Richard Bruton
Ceist:23 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the situation in Cyprus. [16485/98]
Written Answers. - Military Build-up in Cyprus.
In his six monthly report on 10 June to the UN Security Council on the UN operation in Cyprus the UN Secretary General indicated that the situation along the ceasefire lines was relatively calm, despite minor violations. Both sides continued to respect the ceasefire arrangement of 1974.
Tension increased on the island in early June after six Turkish warplanes landed in the north of the island two days after four Greek military planes visited the south. This came against the background of the recent opening of a military airstrip at Paphos on the southern part of the island and indications earlier from the Cypriot Government of their intention to deploy a number of Russian S-300 ground to air missiles. The warplanes are reported to have left the island and there are reports that the Cypriot Government is considering postponing deployment of the ground to air missiles until October-November. President Clerides has also written to the UN Secretary General putting forward concrete proposals for the demilitarisation of the island. These issues will be among those addressed by Mr. Diego Cordovez, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, who is scheduled to begin a visit to Cyprus on Thursday 2 July to try to restart talks between both sides, aimed at an overall political solution.
The Government shares the concern expressed by the UN Secretary-General, and the wider international community, at the military build-up on Cyprus including the high level of Turkish forces in northern Cyprus. We fully support the efforts by the United Nations to address these issues and to try to restart the direct talks between both sides aimed at achieving an overall political solution to the Cyprus question. The UN framework of a bi-zonal, bi-communal, federal approach remains, in our view, the appropriate one for an eventual settlement in Cyprus. The Government will continue to monitor the situation there closely and to offer the UN every support.