Earlier in the day, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution renewing the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus for six more months and increasing the mission on the island by 28 troops.
“The sponsors of the resolution did not reflect an obvious fact in the text, the presence in Cyprus of the two communities but also of one further player, namely Turkey, which maintains enormous military presence on the island and whose true relationship with the settlement of the Cyprus issue is still not clear,” Iliichev stated.
“We are convinced that such actions have a negative impact on the negotiating atmosphere and harm civil aviation in the region and should be curtailed,” the UN representative said.
The Eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus has been partitioned since 1974, when Turkish troops occupied its northern part and proclaimed the TRNC nearly a decade later. Only Turkey recognizes the TRNC, also known as Northern Cyprus.
