The UN in Cyprus has underlined that existing agreements on farming activities in the UN-controlled buffer zone stand and need to be respected.
Invited by CNA to comment on media reports that the UN is considering a moratorium on the cultivation of agricultural plots that adjoin the occupied areas and extend to a depth of two hundred meters within the buffer zone and if this is a new proposal, the UN Spokesperson in Cyprus, Aleem Siddique, told CNA that “existing agreements stand and need to be respected for all farming activities inside the UN buffer zone”.
According to the Police, on December, 20 members of the United Nations made an official complaint at the Deryneia Police Station that two members of its peacekeeping force on the island were attacked by a farmer and his employees, resulting in one of them being slightly injured, while three of their vehicles were damaged. The United Nations had then reported that crops near the ceasefire line within the buffer zone are strictly prohibited.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. A UN-controlled land separates the northern Turkish-occupied areas from the southern government controlled part of the country.