CYPRUS: UN confirms Varosha should be returned to legal inhabitants

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No actions should be taken to alter the original status of fenced-off Varosha or violate UN resolutions on the matter, the United Nations Security Council has stated.


UNSC President Jerry Matthews Matjila made the comments after a closed meeting in New York.

The Council convened at the request of Cyprus’ UN representative Andreas Mavroyiannis following Turkish threats that the ghost town would be gradually opened.

Matjila said in a statement: “Members of the Security Council recalled the importance of the status of Varosha as set out in previous United Nations Security Council Resolutions, including Resolution 550 (1984) and Resolution 789 (1992), and reiterated that no actions should be carried out in relation to Varosha that are not in accordance with those Resolutions”. 

Those resolutions call for Varosha to be returned to its legal inhabitants and the area transferred to UN administration from Turkish army control.

They also reaffirmed “Resolution 2483 (2019) and the importance of an enduring, comprehensive and just settlement based on a bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality”. 

The parties were urged to “engage constructively, and with a sense of urgency. They also encouraged the leaders to agree on, and implement, new confidence-building measures”.

Members of the Security Council “urged the sides and all involved participants to refrain from any actions and rhetoric that might damage the chances of success for a settlement.”

 Mavroyiannis expressed Nicosia’s approval with the Council’s statement.

“On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus, I would like to express our satisfaction for the statement by the Security Council.”

He also expressed “gratitude and appreciation to the members of the Security Council for heeding our appeal and taking up the issue of Famagusta”.

“This follows recent threats by Turkey and its subordinate local administration in the occupied part of Cyprus, to settle the fenced area of Varoshia and create new, additional and irreversible faits accomplis on the ground”.

He hoped “the reaffirmation by the Security Council of all its relevant Resolutions and the call for their implementation is a sufficiently strong message, which will put an end to the illegal attempts underway and prevent further such attempts in the future.” (source CNA)