Nicosia - The UN Security Council has renewed the six-month mandate of the peace-keeping force in Cyprus. It stated flatly that the status quo on the island "is unacceptable", barred "partition or secession" and called for the divided country's reunification in a "bi-zonal, bi-communal federation . . . comprising two politically equal communities," writes Michael Jansen.
This unambiguous statement amounted to a direct challenge to the positions taken by the Turkish side, which has put forward the idea that the "status quo is the solution" and demanded international recognition of the breakaway Turkish state established in the northern third of the island following its occupation by the Turkish army in 1974. The council's assertion that a settlement "must exclude union . . . with any other country" makes it clear that the threatened "integration" of the Turkish Cypriot north with mainland Turkey" is unacceptable.