The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu criticized the U.N. for losing its neutrality toward the issue of Cyprus.
When asked about the Sept. 28 Turkish National Security Council statement, which stressed that there is a need for formation of a legal basis for U.N. peacekeeping force’s activities in the TRNC through a written agreement with Turkish Cypriot authorities, Ertuğruloğlu said: "The U.N. has become an organization that has lost its impartiality on Cyprus, and the responsible party for this is the U.N. Security Council, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. This fact should never be overlooked."
It is important to understand how accurate President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's statement "the world is bigger than five" is, he added.
The council is made up of 15 members, including five permanent members: China, France, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S.
Ertuğruloğlu said the Pile-Yiğitler road construction is still ongoing, and the project will soon extend to the area that gained attention in August this year when U.N. peacekeepers attempted to obstruct its construction.
The minister added that he does not believe the U.N. peacekeeping force will attempt to obstruct ongoing work in the region again.
"Such actions would be highly unfavorable, and we do not even consider the possibility of respecting this, giving up on road construction. We will continue with the road construction. There is no turning back now," he vowed.
In response to the U.N. Security Council's criticism of the TRNC on the road project, Ertuğruloğlu said, "The fact that the U.N. Security Council issued a critical statement against us even in an event like this one should show the degree to which the U.N. has lost its impartiality in favor of the Greek Cypriots."
"We already experience this in our relations with the U.N. every day on the island. Not only in the case of the Pile-Yiğitler road but in every matter we deal with the U.N., we encounter this inequality,” he added.
On Aug. 18, U.N. peacekeepers intervened in road construction work to connect the Turkish Cypriot village of Pile in the island’s buffer zone with the rest of the TRNC.
The roadwork is strategically important for residents as it will give them more options to reach Pile, where Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots live together.
The Greek Cypriot administration and the U.N., however, are opposed to the project.
