Cyprus Minister of Defense Vasilis Palmas met on Friday with the Minister of Defense of the United Kingdom Grant Shapps who is visiting Cyprus and met also with President Nikos Christodoulides. A statement says that the Ministers discussed issues of bilateral interest, the situation in the wider eastern Mediterranean region, the Red Sea region and Ukraine.
Palmas informed his British counterpart about the security situation on the territory of the Republic of Cyprus and Turkey’s uncompromising stance on the Cyprus issue, with particular reference to the withdrawal of the Turkish side from the understanding regarding Pyla.
In addition, he referred to the efforts of the government for the resumption of the peace talks and the importance of the appointment of UNSG envoy, Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar.
The two Ministers exchanged views on how to further deepen the bilateral defense cooperation.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led p
eace talks have so far failed to yield results.
The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar of Colombia as his personal envoy for Cyprus, to assume a Good Offices role on his behalf and search for common ground on the way forward in the Cyprus issue.
Last August, Turkish Cypriots punched and kicked a group of international peacekeepers who obstructed crews illegally working on a road that would encroach on a UN controlled buffer zone in the area of Pyla, in the Larnaca district.
The international community, including the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, condemned August’s attack. Later on, an understanding was reached which provides that a single urban development area would be created. Works, that begun based on this understanding, were temporarily halted to resolve complaints by some Turkish Cypriot land owners, who believe that their plots are affe
cted.
Further violations occurred in December 2023, when Turkish occupation forces entered the buffer zone in the area of Agios Dometios, and installed on an uninhabited residence there a metal mast, on which a rotating camera and antenna were mounted.
In a recent report, the UN Secretary General notes the importance of the parties refraining from taking unilateral actions both in and adjacent to the buffer zone that could raise tensions.
Source: Cyprus News Agency