Cyprus: attack on UN peacekeepers
UN Blue Helmets were attacked near Pyla/Pile in Cyprus on Friday. UN vehicles were pushed aside by bulldozers and a group of peacekeepers were reportedly manhandled by Turkish Cypriot security forces. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNZ), which is not recognised internationally, wants to build a road leading to the village of Pyla/Pile, which is partially inhabited by Turkish Cypriots. However, the road would run through the UN-administered Green Line buffer zone in which the village is also partially located.
UN ignoring the Turkish Cypriots
The furore over the incident tells us a lot about the Cyprus issue, writes Milliyet:
“If we know that the 'Green Line' is called that because the commander of the British forces in Cyprus, General Peter Young, drew the ceasefire line between Turkish Cypriots and Greeks on the map with a green pencil in 1963, it may be easier for us to ponder the question of why the UN, the US and the EU still insist on the formula of a united Cyprus, ignoring the Turkish Cypriots even though there has been one island with two societies ever since. Without knowing the history, it is impossible to understand why the UN pretty much dances sirtaki with the Greek Cypriots while preventing a road from being built from the village of Pile in the Green Line zone so that the 400 Turkish Cypriots living there can travel more easily to the north.”
No bad intentions on the Turkish side
There is no malicious intent behind the road construction project, explains the Northern Cypriot newspaper Kıbrıs:
“What is essential is that almost all the people of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus agree that a road should be built for the people of Pile. The UN and the Greek Cypriot people cannot reject these demands for much longer. ... If they were to claim that 'the Turks are building here for military purposes; they want to bring Larnaca under their control', that would be ridiculous. ... Turkey has no intention of ignoring the Greek Cypriots and usurping their rights right now. On the contrary.”
There are reasons why this happened now
News website In discusses why the incident occurred now of all times:
“It is not unlikely that this escalation is also linked to the fact that the US administration decided [in September 2022] to lift the embargo on the Republic of Cyprus under the Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act passed by Congress in 2019. Turkey and its pseudo-government in the occupied territories were particularly upset by this. Even more likely is that it is linked to the Greek-Turkish dialogue due to take place this autumn.”
One-sided view endangers dialogue
The UN is not neutral, Hürriyet argues, fearing that the dialogue with Greece may suffer:
“We must certainly ask ourselves whether this incident will have a negative impact on the positive atmosphere that has recently developed between Turkey and Greece. ... Of course, much of the international community will interpret this incident on the basis of the images showing vehicles with UN inscriptions being removed from the area by the TRNC authorities rather than an actual intervention by the UN Peacekeeping Force in the Northern Cyprus project. Bearing in mind the way the UN has remained a mere spectator in very many crises and disasters, the energy it is suddenly displaying when the addressee is the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus should give us pause for thought.”
An untenable state of affairs
Now more than ever, a solution to the Cyprus problem is needed, the Cyprus Mail stresses:
“Was it a bad miscalculation or was this meant as a message to the Greek Cypriot side of what to expect in the absence of a settlement? Probably both, and this underlined the assertion made repeatedly by President Nikos Christodoulides that the maintenance of the status quo was not a viable option. If Unficyp is withdrawn in a year or two, who would protect the buffer zone and who would stop the Turks if they decided to move their troops into it? The status quo's permanence is guaranteed by nobody.”