The UN Security Council extended the mandate of the UN Peacekeeping Force on the Island of Cyprus (UNFICYP) for a period of six months with its Resolution 2587 (2021) adopted on 29 July 2021.

We fully support the statement made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on the resolution.

Unfortunately, this resolution, which is full of inconsistencies and disconnected from realities, ignores once again the will of the Turkish Cypriot people.

It is against the UN’s own rules and principles that the TRNC authorities’ consent was not taken for the extension of the mandate of UNFICYP. We expect the UN to rectify this situation and to conclude an agreement with the TRNC authorities as soon as possible, so that the UNFICYP’s presence on the TRNC territory would not be questioned.

It is also outlandish and unrealistic that the resolution attempts to dictate the Turkish Cypriot people the settlement parameters, which were tried and failed, by referring to thirty years old Council resolutions.

There will never be a just, lasting and sustainable settlement on the Island, if the Security Council will not secure the sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriot people that they gained in 1960 and continues to turn a blind eye to the realities on the Island by treating the Greek Cypriot Administration as the only legitimate representative of the Island despite the crime it committed in 1963 and to reward the perpetrator and punish the victim.

Therefore, such resolutions have no meaning and value for us.

We call on the Security Council and the international community to focus on reaching a settlement based on the realities, instead of serving the status quo on the Island.