United Nations                                                                                              A/58/621-S/2003/1163

          

General Assembly                         Distr.: General     

Security Council                            10 December 2003                    

                                                                           Original: English

                     Letter dated 8 December 2003 from the Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

          Upon instructions from my Government and further to the letter dated 10 October 2003, A/58/433-S/2003/991, I have the honour to draw your attention to new 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 on 19 to 24, 27 and 31 October and 9, 10, 12 and 14 to 19 November 2003, as follows.

          On 19 October 2003, three formations of a total of 10 F-4, one CN-235 and two C-130 Turkish military aircraft coming from the FIR of Ankara entered the FIR of Nicosia, violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus as follows:

          (a)     The three formations of F-4 Turkish military aircraft, coming from the FIR of Ankara, entered the Nicosia FIR and violated the international air traffic regulations, flying over the shore of the occupied area of Cape Apostolos Andreas, from where they departed in easterly direction;

          (b)     Of the two C-130 Turkish military aircraft, one violated the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus, flying over the occupied area of Cape Apostolos Andreas, during its departure and return from an easterly direction, while the other C-130 violated airspace of the Republic of Cyprus only during its departure;

          (c)     The CN-235 Turkish military aircraft patrolled the shore of the occupied area of Cape Apostolos Andreas in a search and rescue mission, violating the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , from where it departed towards the FIR of Ankara .

          On 20 October 2003 , one CN-235 Turkish military aircraft violating the international air traffic regulations and the Nicosia FIR flew over the occupied area of Mesaoria before landing at the illegal airport of Lefkoniko .

          On 21 October 2003 , four F-4 and two CN-235 Turkish military aircraft, coming from the FIR of Ankara in two formations, entered the Nicosia FIR, violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , as follows:

          (a)     The formation of the four F-4 Turkish military aircraft entered the Nicosia FIR, coming from the maritime area of Cape Apostolos Andreas in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus , violating the international air traffic regulations. Two of the aircraft exited in an easterly direction, while the other two returned towards the FIR of Ankara ;

          (b)     One of the two CN-235 Turkish military aircraft coming from the FIR of Ankara entered the FIR of Nicosia , flying over the occupied area of Cape Apostolos Andreas and violating the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus . The other CN-235 taking off from the illegal airport of Lefkoniko violated the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and overflew the occupied area of Mesaoria.

          On 22 October 2003 , four F-4 and one CN-235 Turkish military aircraft in two formations entered the Nicosia FIR, violating the international air traffic regulations as follows:

          (a)     One formation of four F-4 Turkish military aircraft entered the Nicosia FIR from an easterly direction and exited towards the FIR of Ankara, while the other formation coming from the FIR of Ankara entered the Nicosia FIR and exited in a reverse direction;

          (b)     The CN-235 coming from the FIR of Ankara entered the Nicosia FIR and patrolled the shore of the occupied area of Cape Apostolos Andreas in a search and rescue mission before exiting towards the FIR of Ankara .

          On 23 October 2003 , one CN-235 Turkish military aircraft took off from the illegal airport of Lefkoniko , violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and flew over the occupied areas of Kyrenia and Mesaoria before landing at the same airport.

          On 24 October 2003, 10 F-4 in three formations, two CN-235 and two C-16 Turkish military aircraft entered the Nicosia FIR, violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus, as follows:

          (a)     The three formations of the F-4 Turkish military aircraft coming from an easterly direction entered the Nicosia FIR, violating the international air traffic regulations before exiting towards the FIR of Ankara ;

          (b)     One of the two CN-235 Turkish military aircraft coming from the FIR of Ankara patrolled the shore of the occupied area of Cape Apostolos Andreas in a search and rescue mission, violating the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus . The other took off from the illegal airport of Lefkoniko , violating the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , and flew over the occupied area of Mesaoria. Both CN-235 Turkish military aircraft exited towards the FIR of Ankara ;

          (c)     The two C-160 Turkish military aircraft coming from the FIR of Ankara entered the Nicosia FIR, violating the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , and overflew the occupied area of Cape Apostolos Andreas before exiting in an easterly direction, from where they returned in a reverse direction.

          On 27 October 2003, one COUGAR Turkish military aircraft coming from the FIR of Ankara entered the FIR of Nicosia, violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus, and flew over the occupied area of Mesaoria before landing first at the illegal airport of Lefkoniko and then at the illegal airport of Krini.

          On the same day, two F-16 Turkish military aircraft coming in one formation from the FIR of Ankara entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the international air traffic regulations before exiting in a westerly direction.

          On 31 October 2003 , four RF-4 Turkish military aircraft coming in one formation from the FIR of Ankara entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the international air traffic regulations before exiting in a westerly direction.

          On 9 November 2003 , one CN-235 Turkish military aircraft entered the Nicosia FIR, violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , and flew over the occupied area of Mesaoria before landing at the illegal airport of Lefkoniko , from where it departed on the same day in a reverse direction.

          On 10 November 2003 , one CN-235 Turkish military aircraft entered the Nicosia FIR, violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , and flew over the occupied area of Mesaoria before landing at the illegal airport of Lefkoniko , from where it departed on the same day in a reverse direction.

          On 12 November 2003, three C-130 and two C-160 Turkish military aircraft coming from the FIR of Ankara entered the Nicosia FIR, violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and overflew the occupied area of Mesaoria, as follows:

          (a)     The two C-130 Turkish military aircraft landed at the illegal airport of Tymbou , from where they departed on the same day in a reverse direction. The third C-130 landed at the illegal airport of Lefkoniko , from where it departed on the same day in a reverse direction;

          (b)     The two C-160 Turkish military aircraft landed at the illegal airport of Lefkoniko , from where they departed on the same day in a reverse direction.

          On 14 November 2003, 10 NF-5 in three formations and one C-130 Turkish military aircraft coming from the FIR of Ankara entered the Nicosia FIR, violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus, and flew over the occupied area of Kyrenia and Mesaoria before landing at the illegal airport of Tymbou in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus.

          On 15 November 2003 , eight NF-5 Turkish military aircraft in two formations took off from the illegal airport of Tymbou , violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and overflew the occupied areas of Kyrenia and Mesaoria before landing at the same airport.

          On 16 November 2003, one C-160 Turkish military aircraft, one CN-235 and one aircraft of unknown type entered the Nicosia FIR, flying over the occupied area of Mesaoria, violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus, and flew over the occupied area of Mesaoria before landing at the illegal airport of Lefkoniko, from where they departed on the same day in a reverse direction.

          On 17 November 2003 , 10 NF-5 Turkish military aircraft in two formations, two C-130 and one aircraft of unknown type flew in the FIR of Nicosia , violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , as follows:

          (a)     The 10 NF-5 Turkish military aircraft, flying in two formations, and one of the two C-130s took off from the illegal airport of Tymbou, overflew the occupied area of Mesaoria before exiting towards the FIR of Ankara;

          (b)     The Turkish military aircraft of unknown type coming from the FIR of Ankara entered the FIR of Nicosia and flew over the occupied area of Mesaoria before landing at the illegal airport of Lefkoniko ;

          (c)     The other C-130 Turkish military aircraft coming from the FIR of Ankara entered the Nicosia FIR and overflew the occupied area of Mesaoria before landing at the illegal airport of Tymbou .

          On 17 and 18 November 2003 , one Turkish military aircraft of unknown type and one C-130 Turkish military aircraft took off from the illegal airports of Lefkoniko and Tymbou, respectively, violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , and flew over the occupied area of Mesaoria before exiting towards the FIR of Ankara .

          On 19 November 2003 , one C-130 Turkish military aircraft entered the Nicosia FIR, violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , and overflew the occupied area of Mesaoria before landing at the illegal airport of Tymbou , from where it took off on the same day and departed in a reverse direction.

          On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus , I strongly protest all the above-mentioned violations of the Nicosia FIR and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , which violations are contrary to international law as well as to Security Council resolutions on Cyprus . We sincerely hope that the Government of Turkey will respect the sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus and will refrain from further violations. We also hope that the Government of Turkey will change its negative stance and contribute substantively to the efforts for a just and functional solution to the Cyprus problem, on the basis of United Nations resolutions.

          I should be grateful if you would have the present letter circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda item 30, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Andreas D. Mavroyiannis

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