United Nations                                                                A/56/924-S/2001/440

General Assembly                       

                                                    Original: English

Letter dated 19 April 2002 from the Charge d' affaires a.i. of Cyprus to the United Nations
addressed to the Secretary-General

Upon instructions from my Government, I have the honour to draw your attention to new massive violations of the flight information region (FIR) of Nicosia and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus by military aircraft of the Turkish air force, recorded from 3 to 5 April 2002.

On 3 April 2002, eight (8) F-16 and two (2) RF-4 Turkish military aircraft entered the Nicosia FIR, violating international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus, as follows:

(a)Four (4) F-16 military aircraft, flying in two formations, one coming from a western direction and the other from the FIR of Ankara, entered the Nicosia FIR and, flying within its limits, violated international air traffic regulations before exiting in a western direction towards the FIR of Ankara;

(b)Four (4) F-16 military aircraft, flying in two formations, entered the Nicosia FIR, violating international air traffic regulations and, flying over the area of Paphos, violated the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus before exiting towards the FIR of Ankara;

(c)Two (2) RF-4 military aircraft, flying in one formation, entered the Nicosia FIR from a north-western direction and, flying between the areas of Mesaoria and Cape Kormakitis, violated the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus, before exiting towards the FIR of Ankara.

On 4 April 2002, two (2) F-16 military aircraft, coming from the FIR of Ankara and flying in one formation, entered the Nicosia FIR, violating air traffic regulations, before exiting in a western direction.

On 5 April 2002, two (2) F-16 military aircraft, flying in one formation, violated the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus, flying over the area of Paphos, before exiting in a western direction.

On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus, I strongly protest the above actions, which violate international law as well as the Security Council resolutions on Cyprus. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the above-mentioned flights of the Turkish military air force took place over and close to military installations of the National Guard of the Republic of Cyprus and to underscore that, owing to the high sensitivity of these military installations, such illegal actions pose a great danger to the security of the island, and I call for their immediate cessation.

I would also like to note that these violations are occurring at the time of the ongoing direct talks in Cyprus, at the invitation of the Secretary-General, in the exercise of his mission of good offices entrusted to him by the Security Council in its resolution 1250 (1999). Let us not forget that the Security Council, in its recent statement of 4 April 2002, following an interim report by Alvaro de Soto, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus, expressed concern for the slow progress of the negotiations and urged that all issues should be resolved as part of a comprehensive settlement, which takes full consideration of relevant United Nations resolutions and treaties. It is hoped that the Government of Turkey will show restraint and will cease the violation of the airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and contribute to the efforts to find a just and viable solution to the Cyprus problem on the basis of United Nations resolutions.

I shall be grateful if you would have the present letter circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda item 62, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) George Kasoulides
Charge d’affaires a.i.

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