Turkey rejects UN Security Council criticism of Cyprus

[ad_1]

Turkey on Friday rejected criticism from the UN Security Council over its push for a two-state solution in Cyprus and its intention to reopen a seaside resort emptied of its Greek Cypriot residents.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded it in response to a failed coup staged by the then military junta in Athens that aimed to unite the island with Greece.

On a trip to divided northern Nicosia on Tuesday marking the 47th anniversary of the invasion, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said half a century of UN efforts had failed and there should be to have “two peoples and two states with equal status. ”

Western powers, including the United States and France, expressed their outrage and the UN Security Council issued a condemnation which Ankara quickly rejected.

“We reject the presidential statement made by the UN Security Council” on plans to partially reopen Varosha under Turkish Cypriot control, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

He also rejected “the statements of various countries which are based on unfounded allegations and incompatible with the realities of the island”.

The Security Council statement obtained by AFP, which diplomats said would be formally adopted later today, maintains a call for a “bizonal” federation of two regional administrations united in one nation.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said decades of efforts had failed to result in a bizonal, bicommunal federal settlement “due to the intransigent attitude of the Greek Cypriot administration”.

They added that insisting on this model “now undermines the credibility of the Council”.

“A new negotiation process towards a just, lasting and lasting settlement of the Cypriot question could only start by guaranteeing the equal sovereignty and the same international status of the Turkish Cypriot people,” the ministry said.

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, an ally of Ersin Tatar, also announced on Tuesday a new step in the opening of Varosha, once the first seaside resort on the Mediterranean island but from which the Greek Cypriot population fled with the invasion of 1974.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said Varosha was part of Turkish Cypriot territory and that all decisions taken by the Turkish Cypriot authorities “respect property rights and fully comply with international law”.

“Contrary to claims, the relevant UN Security Council resolutions are not being violated. In addition, the resolutions of the UN Security Council are not above the rights of property and sovereignty, ”he said.

(AFP)

[ad_2]