Turkish Cypriots claim buffer zone violations

A Turkish Cypriot media report Greek Cypriots have been violating the buffer zone is misleading, Unficyp announced on Wednesday, following images that surfaced of Greek Cypriots moving barriers and parking their cars in the Paphos gate area.

According to a report in Halkin Sesi, the area which lies just under part of the Venetian walls of Nicosia and within the buffer zone at Paphos Gate near the Spitfire Café is being violated, as Greek Cypriot vehicles have been seen parked in an area behind some barriers.

In the newspaper publication, some photos surfaced of the area around a small building that has been cleaned.

Halkin Sesi writes that the area that has been fenced off as part of the buffer zone and has been breached by the Greek Cypriots, who cut the barbed wire and enter there. The report also mentions that the key to the small building there, which a Greek Cypriot has and is using, causing the paper to raise the question under whose authority is the area.

The paper claimed that someone gets that key every Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning at set times.

But there is movement even during the week, someone takes the key and opens this small space, the paper reported with posts a photo of a man crouching outside the building.

In their statement Unficyp said that the area is for civilian use, and that it is under their control.

“We continue to work closely with both sides to maintain peace and stability across the buffer zone,” they said.