The Greek Cypriot administration on Thursday said it did not accept an aid offer by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) for the ongoing forest fires on the island.
TRNC Prime Minister Ünal Üstel, during his visit to Ozanköy village in Girne, said Greek Cyprus rejected the offer made through the U.N.
Criticising their stance, Üstel said: "We offered help, but the Greek Cypriots didn't accept it. They accept burning, but they don't accept help."
A fast-moving wildfire near the southern Cypriot city of Limassol has killed at least two people and forced widespread evacuations, local media said on Thursday.
The blaze broke out on Wednesday in a mountainous village about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Limassol and quickly spread, fanned by strong winds.
“We are all saddened by the fact that many settlements have had to be evacuated due to the forest fire that broke out today in the villages of Limassol and remains uncontrolled,” TRNC President Ersin Tatar said.
Highlighting the urgency of the disaster and the shared risk to human life and the environment, Tatar stressed that the offer of support is rooted in humanitarian responsibility.
The fire forced the evacuation of 14 villages along a 14-kilometer (8.7-mile) stretch of mountainous terrain.
Media reports showed gutted homes smoldering as flames swept through the outskirts of some villages. In the village of Lofou, at least 20 homes were destroyed as fires threatened a group of stranded evacuees whose police buses had to turn back as the fire front shifted to block their exit.
The island has been split between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities since 1974, when a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece's annexation of the island led to Türkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence in Cyprus. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983.
Greek Cypriots control the southern part of the island and are recognized by the international community as a state, despite protests from Turkish Cypriots and Türkiye. The TRNC is located in the northern part of the island and is recognized only by Türkiye.
It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece and the U.K.
The Greek Cypriot administration entered the EU in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots single-handedly blocked a U.N. plan to end the longstanding dispute
