Commission condemns attacks on UN peacekeepers in Cyprus

The European Commission condemned on Tuesday an assault on UN peacekeepers by Turkish Cypriot security personnel inside the UN buffer zone dividing Cyprus last Friday.

The Commission “condemns all attacks against the UN peacekeeping forces in Cyprus and appeals for calm and stability in the region,” European Commission spokesperson for external affairs Peter Stano said on Tuesday during a regular press conference in Brussels.

The UN said last Friday the attack happened as peacekeepers stood in the way of Turkish Cypriot work crews building a road to connect the village of Arsos in the Turkish-occupied northern part of the divided island with the mixed Greek Cypriot-Turkish Cypriot village of Pyla, just south of the buffer zone and on the side of the island’s internationally recognized government.

Stano reiterated that the EU appeals for the resumption of work “in a manner commonly accepted” in the area of Pyla and reiterated the conclusions of the European Council of last June, in which it is underlined that “the EU remains fully committed to a comprehensive solution of the Cyprus problem, within the framework of the United Nations and in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council,” which “must be respected.”