NICOSIA, Cyprus:
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday expressed concern over Turkey’s decision to open to the public a beach thats been closed since war divided the island 46 years ago.
He also warned against unilateral actions” that could heighten tensions and undermine chances for a resumption of peace talks.
Guterres’ spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in a statement that the U.N. chief urged all sides to enter into talks to resolve differences, and repeated his readiness to arrange such a meeting.
The statement came after the Cypriot government said it would lodge formal protests at the U.N., the European Union and other international organization over the move to allow access to the sand in front of fenced-off Varosha, a suburb of Famagusta that’s been abandoned for 46 years.
Cyprus government spokesman Kyriakos Koushos said the move contravenes international law and U.N. Security Council resolutions on Varosha.
Greece’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the decision as a flagrant violation of U.N. decisions and said Athens would back the Cypriot government’s efforts.
Turkey said it’s just the beach being opened on Thursday, and the ghost town itself will be left alone for now.
The Cypriot government fears the move could be the opening salvo to a full grab of the suburb that was the country’s premier tourist resort before Turkey invaded in 1974, in the wake of a coup by supporters of union with Greece.
The suburb’s Greek Cypriot residents fled as Turkish troops advanced during the war that split Cyprus along ethnic lines. Only Turkey recognizes a Turkish Cypriot state in the north and keeps more than 35,000 troops there.
In a 1984 resolution, the U.N. Security Council said it considers attempts to settle any part of Varosha Maras in Turkish by anyone other than its inhabitants as inadmissible and calls for the area to be transferred under U.N. administration.
Dujarric said in the statement that the U.N.’s position remains unchanged on Varosha.
The beachfronts opening was jointly announced during a news conference in Ankara on Tuesday by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ersin Tatar, the head of the Turkish Cypriot government.
We hope that Maras will be fully opened for use, Erdogan said. We are ready to provide every support to the (Turkish Cypriot) authorities in this regard,
Erdogan said because its only beachfront that belongs to the Turkish Cypriot state, the rights of Varoshas Greek Cypriot property owners arent being violated.
The announcement came five days before Turkish Cypriots vote for a new leader to represent them in planned peace talks. Guterres said he would call a meeting of the two sides in Cyprus as well as officials from the islands guarantors Greece, Turkey and Britain after the election to scope out chances for resuming negotiations that had remained frozen since 2017.
Tatar, who is also leader of the right-wing UBP party, is challenging incumbent leftist leader Mustafa Akinci who called out Turkey for meddling in the campaign to boost Tatar’s support ahead of the vote.
Akinci said Varosha’s opening should be in line with U.N. decisions and international law.
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Associated Press writer Suzan Frazer in Ankara contributed.
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