Cyprus’ Permanent Representative in the UN Ambassador Kornelios Korneliou has sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, condemning Turkey’s violation of the island’s airspace and territorial waters.
The letter was circulated on July 5 as an official document of the General Assembly and the Security Council, the Press and Information Office said.
“I would like to urge Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots to heed the calls of the international community and contribute to a meaningful resumption of the peace process, instead of focusing on undermining the sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus, bolstering the continuing de facto division and upgrading the secessionist entity’s status,” the ambassador stated in his letter.
Korneliou informed Guterres that the Turkish ‘occupation regime illegally issued three notices to airmen relating to exercises conducted by the Turkish Air Force in April 2018’.
He also noted that Turkish commercial aircraft systematically use the illegal airport of Tympou.
Additionally, ‘Turkey continues to systematically harass civilian and military aircraft within the Nicosia flight information region via radio calls.”
Meanwhile, Korneliou’s letter continues, “infringements of the Nicosia flight information region and violations of the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus continue unabated.”
“Turkey’s policy of persistently breaching international law and defying international rules and regulations puts the safety of international civil aviation at risk, has a negative impact on the stability of the region and causes difficulties for air traffic over Cyprus,” it noted.
According to ambassador Korneliou, “said actions of Turkey, which illegally occupies the northern part of the Republic of Cyprus since 1974, are clearly aimed at undermining the sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus, bolstering the continuing de facto division and upgrading the secessionist entity’s status by claiming a purported airspace over the occupied territory of the Republic.”
In this respect, he reiterates that “there is only one legal authority in Cyprus, the Republic of Cyprus, as stipulated in various Security Council resolutions, in particular resolutions 541 (1983) and 550 (1984), in which the Council declared the establishment of the so-called ‘TRNC’ as null and void.”
“On behalf of my Government, I strongly protest against the continuing infringements of international air traffic regulations and the violations of the national airspace and the territorial waters of the Republic of Cyprus by Turkey and appeal for their immediate cessation. The Republic of Cyprus reiterates, in this respect, its call for adherence to the principle of sovereignty and non-interference enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations,” Korneliou stressed.
