The United Nations Peacekeeping Forces in Cyprus on Tuesday attempted to attack the Security Forces Command (GKK) soldiers on territory belonging to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) bordering the Green Line in Lefkoşa (Nicosia).
U.N. peacekeepers entered the Turkish Cypriot side while GKK soldiers were working to clear weeds with machines on Burhan Tan Street, local media reported, as one GKK soldier was battered in the ensuing skirmish.
TRNC Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu accused the U.N. peace force of “failing to digest what happened regarding the Pile-Yiğitler road” and turning “aggressive because of it.”
“What the U.N. peacekeeping forces did is unacceptable. We will be giving the necessary response. Rest assured, they will not get away with this,” Ertuğruloğlu told Anadolu Agency (AA) reporters in Lefkoşa.
“All U.N. peacekeepers are required to abide by the highest standards of conduct and are always held accountable for their actions. We will not hesitate to take appropriate action following a thorough investigation,” the world body’s Cyprus office said on X, formerly Twitter.
The island's division returned to the fore last month when a group of U.N. peacekeepers obstructed Turkish Cypriot crews working on a road that would connect Pile, a village inside the U.N.-controlled buffer zone, to Yiğitler (Asos) village in the island’s north.
An altercation between U.N. peacekeepers and Turkish Cypriot crews received international condemnation. The U.N. Security Council, in a statement, underscored “the need to avoid any further unilateral or escalatory actions by either party that could raise tensions on the island and harm prospects for a settlement.”
The U.N. has been biased over the humanitarian road construction where it has allowed several similar Greek Cypriot administration constructions without contention. Türkiye has called for “impartiality.”
The road expansion is strategically important for residents as it will give them more options to reach Pile, where Turkish and Greek Cypriots live together.
Residents of Pile will be able to travel shorter distances and will not have to pass through British bases when crossing to the Turkish side when the 11.6-kilometer (7.2-mile) construction and repair work ends. The first 7.5 kilometers of the road will pass through the village of Yiğitler, and the second 4.1 kilometers will pass through Pile.
Cyprus was split in 1974 after Türkiye, as a guarantor power, prompted by a coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island, launched a military intervention dubbed the Cyprus Peace Operation to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence.
The division has been a source of tensions since then, including over who holds sway on the island’s offshore exclusive economic zone, more than 40% of which was claimed by Türkiye following recent natural gas discoveries. Türkiye doesn’t recognize the Greek Cypriot administration as a state.
Greek Cypriots’ recently elected leader, Nikos Christodoulides, has been pushing to restart talks with TRNC President Ersin Tatar, including a proposal to get the European Union more invested in the U.N.-facilitated negotiations and appointing a senior official to help guide the process. Turkish Cyprus strongly opposes the idea because of the EU’s “pro-Greek attitude” regarding the crisis and how it has “blocked an acceptable agreement and perpetuated the status quo.”
The Greek Cypriot administration joined the EU in 2004 after thwarting a U.N. plan for a solution, but only the Greek Cypriot south, enjoys its full benefits.
Tatar said talks could begin once the Greek Cypriot administration recognizes the sovereign equality of Turkish Cyprus.
