Cyprus mission extended

The United Nations Security Council extended its peacekeeping mission in Cyprus despite Turkish objections and said talks to reunify the war-divided Mediterranean island should be stepped up.

Turkey’s UN ambassador Baki Ilkin said he voted against the resolution because it referred to “the government of Cyprus”, which has included only Greek Cypriots since 1963 after violence between the island’s ethnic Greeks and Turks.

Cyprus has been formally divided between a Greek Cypriot south and a Turkish-occupied north since 1974, when Turkey invaded after an abortive Athens-backed coup by supporters of union with Greece.