General Assembly
Fifty-eighth session

Agenda item 30

Question of Cyprus

Security Council

Fifty-ninth year

Letter dated 27 August 2004 from the Chargé d’affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Cyprus to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

Upon instructions from my Government and further to the letter dated 26 July 2004, addressed to you by H.E. Mr. Andreas D. Mavroyiannis, Ambassador, 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 21, 26, 27, 28 and 29 July 2004 and on 2, 3, 4, 15, 18 and 19 August 2004, as follows:

On 21 July 2004, one C-130 Turkish military aircraft took off from the illegal airport of Lefkoniko , violating the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and flying over the occupied area of Mesaoria before exiting towards the FIR of Ankara .

On 26 July 2004, four F-4 Turkish military aircraft coming from the FIR of Ankara in one formation entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating international air traffic regulations before departing in a reverse direction.

On 27 July 2004, eight F-16 Turkish military aircraft, coming in two formations, 10 F-4 Turkish military aircraft, in two formations three KC-135R and two CN-235 Turkish military aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia, in a total of 16 violations of international air traffic regulations and 11 violations of the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus, as follows:

(a) The first formation of F-16 Turkish military aircraft, coming from the FIR of Ankara, entered the FIR of Nicosia, exited towards an easterly direction and re-entered the FIR of Nicosia before departing in a reverse direction;

(b) The second formation of F-16 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 before exiting in an easterly direction. The same formation of aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia on the same day to depart again in a reverse direction;

(c) The third formation of F-4 Turkish military aircraft, coming from the FIR of Ankara , entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and flying over the occupied area of Cape Apostolos Andreas before exiting in an easterly direction. The same formation of aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia on the same day and departed again in a reverse direction;

(d) The fourth formation of F-4 Turkish military aircraft, coming from the FIR of Ankara, entered the FIR of Nicosia, exited in an easterly direction and
re-entered the FIR of Nicosia to depart later in a reverse direction;

(e) The KC-135R Turkish military aircraft, coming from the FIR of Ankara , entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and flying over the occupied area of Cape Apostolos Andreas before exiting in an easterly direction. They entered again the FIR of Nicosia on the same day and departed in a reverse direction;

(f) The CN-235 Turkish military aircraft, coming from the FIR of Ankara, entered the FIR of Nicosia, violating the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and flying over the occupied area of Cape Apostolos Andreas in a search and rescue mission before exiting in a reverse direction;

On 28 July 2004, 16 F-16, coming in four formations, two KC-135R, one
C-130 and two CN-235 Turkish military aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia, in a total of 16 violations of international air traffic regulations and 12 violations of the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus, as follows:

(a) The first and second formations of F-16 Turkish military aircraft, coming from the FIR of Ankara , entered the FIR of Nicosia before exiting towards an easterly direction. They re-entered the FIR of Nicosia , whence they departed on the same day in a reverse direction;

(b) The third and fourth formations of F-16 Turkish military aircraft, coming from the FIR of Ankara , entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and flying over the occupied area of Cape Apostolos Andreas before exiting in an easterly direction. They re-entered the FIR of Nicosia , whence they departed in reverse direction;

(c) The KC-135R, coming from the FIR of Ankara , entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and flying over the occupied area of Cape Apostolos Andreas before exiting in an easterly direction. They re-entered the FIR of Nicosia , whence they departed in a reverse direction;

(d) The CN-235, coming from the FIR of Ankara, entered the FIR of Nicosia, violating the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and flying over the occupied area of Cape Apostolos Andreas in a search and rescue mission before exiting in a reverse direction;

(e) The C-130, coming from the FIR of Ankara , violated the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus , flying over the occupied area of Mesaoria before landing at the illegal airport of Tymbou , whence it departed on the same day in a reverse direction.

It should be noted that the aforementioned violations (except the violation of the C-130) were part of a search and rescue exercise conducted in cooperation with the Turkish Navy, north-east of Cyprus .

On 29 July 2004, eight F-16, coming in two formations, eight F-4 in another two formations, three KC-135R, one Turkish military aircraft of unknown type and two CN-235 Turkish military aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia, in a total of 17 violations of international air traffic regulations and 13 violations of the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus, as follows:

(a) The first formation of F-16 Turkish military aircraft, coming from the FIR of Ankara, entered the FIR of Nicosia, departed in an easterly direction, and
re-entered the FIR of Nicosia, before departing again in a reverse direction;

(b) The second formation of F-16 Turkish military aircraft, coming from the FIR of Ankara, entered the FIR of Nicosia, violating the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and flying over the occupied area of Cape Apostolos Andreas, exited in an easterly direction and re-entered the FIR of Nicosia, whence it departed in a reverse direction;

(c) The third formation of F-4 Turkish military aircraft, coming from the FIR of Ankara, entered the FIR of Nicosia, violating the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and flying over the occupied area of Cape Apostolos Andreas, exiting in an easterly direction before re-entering the FIR of Nicosia, whence it departed in a reverse direction;

(d) The fourth formation of F-4 Turkish military aircraft, coming from the FIR of Ankara, entered the FIR of Nicosia and exited in an easterly direction before re-entering the FIR of Nicosia, whence it departed in a reverse direction;

(e) The KC-135R Turkish military aircraft, coming from the FIR of Ankara, entered the FIR of Nicosia, flying over the occupied area of Cape Apostolos Andreas and exiting in an easterly direction before re-entering the FIR of Nicosia, whence they departed in a reverse direction;

(f) The 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 in a search and rescue mission and violating the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus before departing in a reverse direction;

(g) The Turkish military aircraft of unknown type took off from the illegal airport of Krini , violating the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus before landing at the same airport.

It should be noted that the aforementioned violations were part of a search and rescue exercise conducted in cooperation with the Turkish Navy, north-east of Cyprus .

On 2 August 2004, one Turkish military aircraft of unknown type entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and flying over the occupied area of Mesaoria before landing at the illegal airport of Tymbou , where it remained.

On 3 August 2004, one Turkish military aircraft of unknown type took off from the illegal airport of Tymbou , violating international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and flying over the occupied area of Mesaoria before exiting towards the FIR of Ankara .

On 4 August 2004, one C-130 Turkish military aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia , violating international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and flying over the occupied area of Mesaoria before landing at the illegal airport of Tymbou , whence it departed on the same day in a reverse direction.

On 15 August 2004, one Turkish military aircraft of unknown type and one Super Kingair 200 Turkish military aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia, violating international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and flying over the occupied area of Mesaoria before landing at the illegal airport of Tymbou, whence they departed on the same day in a reverse direction.

On 18 August 2004, one C-130 Turkish military aircraft and two B-200 Turkish military aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia, violating international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and flying over the occupied area of Mesaoria before landing at the illegal airport of Tymbou, whence they departed on the same day in a reverse direction.

On 19 August 2004, three F-5 Turkish military aircraft entered the FIR of Nicosia in one formation, violating international air traffic regulations and the national airspace of the Republic of Cyprus and flying over the occupied area of Kyrenia before exiting towards the FIR of Ankara .

As repeatedly indicated in our previous communications, the aforementioned violations blatantly contravene international law and air traffic regulations and seriously endanger international civil aviation. Moreover, such actions undermine the efforts made for reconciliation and unification in Cyprus and disappointingly reveal Turkey ’s lack of good will to achieve a resolution for this long-standing problem.

On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus , I strongly protest the above violations and call for their immediate cessation. The Government of Turkey should heed the call of the international community, abide by the Charter of the United Nations and respect the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus, contributing thus to the creation of the required conditions for the achievement of a just and viable solution to the Cyprus problem.

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.