Unficyp to meet Denia mukhtar after buffer zone incident

Representatives of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus (Unficyp) will meet Denia village mukhtar Charalambos Alexandrou on Thursday, following Wednesday’s buffer zone altercation near the Nicosia district village, Unficyp spokesman Aleem Siddique said.

He told the Cyprus News Agency that Unficyp “is continuing to work with all parties involved to contribute to maintaining calm and stability”, but stressed that “the underlying issues require long-term political solutions”.

“Our role is to prevent escalation and ensure the safety of farmers and peacekeepers,” he said.

A day prior, he had told the Cyprus Mail that calm had been restored following an altercation between Turkish forces and Greek Cypriot farmers in the buffer zone, and that after Unficyp personnel had been sent to the area, both sides agreed to retreat from the buffer zone.

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

“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.

Denia has seen heightened tensions on occasion

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 inhabited by Turkish Cypriots, 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 beyond the buffer zone 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.