The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has taken steps to the United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) for the incident with the Turkish coastguard who opened fire on a boat of the Port Police in the early hours of the morning in the sea area of Kato Pyrgos Tillyria, complaining and an investigation by the peacekeeping force, as the spokesman of the Ministry, Dimitris Samuel, stated in KYPE.
He said "it is too early to say whether the incident is linked to the climate created by Turkey in view of the illegal visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan" to the occupied territories.
Mr. Samuel told KYPE that "we were informed early in the morning about the incident by the Police. "Since then we are in an open line of communication with the competent authorities of the Republic", he noted.
He added that "based on the preliminary information, we have already taken steps towards the United Nations peacekeeping force, denouncing the incident and asking for an investigation on their part."
He noted that "depending on the full picture we will have when the relevant reports and data are received, the next actions and steps will be decided".
Answering questions, Mr. Samuel said that "Turkey's violations and illegal actions, such as this one, are reported at all levels in the UN, the EU and other fora, and are cumulatively counted, with a negative sign for Turkey, when the relevant discussions on issues related to the Cyprus issue and the behavior of Turkey in general ".
"In any case, we always calmly analyze the facts and our goal in these cases is to defend the sovereign rights of the Republic of Cyprus. "We are not interested in playing the game of creating tension that the other side may seek, because the constant goal is to contribute to the creation of conditions that will allow the resumption of substantive talks to resolve the Cyprus issue," he noted.
