The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be making representations to the United Nations over an incident that took place Monday, in the buffer zone near the village of Deneia. The MFA is also in contact with the local authorities and was briefed on the event.
According to a complaint made by a young farmer, Turkish soldiers who carried guns, chased him away while he was in the area with his sheep. They also threw rocks at him.
The UN is investigating the incident.
Deneia’s head of the local council Christakis Panagiotou told the Cyprus News Agency that the event took place Monday at around 6pm local time, 500 meters within the buffer zone and that there is a video material that shows what happened.
He said that 6 Turkish soldiers left their posts and with guns threatened the farmer and ordered him to leave the area.
He also said that one of the soldiers adjusted the hammer of the gun, in a move against the farmer, who eventually left the area. Panagiotou said that he was informed by the farmer who videotaped the incident.
According to Panagiotou, no UN soldiers were present at the area at the moment. He added that he informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the UN and the National Guard.
UN spokesperson Aleem Siddique told the Cyprus News Agency that they are investigating the incident and that we need to allow the investigation to be completed before making any conclusions.
The safety of civilians inside the UN buffer zone remains our top priority, he said.
Source: Cyprus News Agency