UNFICYP denies unauthorised Green Line access

UNFICYP yesterday denied a press report that the force had allowed a group of Turkish Cypriots to enter the government-controlled areas through an unauthorised point in the north east of the island.
Daily Simerini claimed that UNFICYP on Sunday allowed “dozens” of Turkish Cypriots to visit the government-controlled areas through an unauthorised point in the buffer zone in the Tylliria area.
The Turkish Cypriots visited the Turkish Cypriot village of Selemani, which was abandoned during the intercommunal strife of 1964, the daily said.

Simerini alleged that the Turkish Cypriots were accompanied by UNFICYP troops and were spotted in the area by police officers responding to a fire in the area.

“When asked how they got there, they told police that they came through the buffer zone near Limnitis.

“United Nations men confirmed the event when they were asked by the police,” the daily said.

According to the front-page report, the police searched the Turkish Cypriots’ vehicles before they were turned back, accompanied by the UN.

The daily said assistant to the chief of police Soteris Charalambous had supervised the investigation.

He was unavailable for comment yesterday.

UNFICYP spokesman Brian Kelly categorically denied the report.

“The Simerini article is totally inaccurate,” he told the Cyprus Mail.

He added: “There was no unauthorised crossing into the buffer zone; not one, not ten, not dozens (of Turkish Cypriots).”

Kelly said no one from Simerini had checked with the UN, adding that the only persons who had entered the area in question were with the Republic’s fire service, which was trying to put out the blaze in the area.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.