Turkish Cypriot fm criticises UN security council's resolution on UNFICYP's mission term

LEFKOSA (A.A) – December 16, 2011 – Foreign Minister Huseyin Ozgurgun of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) criticised the United Nations Security Council's resolution on extending the mission term of UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP). The resolution, which extends the mission term for seven months, ignores the essence of Cyprus issue and does not reflect the realities of the island, said Ozgurgun on Friday. In its resolution on December 14, 2011, UN Security Council decided to extend UNFICYP's mission term in the island till July 19, 2012. Ozgurgun noted that one of the main principles of the operations of UN peacekeeping forces was to get will of all related parties to undertake a mission in a certain geography. However, UN Security Council's resolution to extend the mission term in the island did not include the will of TRNC, said Ozgurgun. Also, it was interesting that the mission term was extended seven months instead of six months as it happened in previous resolutions, said Ozgurgun, adding that the next resolution would coincide a date after -–not before-- Greek Cypriot administration undertook the presidency of the EU. Ozgurgun added that the resolution, this time, did not include the lifting of inhumane isolations over TRNC people which was a big deficiency.