United Nations                                                                                              A/58/797–S/2004/391


          

General Assembly                         Distr.: General     

Security Council                            14 May 2004                    

                                                               

                                                                           Original: English


General Assembly
Fifty-eighth session

Agenda item 30

Question of Cyprus

 

Security Council

Fifty-ninth year

                    

Letter dated 13 May 2004 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 16 March 2004, addressed to you by Andreas Hadjichrysanthou, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Cyprus to the United Nations, 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 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 24, 31 March 2004, on 7, 9, 13, 14, 21, 26, 28 April 2004, on 3, 5, 6 and on 10 May 2004, as follows:

          On 10 March 2004 , one (1) C-130 Turkish military aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , flying 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 March 2004 , two formations of eight (8) F-16 Turkish military aircraft, one (1) C-160, one (1) C-130 and one (1) CN-235, entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , as follows:

          (a)     The C-160 and C-130 Turkish military aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and flying over the occupied area of Apostolos Andreas before exiting in a southeasterly direction, from where they returned on the same day in a reverse direction. The C-130 also flew over the occupied area of Cape Greco .

          (b)     The CN-235 Turkish military aircraft, coming from the FIR of Ankara , entered the FIR of Nicosia and 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 , before exiting towards the FIR of Ankara .

          (c)     The two formations of F-16 Turkish military aircraft coming from a southeasterly direction entered the FIR of Nicosia , flying over the occupied area of Apostolos Andreas, violating the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , before exiting towards the FIR of Ankara .

          On 15 March 2004 , two (2) F-16 Turkish military aircraft coming from the FIR of Ankara in one formation twice entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and flying over the occupied area of Cape Kormakitis before exiting in a westerly direction.

          On the same day, two (2) F-16 Turkish military aircraft in one formation twice entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , flying over the occupied area of Cape Kormakitis , before exiting in a westerly direction.

          On 16 March 2004 , one (1) CN-235 Turkish military aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the international air traffic regulations before exiting towards the FIR of Ankara .

          On 17 March 2004 , one (1) C-160 Turkish military aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , flying 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 18 March 2004 , two (2) CN-235 Turkish military aircraft coming from the FIR of Ankara entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the international air traffic regulations before exiting in a reverse direction.

          On 24 March 2004 , one (1) C-160 Turkish military aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , flying 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 31 March 2004 , one (1) C-130 Turkish military aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , flying 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 7 April 2004 , one (1) C-160 Turkish military aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , flying 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 9 April 2004 , one (1) Turkish military transport aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the international air traffic regulations, flying over the occupied area of Mesaoria before landing at the illegal airport of Lefkoniko and later at the illegal airport of Krini , where it remained.

          On 13 April 2004 , two (2) F-4 Turkish military aircraft, coming from the FIR of Ankara in one formation, entered the Nicosia FIR, violating international air traffic regulations before exiting towards the FIR of Ankara .

          On 14 April 2004 , one (1) C-130 Turkish military aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , flying 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 21 April 2004, one (1) C-160 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, flying 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 26 April 2004 , one (1) Turkish military aircraft of unknown type entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , flying 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 28 April 2004 , one (1) C-130 Turkish military aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , flying 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 3 May 2004 , four (4) F-4 Turkish military aircraft coming in one formation from the FIR of Ankara entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating international air traffic regulations, before exiting in a westerly direction.

          On 5 May 2004 , one (1) C-130 Turkish military aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , flying 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 6 May 2004 , two (2) F-5 Turkish military aircraft coming in one formation entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , flying over the occupied area of Cape Kormakitis before exiting towards the FIR of Ankara .

          On 10 May 2004 , four (4) F-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 towards the FIR of Ankara .

          It has been particularly disappointing to witness the continuation of violations of the airspace of Cyprus , as we were concentrating our efforts on achieving a lasting and viable solution to the Cyprus problem. We earnestly hoped that the Government of Turkey would have embraced this new spirit in order to defuse tension and adopt a new and constructive approach, so that peace and reconciliation can prevail in our area. I would like to stress also that the violations continue to occur, after the official accession of Cyprus to the European Union on 1 May 2004 and in spite of the declared policy of Turkey to advance towards convincing the European Union that it fulfils the criteria for opening accession negotiations.

          On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus , I strongly protest all the above-mentioned violations of the Nicosia flight information region and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , which 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 Cyprus and will refrain from further violations.

          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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