Calm has been restored in the buffer zone near the village of Denia, west of Nicosia, United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus (Unficyp) spokesman Aleem Siddique said on Wednesday, after an altercation occurred between Turkish forces and Greek Cypriot farmers.

He told the Cyprus Mail that following an altercation, Unficyp personnel were “dispatched immediately to deescalate tensions and restore calm”, and that after this, both sides agreed to retreat from the buffer zone.

“Unficyp continues to monitor the situation closely and restore the status quo,” he added.

The altercation comes two weeks after Denia village mukhtar Charalambos Alexandrou had asked Unficyp to be “more noticeable” in the area around his village during a meeting with the force’s chief Khassim Diagne.

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“This can be done if Unficyp increases its patrols, intervenes in incidents which occur in the buffer zone, and does not remain an observer, so that this can also be imposed on the Turkish side,” he said.

While much of the tension in the buffer zone has centred on the village of Pyla in recent years, near Larnaca, the section of buffer zone between Nicosia and Morphou, in which Denia is located, has also been the scene of heightened tensions from time to time.

Disagreements arose earlier this year between Greek Cypriot farmers and Turkish forces over rights to use farmland south of the nearby village of Avlona, which is located in the occupied north, have increased in frequency in recent months.

On this matter, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in July that Unficyp has “developed an internal action plan to address these challenges sustainably and comprehensively”.

In Avlona in April, Turkish Cypriot police officers erroneously believed that a Greek Cypriot farmer had crossed into the north and thus moved to intercept him, before Unficyp peacekeepers stepped in to diffuse the situation.

Once all parties had established where the buffer zone begins and ends, the police officers returned to the north.