The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which fights for international recognition, finds itself more restricted, as a recent road expansion project showed. United Nations peacekeeping forces in the divided island openly confronted TRNC crews trying to expand a road connecting a village in the buffer zone to the Turkish Cypriot part of the island. TRNC President Ersin Tatar says that the U.N. maintains “double standards” against his country.
“They have different attitudes toward Greek Cypriots and Turks. We are as sovereign on the island as the Greeks. But the U.N. resorts to double standards,” he said on Wednesday.
United Nations Peacekeeping Forces in Cyprus on Tuesday attempted to attack the Security Forces Command (GKK) soldiers on territory belonging to 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. One GKK soldier was battered in the ensuing skirmish.
TRNC Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu earlier 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 an Anadolu Agency (AA) reporter 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 accused of bias over the humanitarian road construction, where it has allowed several similar Greek Cypriot administration construction projects without contention, according to the TRNC and Türkiye. 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.
Tatar told Turkish broadcaster A Haber on Wednesday that Greek Cypriots had already built a hospital and roads stretching beyond the buffer zone. “I wonder where the U.N. was when they were doing this. They recognize the Greek Cypriot side, but they do not recognize us. Greek Cypriots claim the ownership of the buffer zone, and the U.N. does nothing,” he said.
The president stated that the U.N. avoided angering Greek Cypriots because its peacekeeping force owes its existence to the Greek side. “Clashes in the past drove Turks away and the issues stem from (the past). The U.N. still maintains the stance it adopted in the 1960s. They recognized Greek Cypriots as the only legitimate government of the island and for six decades, they deprived the same right from Turks. This is a double standard, too,” he said. He added that they were “founding partners” of the island. “We have as much sovereignty. Ottomans ruled the island until 1923. It was handed over to the British then. Britain retained two sovereign bases when they left here in 1960. They have a sovereign entity and can do anything they want. We Turks have been sovereign on this island for 452 years. We have a right to determine our future,” he said.
Tatar stated that they filed a complaint against the intervention of U.N. peacekeepers and an investigation was underway for the attack of peacekeepers against Turkish soldiers.
He added that U.N. peacekeepers held a grudge against them after the incident on the Pile road expansion project. “Our only concern is protecting our boundaries drawn after the 1974 peace operation. It is the duty of our soldiers to protect the borders,” he said.
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.
