an outcome in Crans Montana in July 2017 due to the intransigent attitude of the Greek Cypriots who consider themselves as the sole owners of the Island and the Turkish Cypriots as a minority. In addition the Ministry said ‘we maintain our view that if a new negotiation process will be launched, it should be result-oriented and all the parameters of the process should be determined beforehand, and in this regard, without excluding the option of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federal settlement based on political equality, all alternative models should be on the table. We think that any process in the future periods can only be successful if it takes the present realities and the political equality of the two sides on the island into consideration.’