Nicosia will make sure any ‘flaws’ removed from draft UN reports

Nicosia will work through diplomatic channels to attempt to ameliorate certain references in the recent reports on Cyprus issued by the UN Secretary-General.

“We will issue demarches wherever necessary, so as to remove important flaws or views that do not correspond to the real state of affairs,” President Nicos Anastasiades said on Thursday evening.

He was being asked to comment on the government’s reaction to the release, earlier this week, of the drafts of the Unficyp report and the UN Good Offices Mission report.

Certain remarks made by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appear to have distressed the government. Guterres has sent on the two reports to the UN Security Council, which will deliberate before releasing the final versions. Nicosia has until the end of the month to influence any change in the wording.

“We all need to realise that, sadly, the international community today operates – just as it has from time immemorial – based on interests and not real justice,” Anastasiades said.

In the Unficyp report in particular, the UN chief urged the leaders to encourage more direct contact and cooperation between the two communities and to provide concrete support to people-to-people initiatives.

Guterres noted that the absence of progress towards the resumption of fully-fledged negotiations creates space for new facts on the ground and gives rise to provocative unilateral actions that raise tensions.

“I note with concern that this situation can lead to systematic brinkmanship that would only worsen the already difficult climate between the parties,” he stressed.

He also called on both sides to respect and observe the demarcation of the buffer zone by the United Nations, which is the only demarcation recognized by the Security Council.