Northern Cyprus blasts UN peacekeeping forces over intervention to halt road construction

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) blasted UN peacekeeping forces on Friday over their intervention in road construction work to link the Turkish Cypriot village of Pile in the buffer zone with the rest of the TRNC.

"The biased and unacceptable attitude of the UN towards the Turkish Cypriot side not only makes the UN's existence in our country questionable, but also damages the reputation and credibility of the UN," the country's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said that UN peacekeeping troops tried to prevent the road construction and that their attitude was "unacceptable."

TRNC also called on the UN to have an equidistant approach to both the TRNC and the Greek Cyprus Administration.

"The Current Pile - Yigitler' road expansion/improvement project has been prepared with the aim of ensuring easy access for the residents of Pile to their lands in the Pile region, promoting economic development for the local community, and enabling passage to the village of Pile without reliance on the British Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs)," the TRNC's Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertugruloglu said in a previous statement.

He stressed that the Pile-Yigitler road project was originally and solely designed for humanitarian reasons, to facilitate the everyday activities of the Turkish Cypriots in the village.

UN peacekeeping forces erected concrete blocks at the construction site to prevent the roadwork.

Moreover, they parked their vehicles in TRNC territory.

In response, TRNC security forces removed the vehicles with bulldozers.

Officials later said construction work resumed after UN troops withdrew from the area.