THE UNITED Nations force in Cyprus yesterday called the action by Turkish troops in Strovilia, where they created a new checkpoint on Friday, a Aserious violation of the military status quo@.
Sarah Russell, spokeswoman for Unficyp, said the force had protested to the commander of the Turkish forces on Friday, but yesterday the situation in the area remained the same.
Strovilia is a village situated in a small pocket of land between the British Sovereign Base Area of Dhekelia and the Turkish-occupied areas — technically on territory controlled by the Republic.
Turkish troops moved in early on Friday to place barriers at the Black Knight checkpoint there in order to prevent access by Unficyp personnel, as part of retaliatory measures against the United Nations after it dropped an addendum to a Security Council resolution referring to the Turkish Cypriot side=s consent in the renewal of the peace force=s mandate.
The Turkish move also effectively >trapped= ten Greek Cypriot residents of the village who had chosen to stay there after the 1974 invasion.
Anyone moving in and out of Strovilia now goes through the Turkish checkpoint.
Russell said the movement of residents in Strovilia was not being hampered in any way, but the force had difficulties earlier in reaching its liaison officer.
AWe protested to the commander of the Turkish forces (about this),@ she said, calling the Turkish action Aa serious violation of the military status quo@.
Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides told a Nicosia news conference he had a meeting with UN Chief of Mission Zbigniew Wlosowicz earlier yesterday, during which he presented the government=s position on the issue B stressing the necessity to return to the status quo.
AWe hope Unficyp can deal with the situation, especially in Strovilia,@ the foreign minister said.
Cassoulides said he hoped the difficulties between Unficyp and the Turkish Cypriots would be resolved soon.
But he stressed that the situation was being closely monitored by the authorities, and assured the public that all necessary steps had been taken.
Cassoulides said he had met Defence Minister Socratis Hasikos and other top security officials to discuss the situation.
The Turkish Cypriot retaliatory measures against Unficyp came into force at 6am on Friday.
The most serious restriction was the prevention of peacekeepers from crossing to the north via 12 agreed checkpoints along the island=s 180-km buffer zone.
From Friday, Unficyp vehicles could only use the Ledra Palace checkpoint in Nicosia. But yesterday the UN=s Russell said Turkish Cypriots had since opened two more crossing points on the Buffer Zone.
One was in Lefka, in the northwest, and the other in Louroudjina, in the southeast.
Unficyp could now access all of its camps in the north, Russell said.
Two other measures — forcing Unficyp to pay for electricity and water to its installations in the north, plus the demand that car insurance be arranged with a Turkish Cypriot company — were still being enforced by the Turkish Cypriots yesterday.
