The row of Turkish tanks lined up near the village of Pergamos, between Larnaca and Famagusta, had departed from the area by Thursday, the Cyprus Mail understands.

Sources close to the matter said that the tanks are now no longer where they had been on Wednesday, following reports of “tensions” in the area.

The line of tanks had been spotted amid fears of heightened tensions in the area, though UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus (Unficyp) spokesman Aleem Siddique confirmed to the Cyprus Mail that the tanks were at all times located “north of the northern ceasefire line”, and as such not in the buffer zone.

Given Pyla and nearby Pergamos’ proximity to the United Kingdom’s Dhekelia base, British vehicles also deployed to the area, though British bases spokeswoman Korina Orphanides told the Cyprus Mail that vehicles had been deployed only as a precaution and “took no action”, thus indicating that the tanks were also located outside the base.

Earlier, Siddique had confirmed that there are “no military assets inside the buffer zone”, and that reports that a Turkish flag had been planted in the buffer zone also did not correspond to reality. The flag, he said, is located in the north.

Meanwhile, news website Kibris Postasi quoted military sources as having said that the tanks had been deployed because “the Greek Cypriot authorities attempted to facilitate illegal crossings”, possibly of veterinarians, into the buffer zone near Pyla, “citing an outbreak of foot and mouth disease on the Greek Cypriot side”.

As such, the sources said, measures were taken to bolster the Turkish Cypriot security presence in the area.

Later on Wednesday, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said that the incident had amounted to the buffer zone being “violated by occupying forces, in violation of the current regime and international law”.

“This is an action aimed at challenging the status of the buffer zone and the role and terms of mandate of Unficyp, as well as at creating new faits accomplis for the occupation,” he said.

Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, meanwhile, said on Wednesday afternoon that “calm” was prevailing in the area, and that his office was “in full coordination with all the authorities responsible in the field of security”.