Turkish Cypriot activist Selma Eylem said on Friday she had been asked by police in the north to give a statement over remarks she made to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about the situation in the northern part of Cyprus.

Eylem, a former president of the north’s senior school teachers’ union, said a police sergeant from the judicial affairs department contacted her by telephone and asked her to provide a statement.

“I asked whether there was an offence or a complaint, and he insisted there was not,” Eylem said, according to Turkish Cypriot newspaper Yenidüzen.

She said the officer told her he had an “official document” and asked her to attend to give a statement. Eylem said she declined and ended the call.

She subsequently contacted her lawyer, Oncel Polili, who spoke with police and advised her that there was no legal requirement for her to provide a statement, according to Eylem.

The request concerned remarks Eylem made during a meeting with Guterres on July 28, when the UN secretary-general met with civil society representatives as part of his contacts on the Cyprus problem.

Eylem attended the meeting on behalf of the bicommunal peace initiative and handed Guterres a joint declaration signed by 108 organisations.

She said she told Guterres that the division of Cyprus was harming both communities, while arguing that Turkish Cypriots were facing particular consequences in the north.

According to Eylem, she told the UN secretary-general that “the northern part of the island has been transformed into a sub-administration of Turkey”.

She also referred to what she described as “assimilation policies” and alleged that Turkish Cypriots were “being turned into a minority through population transfers” of Turkish settlers.

“Our will has been taken away, and a solution is urgently needed for the island,” she said she told Guterres.

Eylem also called on the United Nations to take a more active role in efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem, rather than simply observing developments on the island.

She described the request for a statement as “an attempt to exert political pressure”.

“There are some who are disturbed when these issues are discussed and when the realities are expressed,” she said.