Pyla

The European Commission condemned on Tuesday an assault on UN peacekeepers by Turkish Cypriot security personnel inside the UN buffer zone dividing Cyprus last Friday.

Turkey's president on Monday criticized UN peacekeepers for blocking the construction of a road in ethnically divided Cyprus, calling the action "unacceptable" and accusing the peacekeeping force of bias against Turkish Cypriots.

Turkish Cypriot authorities have announced the continuation of road construction plans aimed at linking the ethnically mixed Pyla village in the buffer zone with the mainland, following a recent altercation with United Nations (U.N.) peacekeeping forces in the region.

The UN mission in ethnically divided Cyprus said Thursday it will block construction by Turkish Cypriots of a road that would encroach on a UN-controlled buffer zone and likely raise tensions on the Mediterranean island nation.

An ongoing decision to keep the borders of the two administrations on Cyprus closed in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus has irked the residents of the village of Pyla, which is located in the buffer zone.

An initiative to build bridges between the Greek and Turkish speaking communities of ethnically split Cyprus faltered Tuesday after the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots skipped a soccer match over a dispute of the games location.