United Nations                                                                

General Assembly                        Distr.: General 
Security Council                           28 May 2002

                                                       Original: English
General Assembly
Fifty-sixth session
 Agenda item 62
Question of Cyprus		   Security Council
Fifty-seventh year
     

 

Letter dated 28 May 2002 from the Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General


Upon instructions from my Government, I have the honor to draw Your Excellency’s attention at yet another provocative action by the Republic of Turkey against the Republic of Cyprus.

I refer, in particular, to the illegal arrival of the Turkish oceanographic research Vessel “Piri Reis” at the ports of Kyrenia and Famagusta in the Turkish occupied part of Cyprus, which were declared closed to international navigation by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus, following the Turkish invasion of 1974. The above vessel, which has arrived in Cypriot territorial waters on 23 May 2002, has been conducting research within the territorial waters and the continental shelf of the Republic of Cyprus, in order to “reveal the geological structure of the region”.

This action constitutes a clear violation of international law, the Charter of the United Nations and most specifically of the relevant provisions of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea. It also flagrantly violates resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council on “The Situation in Cyprus”, which call, inter alia, for respect of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Cyprus. Moreover, it falls within the wider context of Turkish refusal to facilitate a solution of the Cyprus problem based on Security Council resolutions.

What is more disturbing, Excellency, is the timing of this provocation which comes soon after Your visit to the island earlier this month, in an effort to intensify the ongoing direct talks and to the earlier call, by the Security Council, upon the Turkish Side on 4 May, to cooperate in that effort.

On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus, I strongly protest this action that, once more, reveals the real motives of Turkish policy towards Cyprus which, is not the often-proclaimed protection of the Turkish Cypriots, but the furtherance of Turkish expansionist designs and exploitation of the natural resources of Cyprus.

The Government of the Republic of Cyprus follows with great concern this renewed display of Turkish belligerence and the attempt at creating tension with the expectation that the necessary urgent demarches will be undertaken towards Ankara both by Your Excellency and, individually, by the Members of the Security Council.

I should be grateful if the present letter is circulated as a document of the General Assembly under item 62, and of the Security Council.



(Signed) Sotirios Zackheos
Ambassador, Permanent Representative

 

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