Colin Stewart, the top U.N. official in the divided island of Cyprus, said the parties reached an agreement over constructing the Pile (Pyla) road, which generated controversy last summer.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) launched the construction to expand the Pile road to Yiğitler (Arsos) village. The road will ease the lives of Turkish Cypriots living in Pile inside the buffer zone where a U.N. peacekeeping force is deployed. However, the U.N. peacekeeping force tried to stop the work, pushing away Turkish Cypriot crews in a violent confrontation. Despite tensions, the TRNC continued what it called its right to expansion.
Stewart, special representative of the U.N. Secretary-General in Cyprus and head of the U.N. Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), said in a statement that an understanding has been reached on arrangements that will resolve the ongoing situation. “These arrangements were reached as a result of highly constructive discussions with all concerned, who were committed to reaching a mutually acceptable conclusion to the recent crisis in Pile. The concerns of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots were all carefully considered and addressed, and there was goodwill shown by all sides. These discussions have been a model of how the sides can find reasonable and mutually acceptable solutions to their disagreements if there is a commitment to reaching such an understanding. It is a reminder that a mutually acceptable solution to the Cyprus problem is achievable,” he said.
The TRNC has criticized the U.N. peacekeeping force over objection to the road expansion. Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu told Anadolu Agency (AA) recently that the road construction was still ongoing and the project would 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. In the case of the Pile-Yiğitler road and in every matter we deal with the U.N., we encounter this inequality,” he added.
