Diplomatic sources in Athens on Friday said the Greek side was pleased with a same-day statement by the UN Security Council's French presidency condemning the most recent provocation by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, who threatened to open a closed-off section of an occupied - since August 1974 - and abandoned Cypriot resort.
The UN Security Council condemned the decision by Turkey's strongman and his Turkish Cypriot allies to reopen a residential section of Varosha, while calling for “the immediate reversal” of this unilateral action. The UNSC also warned that this action may raise tensions on the divided east Mediterranean island.
A statement by the French presidency, approved by all 15 UNSC members at an open meeting, said any attempt to reopen any portion of Varosha “...by people other than its inhabitants is inadmissible”.
France's permanent representative reiterated that UNSC resolutions 550 and 789 regarding Varosha's status are standing.
In an angry reply hours later, the Turkish foreign ministry referred to "... statements (that) are based on Greek-Greek Cypriot black propaganda and groundless claims, such as that Maraş is not TRNC territory, that the TRNC will confiscate the properties in Maraş and bring settlers there against the property rights."
By "Maras" Ankara means Famagusta, and by "TRNC" it alludes to the Turkish Cypriot pseudo-state set up on the divided island by Turkish occupation forces in 1983 and recognized by only one state in the world: the occupying power, Turkey.
In another rebuke by the international community against Erdogan-dominated Turkey, the same diplomatic sources in Athens on Friday welcomed a statement by the UNESCO World Heritage committee, which expresses regret over Erdogan's decision to reconvert the UNESCO world heritage sites of Hagia Sophia and the Chora Cathedral - both stunning examples of Byzantine Greek Orthodox basilicas - into mosques.
