The UN Security Council extended the mandate of the UN Peacekeeping Force on the Island of Cyprus (UNFICYP) for a period of six months with its resolution 2561 (2021) adopted on 29 January 2021.

We support the statements from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) concerning the resolution.

TRNC authorities’ consent was not sought once again regarding the presence of UNFICYP on the Island. This situation is against the UN’s own rules and principles. We would like to bring to the international community’s attention that the UNFICYP continues its activities on the Island through the constructive and bona fide attitude of TRNC authorities.

On the other hand, the UN Secretary General Guterres, in his report on Good Offices Mission dated 8 January 2021, did not refer to any settlement model and rather, pointed to a mutually acceptable settlement. Nevertheless, Council’s insistence on bi-zonal, bi-communal federation, which has not provided a settlement for more than fifty years, and its prejudgements of the settlement on which the two sides on the Island should agree, are unacceptable.

The informal 5+UN meeting, which is expected to be held in the near future, aims to determine whether there is a common ground towards the settlement.

In this meeting, it is expected that the parties would sincerely reveal their visions for future.

It would be useful for the UN Security Council to lay the ground that would allow the addressing of new ideas to enable settlement, instead of imposing on the sides a tested and exhausted process that did not produce a settlement.