Unficyp called to further incident in buffer zone

Two Turkish Cypriot tractors reportedly entered the buffer zone in the Nicosia district village of Avlona at around 10am on Monday, cultivating fields belonging to Greek Cypriot farmers, the village’s mukhtar Menelaos Savva said.

The incident, reportedly involving Turkish Cypriot farmers, the Turkish Cypriot Avlona mukhtar, and the Turkish army, was promptly reported to the foreign affairs ministry, Savva told Alpha.

“Until now we have no instructions on how to act,” he added.

“The United Nations cannot fulfil the terms of their mandate, which is to maintain peace in the dead zone,” Savva said. “We Avlonites cannot come to cultivate our fields with our lives in danger. Since our state is absent as well.”

Savva said Unficyp members who arrived at the scene told him they could not remove the tractors or the people who had entered the buffer zone illegally.

“Three or four people came and the tractor drivers changed. Every now and then another driver would come in, and they continued to cultivate without anyone telling them anything,” he said.

He explained that the “legitimate” Greek Cypriot owners of the fields have been requesting permission from Unficyp for years to cultivate their land, but permission is routinely denied for security reasons.

“They cannot protect them and the Greek Cypriots do not cultivate their fields, so the Turks are exploiting this in the areas designated by the United Nations as frozen areas,” he said.

Unficyp spokesman Aleem Siddique confirmed that peacekeepers were dispatched to investigate the incident.

“The situation remains calm, and we’re investigating the circumstances,” he told the Cyprus Mail.